Heading Out

It took me a couple of attempts, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit, but I finally managed to get past the dead cat gag at the start of BBC2's new series Heading Out (sorry to sound such a wuss, but things like that really upset me) and get through to the end of my preview copy.

I'm glad I did, too, because this Sue Perkins sitcom, where the Bake Off host plays a 40-year-old vet who still hasn't told her parents she's gay, had me laughing out loud more than once. It had me laughing out loud twice, if you must know, but that's still way above my average.

Sue Perkins: how I came out to my parents

The writer/star of new BBC2 sitcom Heading Out reveals that she is not the inspiration behind her character's story.

Comedian, Maestro winner, Celebrity Big Brother housemate, Great British Bake Off presenter and possible future Doctor Who, Sue Perkins has somehow managed to neglect writing and starring in her very own sitcom until now.

Here she plays Sara, a vet who's too afraid to tell her parents she's gay. But as her 40th birthday approaches, Sara's loyal band of friends, which includes Nicola Walker from Spooks, have a plan to give her the courage to tell her folks.

Perhaps they could show them the spread from Tatler magazine that hailed Sue as one of Britain's coolest lesbians.

Some exciting guests are lined up for the series including Dawn French and Sue's comedy partner Mel Giedroyc. Tonight the fabulous Mark Heap drops in.

Sue Perkins has become one of the faces of BBC Two in recent years, presenting all maner of food and pop-historical programming. Now she returns to her comic roots in this self-written sitcom, starring as Sara, a successful female vet about to turn 40 - but still frightened to tell her parents (Jeff Rawle and Harriet Walter) that she's gay. Her motley gang of friends set an ultimatum: if Sara fails to reveal her sexuality within six weeks, they will. To make matters even more chaotic, they arrange for her to attend a series of sessions with an eccentric life coach.

In her acting debut, Perkins is likeably beleaguered and sardonic, while there's a strong supporting cast of Nicola Walker (Spooks, Last Tango in Halifax), Dominic Coleman (Miranda), Shelley Conn (Mistresses) and Joanna Scanlan (The Thick of It, Getting On) - not to mention lots of four-legged extras. Guest stars also pop up throughout the six-part run, including June Brown, Steve Pemberton, Mark Heap, Dawn French and Perkins's Great British Bake Off co-host and original comedy partner Mel Giedroyc[/o]. Pitched somewhere between the slapstick Miranda and the sardonic Grandma's House, it's a highly promising, enjoyably daft opener.

Sue Perkins has become ubiquitous at the BBC in the last few years, whether eating peculiar period food or learning to conduct orchestras or telling us about Mrs Dickens/Maria Von Trapp or, as co-host of The Great British Bake-Off, making bad puns about buns. Someone, somewhere, has decided we can't get enough of her. You may have your own feelings about this. Well, here she is again, allegedly going back to her comedy roots with her own sitcom, where she plays Sara, a neurotic vet who's about to turn 40 but hasn't yet managed to tell her parents that she's gay.

Despite being kind of annoying, she has supportive friends (including ever-reliable performers Nicola Walker and Joanna Scanlan) and is able to attract hot ladies like Shelley Conn, who is charmed by Sara's rotten patter and way with extracting barbed wire from dogs' paws.

Around 50 per cent of the show is laboured animal slapstick - there is a dead cat which is lugged around to decreasing effect - and the other half is meant to be touching, as Sara wrestles with her inadequacies and her friends urge her to finally come out to her folks. It's an awkward mix. The comedy just isn't that funny and the sentiment isn't that interesting. At times I felt a bit of second-hand embarrassment and - worst of all - the show reminded me of two grim indulgent sitcoms of years past: Baddiel's Syndrome, in which David Baddiel and his mates failed miserably at doing a Seinfeld, and Rhona, in which Rhona Cameron and her mates (including Perkins' double act and Bake-Off partner Mel Giedroyc) failed at doing an Ellen. What they all have in common is that their stars aren't actually actors but stand-ups, and that the other two only lasted one series. There's a lesson there.

Sue Perkins interview

Sue Perkins is taking on her first acting role in a decade and perhaps her biggest writing project ever, hence the nerves.

Sue Perkins on cakes, Coren and coming out

Sue Perkins leaves formatted TV and co-presenters behind, writing and starring in a new BBC2 sitcom. Heading Out is about a London vet whose friends buy her therapy for her 40th birthday so she can finally come out to her parents.

Sue Perkins interview

The Great British Bake Off's Sue Perkins plays Sara, a vet who's great at her job, and also popular in Heading Out.

Sue Perkins: Therapy has made me a better person

In a frank interview, Sue Perkins tells Daphne Lockyer how she found the courage to write her new sitcom about 'coming out'.

Interview: Joanna Scanlan

Actress tells Veronica Lee about the NHS and dark comedy - and why she's glad there are lighter times ahead.