A comedy-drama filled with big names which starts with the suicide of a man with a wife and three young children. I'm guessing that the 'big names' bit of that particular pitch is supposed to be the most appealing - and let's face it, when the other two bits are the least promising genre in television and, well, suicide, that probably is the case - but there's something about it that sets alarm bells ringing. In a costume drama or something similar you expect reams of famous names to scroll across the screen, but when it's a comedy-drama you can't help but suspect that they're over-compensating for something...

Here's the set up: Mutual Friends is a new series starring Alexander Armstrong and Marc Warren, and starts, as I said, with the suicide of the best friend of their respective characters, Patrick and Martin. Martin's wife, Jen, played by another BBC One favourite Keeley Hawes, slept with aforementioned dead friend, but now sees fit to make Martin feel guilty for being so inattentive towards her that she was driven into the arms of another man. Martin is a play-by-the-rules kinda guy, Patrick is just a player.

The first thing that struck me was that the casting seems a bit back-to-front - doesn't Warren normally play the fun-loving, love 'em and leave 'em types? He certainly does it well in Hustle. Here, unfortunately, an actor who is so brilliant at playing gregarious characters is lumbered with an absolute dullard while Armstrong gets all the fun. And Patrick is fun to watch (especially against the tetchy and rather dislikable duo of Martin and Jen. Okay, especially Jen). He is, of course, precisely what Martin needs - a good bit of light and laughter while his home life crumbles - and we'll no doubt see Martin come out of his hitherto rather colourless shell over the next few episodes thanks to his tactless but (you suspect) ultimately good-natured old friend.

There's an assumption in TV circles that comedy-dramas are generally comedies that don't have enough jokes. Here, I think, the intention was probably always simply to make something solid, frothy and diverting, and on those rather unambitious levels it certainly succeeded. It was popcorn TV, and didn't pretend to be anything more. Of course, with the talent at hand, you could reasonably expect something a bit more exciting, especially as it feels as though everyone is working in third gear. But if you're happy to do that too, and don't get too worked up about it not being ground-breaking, then there's some fun to be had.