Critic Reviews
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There was real sadness at the end in the loving tribute to Simon Carlyle, Carr’s co-writer, who died last year. But in a bleak world, this sitcom is a small splash of silliness and joy.
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Season two wisely plays to the strengths it showed first time round. Young Savell’s uncanny evocation of what we imagine a young Alan must have been like is so convincing it’s almost like we’re somehow watching Carr himself.
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This is a series that pleasantly mines the comedy of small stakes: it doesn’t take much for a small town to be whipped into a frenzy nor does a pre-teen need any encouragement to be melodramatic. A few of the gags were obvious and a joke about the Kardashians – told by the older Carr – felt out of place, but there were plenty of solid laughs (like Val mixing up Helen Keller and Christine Keeler).