Me And Mrs Jones

This new comedy has such an impressive pedigree (it's written by Green Wing's Oriane Messina and Fay Rusling, and has a pretty strong cast list) that it's almost inevitable that the first episode will disappoint. But give it a chance because it could be a grower, especially among fans of suburban comedies such as the now defunct My Family and Outnumbered.

Sarah Alexander is perfect as the eponymous Mrs Jones, a scatty divorcee with a very modern family life (for which read complicated and messy). Swilling about in the mix of well-intentioned friends and school-age daughters she's got an ex-husband (Neil Morrissey), a grown-up son who returns from his gap year travels with an attractive friend in tow (Misfits' Robert Sheehan) and a handsome admirer (Nathaniel Parker) who the yummy mummies in the playground all fawn over. By the end of the episode she's snogged a man she barely knows and dragged a half-naked one into her bathroom. So which is the "Me" of the title?

The peerless US sitcom Seinfeld was sometimes lovingly referred to as 'a show about nothing'. It was a comment that perhaps said less about the show itself than the ranks of contrived, over-cooked sitcoms of the time - the likes of Doogie Howser, M.D. and My Two Dads. It's a credo that the BBC would seem to have adopted wholesale for this baffling new six-part sitcom about the daily trials of a divorced Crouch End yummy-mummy. Sarah Alexander plays Mrs Jones, an unnecessarily flustered whirl of wasted energy and noisy self-involvement. She has three children. That's it. That's your situation. The humour is similarly truant, with garbled, nervous chatter and aimless jibes about Nigella and Range Rovers filling in for yer actual barbs and zingers. No sit. No com. No sale.

Sarah Alexander on her favourite TV

The Me And Mrs Jones actor on her viewing habits, from Breaking Bad to Peanuts.

Me And Mrs Jones: Do I go for Tom or Billy?

Blog post in which Gemma Jones, the central character in Me And Mrs Jones, debates whether she should date Tom or Billy.

This latest attempt by BBC One at a mainstream sitcom is a ditzy domestic affair about single mother Gemma Jones (Sarah Alexander), who spends her life dealing with her twin girls, her midlife-crisis-suffering ex (Neil Morrissey) and his stereotypical Swedish girlfriend. So when a handsome father (Nathaniel Parker) asks Gemma out on a date while she's on the school run, it's a welcome offer. That is, until her student son returns from a backpacking trip with his flirtatious friend Billy (Robert Sheehan) and Mrs Jones unexpectedly finds she's got more than one love interest. Solidly played by a strong cast, this comedy is gently amusing rather than laugh-out-loud funny.

Starring Sarah Alexander as Gemma, a divorced mum, and Neil Morrissey as her ex-husband, now shacked up with a stern eastern European woman, it may be too early to judge this new sitcom made by an all-female team of writers and producers. Yet the lack of a laugh track is ominously matched by a lack of laughs in this opener, with script and set pieces feeling contrived, as Gemma is caught between dating a leery dad from the school run and experiencing a frisson of desire for her son's best friend.

Sarah Alexander interview

Former Coupling and Green Wing actress Sarah Alexander returns to our screens in the new comedy Me and Mrs Jones.