Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps

The actors aren't too bad, but they're only young and haven't got the best comic timing yet. The direction (especially in the interludes) tries to be just a bit too hip and the writing relies too heavily on making jokes that a) aren't very good and b) are largely based on the sort of in-jokes that seem really funny to you and your friends, but that no-one else understands or appreciates.

I never watched this on its first airing but have done so on UK Gold re-runs. I found this to be extremely funny with a talented cast.

You either love it or hate it, but its classic, a sort of cross between Men Behaving badly and Coupling. Honestly give it a try, like coupling we can all relate to the storylines.

A realistic comedy

I found the first series unexpectedly funny. The writing is fresh and delightfully obscene! The young writer has had the courage to put lines and topics into a sitcom that have not been used before, but which people make jokes about all the time in real life. The cast, particularly the girls are superb and seem the fit the roles like a glove. So what if the show is a little like Friends, set in Runcorn - so long as it's funny! The show is let down by the laughter track - in an odd reversal of the usual criticism - it is not strong enough. I have been creasing myself with laughter with some lines only to hear silence from the recorded audience. The repeated viewing of the first series was even better - which is always a good sign. I am glad that the Beeb has agreed to a second series despite the criticism.

I have not seen the new series yet but I am looking forward to it coming to terrestrial soon.

I can't understand why people have criticised this show so heavily because it's absolutely hilarious.

I missed the show the first time around and only recently caught a few episodes on UKTV. The very first episode I saw had me laughing so hard, I cried! I was immediately hooked and bought the first two seasons on DVD.

One of the reasons the show is so funny is that most people can identify with the basic situations the writer, Susan Nickson, looks at. In addition, the characters are all human, complete with some pretty awful flaws. Even the actors fit their parts perfectly. They're not all staggeringly beautiful and they're not the world's greatest thespians - most of them are newcomers to TV or have relatively little experience. Having said that, the main characters Donna (Natalie Casey), Janet (Sheridan Smith), Johnny (Ralf Little) and Gaz (Will Mellor) are all played brilliantly ...with perfect delivery and comic timing.

The humour is often very crude (lots of jokes about "bum love") and some of the "issues" looked at are a little tasteless (one of the newest characters has learning difficulties) but isn't this how real life is? How likely is the man in the pub - who's just sunk six pints - to hold back from telling a joke that is a little racist or sexist? How many people do we meet day-to-day that have old-fashioned views about people with learning difficulties, or hold weird misconceptions? The important thing to remember is that the show always treats its characters/situations affectionately in the end. The character with learning difficulties (Munch), for example, always ends up on top or always gets the care and attention he needs from his brother (Gaz) or other people.

If you're not easily offended and are reasonably up to date with youth culture, give it a try!

I was fifteen when "Hollyoaks" first reared its painfully unimpressive head. The thing that disappointed me most about that terrible show was that it had so much potential. "Two Pints... ", another waste of a good concept, has in its cast two actors from that show - Natalie Casey and Will Mellor, both acted as comic relief in "Hollyoaks".

The episode I saw today featured Janet (Sheridan Smith) thinking about becoming a student. I was watching, getting annoyed at the portrayal of students as ridiculously upper-class muppets, when somebody asked Janet if she knew what an NVQ was. "Not Very Qualified?" interrupted Donna (Natalie Casey). That isn't simply a poor joke. That is a poor joke which I have heard used to describe NVQs since I was sixteen. And they stole it from common use and slapped it in the middle of a sitcom as if they wrote it - and it was still the best line in the show.

The nadir of the episode came at the end (yes, it was downhill all the way). Donna had spent the episode trying to prove that she could remain calm in the face of any provocation. By the end, Donna and Gaz (Mellor), her boyfriend, were walking by a canal, while she tried to remain calm as he admitted to trying to cheat on her, and recommended she dress more sleazily. Wouldn't you know it, she pushed him in the canal! Did the writers actually sit around thinking "I know, what if she pushes him in - they won't be expecting that!" It was one of the laziest punchlines I've ever seen.

Yet I'll carry on watching "Two Pints... ", because part of me still hopes that one day they'll write a good episode, and that the post-school, pre-"adult" demographic will have found a voice.