Did we like it?

Written by and starring the extremely busy Sharon Horgan (Pulling, Annually Retentive, last week’s Free Agents), this comedy is set in a greasy spoon just off Trafalgar Square run by the xenophobic Italian Angelo and his overweight, uninterested daughter Maria, who has dreams of joining a useless local rap collective. This was very much a typical opening episode about introducing the customers who pop in, but was a little light on laughs. There is potential here though, and as Horgan is usually good value, we’ll give it a bit longer.

What was good about it?

• Horgan and Paul Garner as the married coppers (and beat partners) Karen and Dave. Having trouble conceiving, Karen is a little too open with Angelo about the problems they’re facing for Dave’s liking.

• The visit to a their doctor takes a turn for the awkward when Dave admits to masturbating “once or twice a day” much to Karen’s dismay about the ‘wasted sperm’. This leads to a nice line as they’re walking their beat through Trafalgar Square and Karen points out a toilet. “Are you ok Dave, or do you need to pop in and relieve yourself before we get home?”

• Miranda Hart as the man-hungry minicab driver with anger issues. With a good-looking man in the back of her cab, she starts fellating a bottle as she’s driving, with the passenger looking panic-stricken.

• Maria and her equally clueless mate Alicia “auditions” for the sub-So Solid Crew outfit. With dancing that made Kate Garraway look as graceful as Darcy Bussell, it was real toe-curling stuff.

What was bad about it?

• So far, Steve Brody’s Angelo puts us in mind of a watered down version of Harry Enfield’s Stavros. And this is a problem when he’s the title character.

• Those body painted mime artists that infest Covent Garden really get on our tits, so Kim Wall’s Russell, done up like C-3PO, really needed to be something special. His bitching about the ‘one-trick ponies like Winstone, Oldman and Jude Law’ was as yawn-inducing as watching a mime.