Him & Her

Him & Her - Series 3 review

The third Him & Her series, in summation, may not have captured my heart as much as the first two, but the ending has done a lot to keep me invested. Even if I am worried that the fourth series will be dull wedding preparations.

There are so many dramas that drop us in on couples' relationships where you can't imagine what they saw in each other in the first place, that it comes as a surprise when you're confronted with a pair of living, breathing lovers.

So my nomination for Most Believable TV Couple Of The Year 2012 (they won last year, too) goes to Steve and Becky from Him & Her, as portrayed in all their grubby, glorious affection by Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani. They're not the usual portrait of love's young dream but there's not a heartbeat when you don't believe they are made for each other.

The third series of Him & Her has seen Steve and Becky's relationship picking up a gear, the over-arching storyline - inasmuch as a slacker comedy can muster an overarching story-line - built on Steve's plans to propose. So last night's penultimate episode took the bold step of taking us right back to the roots of their relationship. Seventeen episodes is a long time to wait to see how they first got together and it could have come a cropper. But it was a comic gem.

Writer Stefan Golaszewski gave his stars plenty of empty spaces to shuffle around each other nervously and you could almost touch the awkwardness. Tovey and Solemani were note-perfect as a pair who couldn't quite believe they fancy the bones off each other, wondering if anyone would ever make the first move.

It was all about the chemistry, and these two could bottle it up and sell it. Catch up with them before next week's finale - it's a corker.

Becky and Steve's flat has been burgled although - as her dad jokes - it's quite hard to tell. The latter proves even more badly behaved than his daughters, smarmily chatting up Shelley while Becky fumes and her mousey mum looks on dolefully. It's another beautifully scripted, superbly acted episode: awkward as a Harold Pinter play and as hilariously crude as The Inbetweeners. Most excruciating of all is a scene in which we finally see Becky's domineering sister and her under-the-thumb fiancé alone. Be warned: it culminates in a kiss that will put you off your supper.

The weekend schedules are packed with choice comedy at the moment. Like Him and Her, which is back on BBC3 for a third series. A little bit Royle Family (Becky and Steve never leave the flat), a little bit Gavin & Stacey, with a hefty dollop of toilet humour, it maintains just the right balance between scuzzy and warm and fuzzy.

Stefan Golaszewski's beautifully observed scripts spin something adorable out of nothing. This week's episode boiled down to Becky and Steve trying to find a can of beer to drink while watching Children in Need. Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani give lovely, self-effacing performances in the central roles but, as is traditional in sitcom, it is the social climber character - Becky's sister Laura, now with added smug pregnancy hormones - who steals the best lines. She kisses everyone on both cheeks, drinks only plum juice and, when handed a mobile phone that isn't quite up to scratch, pouts, "Now, how does one unlock a Nokia?" A marvellous monster.

"Too far," grunts Russell Tovey's character, Steve, at his good-for-nothing neighbour who's describing his toilet habits in stomach-turning detail. It's deliciously ironic in a comedy that revels in over-stepping the mark, especially tonight when we discover more than we - or Steve - ever wanted to know about his mum's love life. We also meet tarty Shelley's little boy who peers solemnly at his badly behaved babysitters from behind oversized specs. You'll squirm as much as you giggle.

Step forward Kerry Howard. Her character, Laura, in BBC3's Him And Her is the most grotesque sitcom creature I've seen in some time. And having watched The Jeremy Kyle Show the most terrifying thing is, I'm sure people like Laura exist in real life. If exist is the right word.

TV review: Russell Tovey's Him & Her impresses

I enjoy scenes where Becky and Steve are alone more than when their families drop round (which is almost every episode these days), so the opening of half-naked Becky with a hangover and Steve hiding wine and an engagement ring ready to pop the question were the most memorable.

A third run for the slacker sitcom begins with Steve returning to the mingin' 
cowp with lots of bags of crisps. "Beef, half-price, they were by the till." Becky is unimpressed but he's hiding champagne and an engagement ring. Surely not even an unannounced visit from Becks' vindictive sister and her plonker of a boyfriend can spoil the moment?

BBC3's cult hit returns for a third series, as disgustingly funny as ever. If you've yet to have the pleasure, our (anti) heroes are a couple called Becky (Sarah Solemani) and Steve (Russell Tovey), who spend their days loafing around their dingy, dirty flat, sharing everything from their toilet habits to the stale sausage roll they discover down the back of the sofa.

Equally repugnant - if less endearing - are their friends and family: Becky's vindictive sister (pregnancy seems to have made her meaner), her blockhead of a fiancé and the bloke from upstairs who looks like he hasn't seen a bath since the 90s. Tonight's double bill begins with a sparkly ring and a bottle of bubbly - and is as refreshingly unromantic as ever.

Russell Tovey on Him & Her, Lovejoy & sticky-out ears

"I never cringe at the script. My gross-out threshold must be quite high..."