CHRISTOPHER STEVENS: Dare I say it? This sitcom is even funnier without Two Doors Doon 

Two doors away

Rating: *****

Handmade: Britain’s best woodworker – the final

Rating: **

Not many sitcoms can survive the loss of a central character. Only Fools And Horses was a rare example—and the great 80s American bar comedy Cheers achieved it twice.

Those shows are notable, as many fans claim that the staff changes made them even better. Buster Merryfield as Uncle Albert made Only Fools even richer, after the death of Lennard Pearce, who played Grandpa.

And while Shelley Long was a delight as Diane in Cheers, and everyone loved Coach (Nicholas Colasanto), it’s Woody Harrelson and Kirstie Alley that we all remember.

Doon Mackichan’s departure from Two Doors Down (BBC2) after nine years may seem like the end of the series. Her lazy, drunken, selfish suburban housewife monster, Cathy, worked like a slick on the script — sometimes bringing laughter, sometimes setting everything on fire.

Doon Mackichan’s departure from Two Doors Down (BBC2) after nine years may seem like the end of the series. But the charm of this sitcom is the way it takes the smallest variation on a theme and turns it into something unique

But the charm of this sitcom is the way it takes the smallest variation on a theme and turns it into something unique.

Each episode features the same cast of characters gathering in Eric and Beth’s front room – their gay son Ian and his friend Gordon, plus the coarse and biting neighbor Christine. For Colin (Jonathan Watson) to show up alone, rather than trot after Cathy like a pug on a leash, all it takes is to set off another firing squad of explosive one-liners.

Christine (Elaine C. Smith) is only too eager to know what happened: “I’m only asking as a friend. Is she out with someone else or has she just had enough?’

Cathy runs off with a timeshare salesman in Sharm el-Sheik. When Christine learns it’s in Egypt, she gives Ian and Gordon (Jamie Quinn and Kieran Hodgson) a knowing look. “Sun all year round,” she says, “although you should pretend to be cousins.”

Colin is in pieces. Dinner for him is “a fried egg and half a bottle of Whyte & Mackay,” before leaving his estranged wife on a voicemail to tell her for the third time that day that he’s fine and that he’ll never call her again .

It’s all scripted to perfection and performed with a hypnotic rhythm, as the characters constantly swing from world fatigue to sudden, gossip-like excitement. Who would have thought Two Doors Down could get any funnier?

Unlike sitcoms, reality show competitions suffer if the dialogue is too scripted.

Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker (C4) is a painful example – most of the comments from host Mel Giedroyc sound like they were written by a committee. So she was understandably pleased with her pun during the finale — after eight weeks, she finally got a prank that wasn’t wedged with a hammer and chisel.

When the judges inspected three home cocktail bars built by the finalists, Mel suggested they drink cava. “That’s a nice drink for a woodworker,” she chuckled, waiting for everyone to notice.

Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker (C4) is a painful example – most of the comments from host Mel Giedroyc sound like they were written by a committee

The complex constructions, with planks and acres of bar counter, took two full days. Timetables were an issue for this series: a weekend is both too short and way too long.

When mistakes are made, we know it’s because the contestants race against impossible deadlines.

At the same time, it’s hard to feel the urgency when Mel says, “Six hours in and the last big build is getting hot.”

I wondered who has a cocktail bar in their house these days. Del Boy was proud of his, but none of these designs would have fit in Peckham’s flat.

There would have been no room for Uncle Albert’s armchair.