Episodes

Episodes shouldn't, perhaps, work. The tale of a husband-wife writing team (Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) who are persuaded, with a refreshing lack of reluctance, to sell out and take their fictionally Bafta-winning (and very British) comedy to Hollywood, thence to have it "made over" with gleeful disregard for such restrictive critical concerns as, for instance, taste - is surely too close to the experiences of many homegrown authors and film-makers for the memories to be anything other than vile at best. The Greig/Mangan original comedy, for instance, fictionally starred Richard Griffiths as a tweedy teacher in his twilight: transposed, the writers are both starstruck and horrified to find the grinsome Matt LeBlanc, Joey from Friends, in his place.

But it does work - and how. Partly through the subtlety of the writing, by Jeffrey Klarik and his partner David Crane, also of Friends fame: Friends, of course, wasn't written with British audiences in mind, but might as well have been, and its appreciation of "our" sense of humour (and our preconceptions about how the Americans could never quite "do" it) meant it became a crossover dream. As Episodes is now proving: it's been garnering much critical praise over there. Partly, too, thanks to the chemistry between Greig, Mangan and Matt LeBlanc, who's playing a lightly fictionalised version of "Matt LeBlanc" - kindly, vainglorious, deeply shallow to the extent that he has drunkenly invited his crazed stalker into his bed.

And one of the simple delights lies in seeing how far Tamsin Greig has come, from stoic work as Debbie Aldridge in The Archers, to a revelatory gift for comedy as Fran in the sublime Black Books, to - ta-dah! - sunny La-La-Land: Toto, we're not in Ambridge any more. This is just telly that makes you smile. Incidentally, one of the gags involves Matt, arrested on a borderline DUI charge, to be met with a beaming desk-sergeant who proudly boasts that his sister was nurse No 4 or something in one Friends episode. Matt does his winning best to pretend to remember her. (He's still booked.) On Good Morning Britain the other day, Matt popped up, only to have Ben Shephard remind him that he, Ben, had once "played" an interviewer in one Friends episode. Matt did his winning best to pretend to remember him. A trouper.

Q&A: Stephen Mangan

Stephen Mangan, 41, was born in London. He studied law at Cambridge, then went to Rada.

Episodes: review

The audience is king as Matt LeBlanc and Co play it for laughs on both sides of the Atlantic.

Although perhaps not strictly laugh out loud comedy, this first episode has been well written (the writers are really fantastic) and carefully thought out. Matt LeBlanc is at his best in this fictional version of himself. I mean, that's not hard. It's either Joey in Friends, Joey in Joey or one of Charlie's Angels' boyfriends... that's a very vague memory from a long time ago. IMBDing it to see if I'm right seems almost like cheating now.

Greig and Mangan have been given the straight characters, particularly in comparison to the hilarious, American caricatures that fill their lives, yet they still play them just right. Some of the other characters are slightly over played, which I'm sure is the point, but it does get a little annoying at times. I can forgive this as overall this first episode was so good.

Review: Episodes, Series 3, BBC Two

Any laughs left in the special-relationship com-com with Matt LeBlanc?

The new series of Episodes proves how illogical TV is

How can well-loved and critically acclaimed shows struggle to get a second run, while those that no one much cares about keep coming back?

Matt LeBlanc: 'I didn't work for five years after Joey'

It's a comedy show, so certain things are exaggerated, but according to the writers, it's all based on experiences they've had.

After the shambolic events of Merc's "man of the year" ceremony at the culmination of series two of this Hollywood-skewering sitcom, Jamie has left Merc for Matt, Merc has lost what was left of his reputation and his job, and it appears that Sean and Beverly are reconciled. All quite straightforward, then. Except for Beverly hoping to hide her night of passion with Rob. Oh, and Matt's custody battle over the kids with Diane. It's a complex web, but the filthy dialogue makes it all spin along rather nicely.

Sex-obsessed Matt Le Blanc is fantastic in Episodes

It's won numerous awards, including a Golden Globe and several Emmy nominations for its star Matt Le Blanc - and rightly so.

Radio Times review

The dramedy about how the sanity of two sensible Brits wilts in the Hollywood sun returns for a third series. Episodes' performances - including Matt LeBlanc playing himself as a monstrous man-child - are always a joy, even if the writing sometimes feels as if it relies too much on them, and not enough on actual, er, funny lines.

In this series opener, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig work wonders with scenes that might have looked a bit thin on paper. Their characters Sean and Beverly are back together (after the bed-hopping LeBlanc ruined things for a while) and back in love.

Meanwhile, fired network boss Merc is yelling at Matt through his bedroom window, hoping to reclaim his wife from Matt's clutches - too late. But the episode mainly centres on Carol, who has been promised Merc's job. Can she keep that a secret?