Two Doors Down
Rating: 
Funny how some things pass you by. I have watched Two Doors Down (BBC2) a few times, chuckled, and forgotten all about it.
This half-hour sitcom, about a middle-aged couple in a Glasgow suburb and the awful neighbours who constantly pop in to drink their booze, has a cracking cast.
Especially good are Arabella Weir, as long-suffering Beth, her husband Eric (Alex Norton) and Doon Mackichan, who plays brassy, snide, leery, poison-tongued Cathy — all leopard-print tops and plastic stilettos, like Billy Connolly impersonating Bet Lynch.
The scripts are sharp, with one-liners that can make me laugh out loud. And the comedy is broad, all exaggerated reactions and painful embarrassment. Above all, it's inventive.
Funny how some things pass you by. I have watched Two Doors Down (BBC2) a few times, chuckled, and forgotten all about it
Though the basic set-up rarely changes, with everyone barging in uninvited, writers Simon Carlyle and Gregor Sharp never repeat the same situation.
In more than two dozen episodes (all available on iPlayer), there's always something different happening — a barbecue, a wake, a visit from relatives.
Kicking off a fifth series, last night the appalling Cathy and husband Colin (Jonathan Watson) gatecrashed an anniversary meal for Beth and Eric's gay son Ian (Jamie Quinn) and his partner, Gordon (Kieran Hodgson).
In all these ways, Two Doors Down is several cuts above Mrs Brown's Boys — that other domestic comedy where family and friends are forever calling round.
But Mrs Brown is the Beeb's most successful comedy, with two specials lined up for Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
In 2019, its festive episode drew more than seven million
