The new normal

THE OTHER ONE BBC1, 9pm A DEAD man with two families is the premise for this sweet, funny sitcom that launches into its first proper episode here after last week’s pilot rerun.

With Colin having dropped dead from a heart attack, his wife Tess (Rebecca Front), mistress Marilyn (Siobhan Finneran) and daughters Cathy (Ellie White) and Cat (Lauren Socha) must navigate their new normal.

Tess is not coping well, distracting herself with Nordic walking and dating sites, including Huggle, Christian Mingle and Thrinder.

“I missed the first sexual revolution because I was living in Guildford,” she says. “I’m not missing this one too.”

Meanwhile, Marilyn is thoroughly missing the man who was her “sexual zenith”, a concept that doesn’t bear thinking about.

In other news, Cathy and Cat’s birthdays are fast approaching – they were born five days apart.

Cathy would rather get a takeaway and watch Escape to the Chateau but everyone else has other ideas, especially her grovelling fiance

Marcus (Amit Shah). Everything builds towards an extremely awkward dinner party – as all the best comedies do – and Marcus has the pleasure of paying for it, even when endless bottles of Bolly seem the only way to survive.

Watch out for a funny cameo from Stephen Tompkinson as Tess’s new man friend and fellow Nordic walker who is oblivious to the family dynamics.

With Front and Finneran sparkling as the bitter widow and grieving mistress, not to mention the constant comic clashing between the two Catherines, this sitcom has legs to last longer than just one series.