Mandy

Diane Morgan interview

The actress and funny woman - star on the co-star that made her shudder, what fans shout in the street when they see her, and the one person who made her star struck.

Mandy, the latest Diane Morgan creation, is I suspect going to be a little bit splitty-nation. Beehived of hair, gleefully dismissive of societal niceties or even basic interview skills, Mandy is every jobcentre's nemesis, which, given that she spends much of her life there, makes for big awkwards. I, for instance, loved it, but I like most of Morgan's tinder-dry take on life, most notably in Motherland.

On the other hand I'm almost sure some will see it as punching down, dismissive of the indolent, heedless working class, and it is in some ways true that Mandy is not a lazily spat piece of gum away from the execrable creation Vicky Pollard. Where I reckon this is saved is that there's a heart to her, a remorse for the catastrophes she causes - and the death toll is mounting. This is another strength: if you're going to go down the slapstick route, you might as well go gleefully over the top rather than just have a wee dead vole in a pitta or some such. You might find yourself snorting despite yourself, but snort you will nonetheless.

Diane Morgan's dimwitted big-dreamer is comedy tonic

I'm not sure if it's the constant gurning, shiny puffer jacket that screams "flammable" or the gravity-defying vertical hairdo, but Mandy Carter is a woman I cannot stop watching.

Mandy, BBC2 review - Diane Morgan's new creation

When the laugh-out-loud punchline came, it really landed.

BBC2's comedy evening is a hit-and-miss affair, but it's good that the Beeb is now producing enough new sitcoms and sketch shows - after a long barren patch - to stage a cavalcade like this.

Diane Morgan's slack-faced creation Mandy kicked it off with a couple of daft stories - one about a job at a banana factory, and one that pitted her in a line-dancing marathon contest against arch-enemy Maxine Peake.

Call me easily pleased, but I was weeping with laughter at the sight of a woman with a beehive and a fag in her mouth, splatting tarantulas on a conveyor belt of imported fruit.

I'm laughing less at Semi-Detached. It started well but I'm beginning to worry that Lee Mack - shorn of his one-liners - is a painfully depleted sight. He needs to be much more than just a character that things happen to.

Matt Berry rounded the evening off with Squeamish About.... It was funny for the first five minutes. Less would be more.

Review: Mandy series 1 episodes 1 and 2

Morgan's definitely created a very funny and likeable character here, one who manages to generate chaos without it ever seeming too ludicrous, and given how many people died because of her actions that's quite the thing.

Mandy review

Surely the funniest thing since the end of the world began.

Diane Morgan's new comedy vehicle is Mandy, an amusingly truculent grifter seeking work in the gig economy. Face stuck in a lopsided, permanently sullen gurn, she is packed off to work in a banana-processing factory. Cue an inspired, fantastically tasteless musical sequence during which many tarantulas rhythmically meet their maker in time to Harry Belafonte's Banana Boat Song. However, an unfortunate mishap involving 17 deaths soon means she is back to square one. A pleasingly sour confection.

Review: Mandy

She's made her name on TV as Philomena Cunk and as Liz in Motherland, saying the words of some very talented writers. But Mandy is all Diane Morgan's own work, as writer, star and director - and very funny it is, too.

Mandy review: new comedy is fine in small doses

A mordant stare from Morgan can do the work of 20 pages of script, so a show of her own has been long overdue.