While I’ve read some distinctly dubious reviews of this week’s big drama Burn Up, it has to be said that it boasts one kick-ass cast: Rupert Penry-Jones, Marc Warren, Bradley Whitford, Claire Skinner and Neve Campbell all feature. I only mention this apparently irrelevant fact because I’ve just received a press release for another show with a kick-ass cast, which once again features Marc Warren. He makes a habit of turning up in great shows anyway – any CV on which you can find Hustle, Doctor Who, Life On Mars, Dracula, Hogfather, Band Of Brothers and State Of Play in quick succession is inherently impressive – and now he can add Mutual Friends to that list.

Mutual Friends is a six-part comedy drama which will air on BBC One this summer, and along with Marc Warren – who I would say is always worth tuning in for on his own – you also get Alexander Armstrong and Keeley Hawes for your money. Now, I know that not everyone was a fan of Hawes’s performance in Ashes To Ashes, but I actually felt that it was pretty brave and interesting, and light-years away from the modern goody-two shoes she could have been.

It should be noted that the words “comedy drama” can strike fear into the heart of a TV reviewer (the question of whether this is actually just a comedy without many jokes springs to mind) but that cast, and the involvement of writers from Goodness Gracious Me and a director who has worked on Ashes To Ashes and Shameless means that this has a lot going for it.

The set-up, by the way, sees Armstrong’s character Patrick wander into, and generally disrupt, the safe and cosy world of Martin, played by Warren, and his wife (Hawes) when a mutual friend throws himself under a train – always a fertile ground for comedy, I’m sure you’ll agree…