Mum

Cathy is tiptoeing through the dark house, trying to get ready for work without disturbing everyone but Kelly is already awake: "I was just havin' a little think and a cry", she explains. She's been out in the dawn garden where she saw a family of foxes and spilled out all her worries to the silent animals. Cathy humours her and asks if they had any advice and, for once, Kelly offers a sensible answer: "Not really. They're foxes."

The reason for her nocturnal conversation with foxes is that her boyfriend, Cathy's son, has the chance of a job in Australia and she's terrified that he'll leave her. And Peter Mullan's character, Michael, continues to walk silently around the house, looking as though he's squinting at a glorious sun whenever he sees Cathy.

I'm finally starting to warm to its tender scenes. There's a lovely, wavering silence when Michael admits he wants to lose weight and Cathy replies, "You're lovely just as you are."

Stefan Golaszewski - the brains behind the excellent Him & Her - writes this similarly low-key sitcom starring Lesley Manville. There are shades of Mike Leigh - a woman in her 50s comes to terms with bereavement - but the way Golaszewski has fun with vain people while backing the good eggs is all his own. Tonight, Kelly worries about Jason while Mike and Cathy's compatibility is hard to ignore.

Preview: Mum, BBC2, episode 5

As Bruce Springsteen might have said if he was writing about Mum it's darkness on the edge of town this week. It's an October morning, the sun has not risen and Cathy is mooching around, finding various people in various states of distress and undress around her suburban semi.

Mum: wonderful, heart-felt, low-key comedy

From the creator of Him & Her, Mum tells an affecting story and boasts an excellent cast in Lesley Manville and Peter Mullan...

TV review: Mum, BBC2, episode 4

There was an interesting Facebook exchange about Mum recently. Some were saying that the only 'real' character in it was Lesley Manville's long-suffering widow Cathy. Some were saying that others were also real, but some were cartoonish. What everyone seemed to agree on, however, was that this is a warm, lovely series.

The titular matriarch Cathy is having a garage sale. What could possibly go wrong? Inviting the family, for one thing, with all hope of shifting dusty Roncos dispelled in favour of patience-testing pettiness, not least during a visit from Kelly's sabre-tongued mother. One of the best comedies on TV; a show that makes one wish it were physically possible to hug a sitcom.

Review, Mum, BBC2, episode 3

There has been some grumbling recently about sitcoms that aren't wall-to-wall laughs and Mum might fall into this category.

Why Lisa McGrillis deserves a comedy award ASAP

I'm in love with a socially nightmarish, scatterbrained, generally confused lady called Kelly. She is one of the star characters of BBC2's sitcom Mum, played by Lisa McGrillis - and if you've seen any of the episodes so far you'll probably be pretty infatuated too. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out.

TV review, Mum, episode 2, BBC2

If you haven't seen Mum catch the two episodes so far on iPlayer and make an appointment to view from this Friday. Don't say I didn't tip you off.

Mum helped me come to terms with my husband's death

Humour is not usually associated with being a widow, but so much of the gentle comedy in this ground-breaking six-part show about widowhood rang true for me.