Episodes

I needed Episodes (BBC2) to be funny, but episode four, possibly because of Mervyn King, was all laugh-free longeurs. Truly, this is the age of austerity.

Episodes 1.4 review

I was led to believe Episodes radically improves from "Episode Four" onwards, but this was the week asphyxiation with a cushion felt preferable to watching the interplay between Matt Le Blanc, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig.

Beverly and Sean continue to bicker over the vile Americanisation of their show tonight as the "Pucks" pilot continues filming. They're called out on a late-night rescue mission when a sozzled Matt is stranded and surrounded by the paps. Tonight's episode is mostly a three-hander between its stars and, despite their more-than-adequate performances, a certain flatness pervades. This should be brilliant, particularly with Greig and Mangan involved, but the writing isn't quite smart enough to warrant moving this slowly.

Four episodes in and it still feels unformed. Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig act their comedy socks off - and their comedy socks, as we know, are from the very top sock drawer - but the script has a way of leaving them stranded. However much we warm to their characters - a writing duo whose sitcom is being remade in LA with Matt LeBlanc - there's the sense of the comedy never catching fire, the pace never clicking, plots not gelling into anything more than a bunch of scenes with the odd funny line. Tonight, LeBlanc gets drunk in a remote bar and our heroes have to drive out and pick him up, with jokes about sat navs and C-words along the way.

Episodes saw LeBlanc reprise role of drunken man-baby

Tonight's episode was essentially half an hour of Tamsin Greig doing her best impression of an antelope on the lookout for danger, interspersed with the odd zinger from Matt LeBlanc.

Four episodes in and this sitcom continues to polarise opinion: some critics think it's subtle and rewarding; others have argued that it lacks zest. In tonight's instalment, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan's characters - a writing duo whose British sitcom is being remade in LA - are forced to travel to a remote bar to pick up a drunk Matt LeBlanc, who's the star of their show. Be warned: the language is very rude.

Never having pondered the subject of Matt LeBlanc and his girth, this week's Episodes (BBC2) proved a scary beast as Sean (Stephen Mangan) and the man who will always be Joey in Friends entered into a full-blown bromance. Well, not quite full blown but it's heading that way.

'It could invade a small country,' was Sean's report on the Joey manhood. He was telling this to his wife, which was a bit of a turn-up.

For what started out as a bash the Yanks satire is morphing into an oddball love triangle, Sean seduced by the big man his wife despises.

Does that mean it's taken its eye off the ball? Who knows but it will be fun seeing how it turns out.

Episodes episode 3 review

As predictable as episode three is, there are still some entertaining moments and great lines of dialogue this week.

Episodes 1.3 review

This was the least funny episode so far, but it did a much better job with the characters.

Sean and Beverly's Brit sitcom has taken some major knocks in its voyage across the pond.

This week, they start shooting the US version - now called Pucks! - and the middle-aged British headmaster of their script has been turned into a hockey coach played by Matt LeBlanc.

Beverly's dislike of Matt knows no bounds, so she's even more put out when Sean takes a road trip to Las Vegas with him and develops a serious ­man crush. We also learn that the former Friends star could have had enjoyed a ­flourishing career as a porn star - and he just can't resist showing Sean his ­credentials. "It could attack a city," Sean reports back.

Although it doesn't quite hit the comedy high notes, there's plenty to enjoy and the characters feel like real people rather than cartoons. That goes for everyone from Tamsin Greig's Mary Poppins-ish scriptwriter, to their ass of an American studio boss.