COMEDY

REUNION The Garvey family

BBC2, 10pm Will-they-won’t-they relationships on TV have long been a clever vehicle to keep us hooked. And this one, between widow Cathy (Lesley Manville) and her late husband’s friend Michael (Peter Mullan), is utterly charming.

It is what goes unsaid between them that matters the most.

Funny and heartwarming, series one followed Cathy in the months after her husband died, dealing with grief as well as the constant throng of idiotic relatives.

Namely her lazy son Jason, his dappy girlfriend Kelly, her rude ITV, 9pm

EVERY year for a decade, the cast of Benidorm has trooped out to Spain’s sunny Costa Blanca to spend five months filming one of our favourite shows. How awful for them.

parents-in-law, idiot brother Derek and his snobby wife Pauline.

But Michael appeared, like a beacon of calm and kindness among the chaos, and now we just want them to get together.

This series begins with Cathy’s 60th birthday. “So what age is it when you get the old lady smell?” asks Kelly.

They are all off to the carvery for lunch and, in the most subtle of gestures, Michael is wearing a new shirt.