Kate & Koji

ITV, 9pm

We’re back in the sleepy Essex resort of Seagate as the sitcom penned by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin (Drop The Dead Donkey, Outnumbered) returns. Taking time out from sleuthing as Vera, Brenda Blethyn resumes the role of Kate, owner of a greasy caff who’s never afraid to speak her mind and charges her customers strictly according to her mood.

Co-starring as asylum-seeker doctor Koji, Okorie Chukwu (right with Blethyn) replaces Jimmy Akingbola, who made the part his own in the first series but departed for a US career (notably in Bel-Air).

In this week’s opening episode, Kate is one of the recipients of the Seagate Lockdown Legends Awards – but what will she say when she speaks live to local TV? This is a pleasingly old-fashioned sitcom that also offers a few lines with topical political flavour.