Heading Out

Sue Perkins has almost qualified for that most exclusive of private members' clubs, The Uncriticisables, with her turns on those state-of-nation cookery shows that I don't watch. Heading Out, though, is the sort of thing that could get her ­suspended or - any more of that lesbian netball - banned.

Nothing against lesbian netball, you understand, but the silly scene down at the community centre during the middle of a game which turned into a, ahem, musical interlude looked like it belonged in a comedy from 1973 (vintage year, by the way). Come to think of it, the concept of a 40-year-old woman who cannot bring herself to tell her parents she's gay seems out of date as well. But then, what do I know?

Possibly I was hoping for a sitcom that was a bit more edgy, a bit more American. But we are who we are: we're British and we do silly, the comedy of embarrassment. Perkins' Sara is like ­Miranda in sensible shoes, or more sensible shoes. That said, some of the embarrassment gags were quite funny. "I'm waiting for the colour of my face to dip from Sir Alex Ferguson to just a normal raspberry," said our heroine, who's a vet, although not a very good one - the type who'll forget that she's carrying a dead cat in her bag, indeed takes it to her birthday party. "Why is there a dead cat in your bag?" she was asked. "Oh, I like to swing it round rooms to see how big they are."

Actually, I liked that one too. Heading Out has got absolutely everyone in it - comedy dependables from The Thick Of It, Green Wing and Drop The Dead Donkey of fond memory, plus lovely Shelley Conn out of Mistresses - and maybe I'll stick with it. One shouldn't be too quick to judge.

Sue Perkins' Heading Out is a right-on write-off

The path­etic series asks us to accept that a sophisticated 40-year-old vet is too terrified to tell her parents she's a lesbian.

Radio Times review

The central character of Heading Out was Sara, a 40-year-old vet, afraid of commitment and very afraid of telling her parents she is gay. Except it wasn't Sara up there, it was Sue Perkins. The wry rhythms, the crafted wit tempered by stuttering diffidence, the coy friendliness twinkling through that protective fringe: Sue Perkins.

So you might say, well, that doesn't work. We don't believe it's Sara. Unlike Grandma's House or Seinfeld or Ellen, the star isn't playing someone with their own name. Perkins isn't meant to be herself, but she inescapably is because we know her too well, in a way most actors cannily never allow.

The solution, in theory: cast someone else. But this wasn't an option, partly because Sara was totally Perkins in script as well as performance, but also because such a thin alter ego let our affection transfer easily. You like Sue Perkins? (Yes.) Then you'll like her playing a woman who looks and sounds the same.

Lose her presence and you'd lose the show's considerable charm, since the supporting cast were mostly struggling as caricatured oddballs: Dominic Coleman as a neat freak, Joanna Scanlan as a bellowy, hockey-sticks life coach hired by Sara's friends to help her come out fully, Mark Heap very Mark Heapy in a bit part as an officious pet-crematorium manager.

Nothing felt real, particularly the digression when Sara played netball and the opposition performed a fearsome dance routine before the game. "It seems to be some sort of inner-city, asthmatic Haka," said Sara, exactly as Perkins would in a documentary or panel show.

The Sara/Sue thing can't sustain Heading Out for long. Sara needs to stand on her own, even if it's through Perkins revealing parts of her own character that the fans haven't seen before, and the dialogue needs to sound a lot less like the carefully written words of a presenter. So it was pleasing to see a glint of this in episode one, when Sara met a potential love interest (Shelley Conn) in the park and ineptly chatted her up.

Viewers nervous about this being a "lesbian sitcom" were probably waiting for one of them to announce that they were gay, but nobody needed to because the writing and acting were nuanced and true. Sara and Sue were both out of their comfort zone - and rising to the challenge.

Equality and dignity - less admirable in sitcoms

Sue Perkins' Heading Out certainly avoids old gay stereotypes. It's also a bit dull. Jay Richardson ponders the difficulty of getting the comedy balance right.

Sue Perkins has written and stars in BBC2's new sitcom Heading Out, concerning the adventures of a 40 year-old lesbian vet - that's to say a gay veterinarian rather than a veteran gay - who has yet to come out to her parents.

Some of the support characters are drawn far too obviously to exist as anything other than comic relief, but otherwise Perkins' script is a good one. The plot is clever, the dialogue amusing, and at least one of the sight gags is unforgettable. Plus, it's refreshing - not to say revolutionary - to have a sexually active, lesbian lead character in a sitcom.

The problem, however, is Perkins' acting - namely, that she doesn't bother attempting any. Every one of her lines is delivered with exactly the same sardonic deadpan the comedian usually reserves for panel shows, interviews and TV bake-offs.

Which would be boring but bearable if Heading Out didn't harbour ambitions to belong to that trickiest of genres, the romantic comedy. Perkins' flirtatious banter requires a nuanced performance to steer a course between arch and embarrassing. Nicola Walker, totally wasted in an undemanding best friend role, would have done it brilliantly.

TV Review: Heading Out (BBC2)

It remains to be seen if Heading Out can move away from some of the awkwardness and slightly low-budget feel that are its only real flaws.

I'm sure that her agent might see things differently, but I've rather felt that Sue Perkins hadn't been doing herself any favours by positioning herself as the female Stephen Fry. Quite apart from it being annoying to find her popping up on TV three or four times a week on any show that asked, it seemed like a dilution of a genuine talent. So it's a relief to find her back on form and returning to her core business in her new sitcom, Heading Out (BBC2), in which she plays a gay vet who is about to turn 40 and is terrified of coming out to her parents.

There were a few rather flabby moments in the middle - almost as if Perkins had lost her nerve and thought middle England couldn't stomach a lesbian sitcom without a Benny Hill-style netball scene along with a crap 70s muzak soundtrack - but the start and the end were sharp and often extremely funny. If Perkins can keep the gags coming then this sitcom definitely has legs. More than can be said for Mosley, the dead cat, who came dangerously close to stealing the show.

Heading Out is a step in the right direction

In her new sitcom Heading Out, Sue Perkins gives us a new gay role model. But the show's underlying message is a universal one.

Heading Out saw Sue Perkins provide the only laughs

Heading Out's premise was difficult to buy into, but Sue Perkins saved the day with her brilliant delivery.

Last night's viewing - Heading Out, BBC2

First impressions weren't bad, though there may be people who don't feel quite the same way about the boldness of introducing your new series with a joke about feline euthanasia.