Friends reunited

STV, 9pm WHEN this great comedy drama series returned last year, after more than 13 years away from our screens, there was an air of nervousness all round. Would it still be good? Would we still care about any of the characters? Fortunately, the answer was a resounding yes.

In no time at all it felt as if Adam, Jenny, Pete, Karen and David had never been away. It was like catching up with old friends after life has got in the way for a while, but realising you still get on famously. Fortunately, we’ve had to wait less than a year for this new, seventh series.

And although some things have changed – Adam’s been dating Tina for nine months, Karen’s started her own publishing company, David’s crashing in Adam’s flat and selling life insurance door to door – the warmth, friendship and familiarity is all still there.

As are Adam’s weird dream sequences and his tendency to muck things up when it’s all going smoothly. Like trying to get his commitment-phobic girlfriend to move in, or going for a job interview in a super-cool start-up run by children.

All the gang are having some sort of work issues, to be fair. David’s had to descend a few rungs on the career ladder, thanks to his fraud case. Although when he meets Nicki, part of the wealthy Cheshire set, it looks as if things could be back on the up. Meanwhile, Pete is chauffeuring posh people around, but misses the old folk and his colleagues from the care home. So when Jenny is offered a promotion, with more money and longer hours, they discuss him going back part time. And it looks as if Karen might have created a monster, with a diva of a new author at her publishing firm. David meets Nicki