Man Down

As Greg Davies's sitcom concludes, it's Dan's last day before he heads to the US to join his lady love, Emma. While some will scarcely miss his haplessness, Jo is trying to make his departure go with a bang, sorting out a party bus. Well, a van. A van that smells of meat. In fact, it's a meat van. Things go from bad to worse when the party and its guests go awol, but Tony Robinson's Daedalus finally gets his comeuppance, so it's not all bad.

The bad news is that this is the last in the series. The good news is that the episode ends with a cliff hanger so all indications are that it'll be returning for a fourth series.

Dan makes his final preparations as he gets ready to depart for a new life in America. Jo is in charge of hosting his farewell party and intended to use her appropriately named shop, Special Needs, as the venue but when it suddenly gets closed down she has to use the back of a removal van. So when it drives off without them, it seems the party is over, but Dan has a plan. There's no way he's leaving without a party.

Elsewhere, sly old Daddy tries to prevent Dan's mum from seeing him off, but his evil schemes are finally disrupted, and Star Wars fans will need to have their eyes peeled to spot a weird cameo from Mark Hamill.

Greg Davies's amiable sitcom reaches the penultimate episode of its third season. The sound of the Star-Spangled Banner fades into the background as Dan's discovery of his adoption certificate sinks in and his mind wanders to the life he could have led. A good time to escape from the squalor of his adoptive family and take to the beach with Jo (Roisin Conaty) - a trip that also appeals to Brian's children, at least when the only other option available is a dull day out with their fastidious father (Mike Wozniak).

It's time for 'Man Down' to grow up - review

Who is Man Down (Channel 4) for? Or rather, who was it for? There's one episode to go in the third series and there's a sense that it is seeing itself out, and perhaps won't be allowed back in through Channel 4's doors.

The sinister "Daddy" gets his feet nicely under the table tonight so Dan feels he has no option but to leave home. He tries to retreat with dignity, saying he'll only take what he owns - but this means he's left with nothing: his coat was a hand-me-down and "Daddy" takes great pleasure in pointing out that his car is registered in his father's name. And so Dan marches out into the street with nothing but a tiny blue chair and, throughout the episode, he clings to it.

Homeless and alone, he's increasingly keen to emigrate to America, but the severe officials at the US Embassy are not impressed when Dan fills out visa forms unwashed, unshaven, and with that little blue chair. You must enter an address, they command, but he has none and so sneaks into the local all-night gym and starts living there. But this only makes things worse when he returns to give his address as "The 24 Hour Pump Zone".

Poor Dan. At least he has his little blue chair.

Man Down catches up with sad sack teacher Dan (Greg Davies) as he finally comes to the realisation that maybe he's chosen the wrong profession. By the end of the first episode, which saw Dan try to break into the school to destroy his personal file, he'd handed in his resignation which suggested to me that the sitcom may be covering new ground. This can only be a good thing as I'd found Man Down had been stuck in a rut for a while now so seeing Dan trying to pursue alternate career opportunities will at least give Davies and co-writer Mike Wozniak something new to work with. Tony Robinson as Dan's mum's new beau Daddy, short for Deadalus, who has already made it known that he isn't a fan of the protagonist's attitude towards the older ladies in his life.

Greg Davies on foot fetishists

Despite popular belief, he doesn't have size 17 feet...

Channel 4 sitcom Man Down remains glorious. Sometimes it can be a touch too slapstick. Think George Formby walking into an open manhole with a cheese-eating grin. Carrying a large cheese. But Greg Davies somehow manages to inhabit the soul of pratfall without making it too... cheesy. He's a big man, unafraid to be big or to let us smell his socks. Most of the lines I cannot print, even in the Observer. It is winningly, tragically, funny.