Early Doors

Video: Craig Cash and Phil Mealey interview

Craig Cash and Phil Mealey talk about returning to Early Doors.

Your most underrated TV shows

Five classics that never got the kudos they deserved, according to our readers. Includes Money Dust, Nathan Barley, Early Doors and Families at War.

Early Doors is easily the best thing on telly tonight. It's the first episode of Craig Cash's sublime pub-based sitcom. From the moment that Ken starts up singing 'The Greatest Love Of All', while swearing at cigarette butts in the urinals, it feels classic. From Eddie's boring stories about temporary traffic lights ("Better go and get that door, it might be Michael Aspel for you") to the policemen complaining about the curtains, it's all so beautifully observed it feels like art.

Writers Craig Cash and Phil Mealey had a hit with the comedy drama Sunshine last year. But this 2003 sitcom is finer and more satisfying: the jokes are earthier and less obvious, and the pathos is subtle rather than being sentimentally spooned on. It all takes place in a Manchester pub.

Another chance to catch the under-the-radar 2003 sitcom from Phil Mealey and long-term Caroline Aherne collaborator Craig Cash, which centred around the comings and goings of a Manchester pub. Naturalistically played, subtle and well worth sticking with.

It never got the recognition accorded to The Royle Family or The Office but Early Doors was every bit the equal of those two benchmark comedies. Written by Phil Mealey and Craig Cash (Cash also co-wrote The Royle Family), the bittersweet tale of a pub landlord and his ragged regulars mixed laughter and tears into an addictively warm-hearted brew.

Early Doors is a step brother of The Royle Family, having the same father, Craig Cash, but not the same mother, Caroline Aherne. It is such a slow-burning comedy that you only start to smile during the next programme. Which happens to be Newsnight. This is a bonus as it sweetens the news and, indeed, Kirsty Wark whom, on any normal night, you would watch from behind the sofa.

BBC call to end ratings obsession

Programmes that score low in the ratings often do well in the Barb audience appreciation indices (AIs). Early Doors, a comedy by Craig Cash averaged only 1.7 million viewers in its first outing, but scored particularly highly on the AIs. Ms Root decided to commission a second series, partly because such a high proportion of viewers enjoyed it.