Misfits (2009)

First look: Misfits series two - exclusive clip

The last series of E4's Misfits ended with a good news/bad news scenario for Nathan. Good news: he's immortal. Bad news: his friends don't know about it. Which is why they buried him ... So how is he getting on in that coffin?

After five excellent episodes, it's a suitably rambunctious finale for the Misfits. A mysterious religious fervour has taken over the area's young folks, turning them prim, proper and defiantly straight-edged. Nathan, not so keen on the lack of swearing, is left to sort it all out, but his lack of superpower is causing problems. With most of the youth worker plot dealt with, this almost feels like a standalone episode, but that's no bad thing when the storyline is so much fun. Misfits is back for a Christmas special before a new series starts in the new year.

The climactic final episode of the excellent, edgy, Bafta-winning drama that has rightly been recommissioned for both a Christmas special and second series. While last week's dead body is stored in the freezer, the Asbo gang realise that local teenagers have suddenly stopped drinking, taking drugs, having sex and even swearing. They discover that this unlikely scenario is the work of a strait-laced cult called Virtue, who may not be as pure as they make out. Inevitably the two groups face off in an action-packed final showdown. It's left to motormouth trouble-maker Nathan (the show's standout star, Irish talent Robert Sheehan) to save the day - despite the fact that he's the only one without a superpower. Or so he thinks.

The series ends with an episode that mixes filthy comedy with a fair amount of sombre emotion. When a creepy cult of Stepford teens, who espouse a creed of chastity and clean living, turns up at the community centre, the gang of superpowered Asbo teens are duly intrigued. One by one Alisha, Curtis and Kelly are turned to the dark (light?) side - could it be that the leader of the cult has a power of her own? It's left to the only member of the gang without a power, gobby Simon Amstell lookalike Nathan, to try to save the day with a hilariously rousing speech in defence of their irresponsible lifestyles. Like much else in the series it goes badly and there's a seriously downbeat ending, but one that sets up questions to be answered in the reported second series.

The tension increases tonight as probation officer Sally inches closer to uncovering the truth about her predecessor Tony's death. Thinking Simon is hiding something, she sets out to seduce the lonely introvert. The scenes between Alex Reid and Iwan Rheon are perfectly played, pulling you into their gentle romance even though you know it's false. Naturally, it all ends in a sticky mess - this is Misfits after all, not Jane Austen. Meanwhile, Curtis is finding that his time-travelling exploits have left him with two girlfriends. And, annoyingly, when he tries to break up with one, Sam, time unravels again and again, leaving him unable to complete the split. Luckily, he has that master of relationships, Nathan, to offer advice. His gross suggestion is not something that can be mentioned in a family magazine, but Spider-Man turns out to be more helpful.

Misfits, whose re-run on Channel 4 is now two-thirds over, is that long-wished-for thing, a television series that shows great creative intelligence and a depth of characterisation rivalling the best of the US shows of the past decade.

Its creator and writer, Howard Overman, has imagined a universe and peopled it with characters who seem to live, rather than appear, in it. The characters reveal themselves both all at once - as vivid, attitude-heavy youth - then bit by small bit, their drives, torments and loves taking shape under the carapace of aggression, indifference or banter with which they face the world.

The misfits are five early-twenty-somethings, all with Asbos, all doing community service. There is Kelly, the chav, with hair scraped back, a perpetual tracksuit and scowl and an accent of dense grunts surrounded with consonants; Nathan, all Irish bull and scabrous wit; Alisha, a mixed-race beauty; Simon, an introverted geek; and Curtis, a world-class sprinter, career destroyed by possession of a line of coke. Convicted of petty crimes, they are set to pay back their debt to "the community" - a debt that none of them recognises, let alone wishes to repay. As Kelly says to a probation officer, when asked what she has learned: "They put up graffiti, we clean it off; then they put up graffiti, and we clean it off. Yaw fink I'm a f****** losuh?"

They are all, of course, losers, but they are Super Losers. In the first (of six) episodes, a freak storm explodes above them, raining down ice and random objects: after it, all have acquired magic powers. Kelly can hear thoughts, Simon can become invisible, Alisha turns every man she touches into a ravenous sex fiend who must have her, Curtis can replay and alter the past, and Nathan - if you have not seen it, you must wait for the last episode two weeks hence.

The series is poised between the grimiest, concrete-encased social reality and the mythic world of superheroes; the latter functions as a medium for displaying the true natures of the misfits, as they struggle to incorporate their powers into their lives and relationships. A poignant example: Alisha, who falls for Curtis and he for her, must forgo sex with him because her power reduces every man to a panting sex slave, and thus pollutes any expression of his real passion. Instead, they undress, and masturbate while gazing at each other. Oddly - as it may seem - the scene is at once comic and poignant: a measure of Misfits' success in elevating what is generally seen as degrading into an expression of love.

The streetwise superhero drama settles into its stride, as it focuses on one character per week. Tonight it's disgraced sprinter Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), who rewinds time to the night he was arrested for drug possession but finds that altering history is complicated. Cleverly, this device also gives us a glimpse of the gang's lives before they met up on community service or gained their special abilities.

As this super-powered Skins begins to hot up, time-travel-endowed athlete Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) tries to change what happened the night he was arrested for drug possession. But he soon learns he can't have his cake and eat it. We also learn how Curtis's spectacularly annoying Asbo associate Nathan (Robert Sheehan) talked himself into trouble after his pick 'n' mix fiasco. It's a hormonal, highly charged episode that plays like a grungey Groundhog Day. Powered by dark dynamics and a pumping soundtrack, Misfits certainly rocks the house - but it's not for the easily embarrassed.

More Kelly is always welcome, and this week there's plenty to take in, as she tries to make amends, or do some "restorative justice bollocks", with the girl who got her the Asbo in the first place. It ends in a headbutt, and an onset of baldness, but the thought is there. Meanwhile, Simon's online chat buddy Shygirl18 turns out to be neither shy nor 18, and Curtis' rewind-time power comes in very useful indeed. Another strong week for the gang, not least in the form of Nathan's excellent Bono gag.

Tonight Alisha reveals her vulnerable side and learns that there's more to life than lust. Although her favourite pastime is calculated seduction, the party girl slowly realises that her superpower - the ability to transform men into sex-crazed beasts simply by touching them - is something of a curse. It certainly hinders her blossoming romance with Curtis. Meanwhile, Kelly suffers a seriously bad hair day after a spat with an old enemy and - even more distressingly - the probation office's body is about to be dug up. Can the Misfits cover up their bloody deed a second time? Prepare for more knowing banter, blue jokes and touching heart-to-hearts, as this ragbag of superheroes struggle to keep on the straight and narrow.