Roger & Val Have Just Got In

It's the last in the series of Dawn French and Alfred Molina's warm sitcom, and the inaction ambles towards a climax with the imminent arrival of Roger's estranged family for tea. Val manages to convey her peevishness through the simple act of filling a kettle, while Roger responds by staging a sit-in in a wendy house.

Have you been watching ... Roger & Val Have Just Got In?

Is it a comedy? A drama with a few gags thrown in? Whatever else, Roger & Val is essential TV with fine performances from Alfred Molina and Dawn French.

Giving Roger and Val another look

It's not a knockdown, laugh-a-minute, sitcom, but it's brilliantly written and who can argue with Dawn French and Alfred Molina. I stand corrected on my snap decision prior to seeing the series.

Dawn French gets better and better as Val. Although she is the sensible one, Val can also be brilliantly neurotic. What has upset her is an unfortunate collision of dramas: they've just got back from the pub where they were supposed to meet the son Roger never knew he had. Now a bereaved relative is on the phone, there's someone at the door and Roger is breathing into a paper bag. There aren't quite the fireworks of last week, but it's still touching.

The penultimate episode of the comedy drama series sees Roger (Alfred Molina) return from a meeting to which his newfound 31-year-old son failed to turn up, while Val (Dawn French) discovers that Pam Bagnall, her chief rival for the deputy head teacher post at her school, has accidentally left a voicemail on her mobile phone. Not just any old message, but a deeply incriminating one that might yet secure victory for Val.

When Roger and Val have a row they don't have the luxury of sulking and giving each other the silent treatment - although the scriptwriters are so clever I bet they'd manage to make even a totally wordless episode interesting for half an hour.

But tonight Val is very, very angry with Roger indeed - and with good reason.

Not only does he have a secret grown-up son, she also thinks he might have affected her chances of landing the deputy head job.

On top of that he's gone and lost one of his front teeth on the eve of the most important dinner of her career.

How they get around this dental emergency is handled in typical Roger and Val style - with a bit of creative thinking, teamwork and, of course, food.

Last week's bombshell happened a day or two ago in Roger and Val time - so having had a chance to stew, now Val starts a massive barney. The volume's turned up on the dialogue to the point where, in fleeting moments, you wonder if the show's going to lose its essential warmth. But Roger and Val love each other too much, and the writers love tossing in cheeky references (Asda, Take a Break magazine, Roger's predictable ordering in Italian restaurants) too much for that to happen.

After last week's bombshell, the atmosphere is tense in the Stevenson household. The pair are due to attend an important dinner but Roger's (Alfred Molina) missing front tooth is causing problems while Val (Dawn French) is stressing about her job application for the position of deputy head at her school. Despite the tension, the comedy drama's warmth and homeliness are still evident - just about - along with clever dialogue which will strike chords of familiarity with just about everyone.

If you're among the small, devoted following who do love this series, it's still easy to see why most people don't.

It's obvious why the part-sitcom, part-tragedy is not everyone's cup of tea. The wry, melancholy tone can come across as twee. The marital micro-tiffs can seem nothingy.

Tonight, the way our lovable, super-sensitive couple are struggling to stay upbeat (the episode starts with good news) but keep tripping up each other's mood is inspired, and horribly recognisable. On the face of it, however, not a lot happens between the opening revelation and another, a whopper, later on.

If you're thinking of giving Roger and Val... a go for the first time, tonight probably isn't the night. If you love it already, it's essential viewing.

"Will you speak normally! There's nobody here!" Val implores her husband tonight.

Which is precisely what I'm usually thinking when I'm watching this series because of the way Alfred Molina keeps using that special "I'm In A Play!" voice some actors are prone to.

And it's a shame when the brilliant dialogue manages to be so naturalistic and yet so utterly eccentric at the same time.

No other series would invest so much energy in thrashing out the perfect guest list for an imaginary party or scrutinising tea towel artwork for some kind of hidden meaning

But unlike shows such as EastEnders, where you're continually bludgeoned over the head with plot, this intriguing series is all about using subtext and undercurrents, a bit like a melody in a song picked out by a bass guitar.

Even casual comments are as loaded with significance as the special saucepans that Val, played by Dawn French, is using tonight to cook a celebratory dinner following Roger's industrial tribunal.

It's a slowly simmering episode but Roger is still nursing a secret that's about to blow the lids right off.