WHAT’S OCCURRING? LOTS OF LAUGHS!
TO CHEER you up while you’re stuck indoors, we’re giving you free guides to the best TV available through streaming and catch-up services. All this week, the Mail’s TV critic CHRISTOPHER STEVENS and TV editor MIKE MULVIHILL will be tapping into the vast archives of dazzling drama, must-see movies, fascinating factual shows and fabulous family entertainment on hand at the touch of a button. But we start today with the funniest shows available . . .
LAUGH-OUT-LOUD SITCOM CLASSICS
Gavin & Stacey BBC iPLAYER
We all loved these long-distance lovebirds in their heyday at the end of the Noughties, but the sheer depth of affection for this show surprised everyone last Christmas. Writers and stars James Corden and Ruth Jones revived their sitcom, based in the South Wales seaside town of Barry and Billericay, Essex, for a one-off special and broke viewing figures for the decade. An incredible 17 million people tuned in or watched on catch-up. Not bad for a comedy that began life without fanfare on BBC Three. Don’t miss the show-stealing turn by Rob Brydon as unmarried Uncle Bryn. Three series and a special
Outnumbered iPLAYER/NETFLIX
Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner played embattled parents with a chaotic home life, but the real stars were the children — Jake, Ben and Karen (Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez). The cast were given free rein to ad lib, and the children were encouraged to say whatever came into their heads. The results are hilarious and often moving. But the show wasn’t afraid to depict real
Catastrophe
A one-night stand for Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan turns into disaster — pregnancy, ALL4/AMAZON PRIME marriage, job switches, parenting . . . and alcoholism. They lose their friends, their careers and their self-respect. What happens to the dog is the least of their problems. But through it all they never fall out of love, not least because they always fancy the pants off each other. Carrie Fisher co-starred as Rob’s appalling mother. Four series
The IT Crowd ALL4/NETFLIX
Another cult classic. The cast have gone on to greater things, especially Chris O’Dowd, now a Hollywood star. Katherine Parkinson is an acclaimed