PICK OF TODAY’S TV

THE OTHER ONE, 9.30PM, BBC1

THIS fun sitcom boasts some impressive comedy pedigree — it’s created and directed by Motherland co-writer Holly Walsh and stars Ellie White, who has become a familiar face from her supporting roles in many of the funniest British comedies of recent years, from Stath Lets Flats and Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer’s House Of Fools to The Windsors and Lee Mack’s Semi-Detached. Then, there’s Benidorm’s Siobhan Finneran and the always excellent Rebecca Front (The Thick Of It, Nighty, Night). The first series, about two women — both called Catherine — who discover they are half-sisters after the death of their philandering dad, was shown back in June 2020 (and is still available to watch on iPlayer). It had plenty of raucous moments, but also, running underneath, it had some of those believable elements of family drama that can raise the best TV comedies above the run of the mill. As they return for a new, second series, Cathy and Cat Walcott (White and Lauren Socha) are still reeling from the shock revelation that they have a half-brother, Callum (Christopher Jeffers). And Cathy has kissed him! Meanwhile, Cat’s mum, Marilyn (Finneran, pictured above right with Michelle Austin, Front, White, Socha and Jeffers) is furious that her late lover had another woman on the side, and sets off a chain of events that no one expected . . .