It's very, very dark. Too nasty for my tastes - but quite well put together.

Which series of HDYWM? Personally, I loved it. I don't know why it wasn't seen by more people. It's one of the few sitcoms of recent years that's been genuinely witty. It is quite dry humour, but I never thought of it as being that dark. Maybe I've got quite a high dark-threshold...

Really thought HDYWM was good when it was on. Not sure how it will look now, just a year or so later. Things change quickly.

As I recall Dylan Moran managed to adapt his shambling stage personna to the character remarkably well and really made him quite endearing, and he and Charlotte Coleman made quite a convincing couple. You genuinely felt like they might have been compatible. The initial premise (Bloke who runs big comedy club in London marries into landed gentry and comes to live in the local village where he doesn't fit in and everyone in his wife's family hates him) seemed a bit pointless after a few episodes. It basically became a show about this bloke trying to get on in a world where he didn't initially fit in, and achieved this pretty successfully and believably. Although I must admit the idyllic rural nature of the village was a little cheesey.

And of course it was an early introduction to two other great performers: Mark Heap (right up there with Kevin Eldon as contender for the best thing in Jam and Big Train) who played Charlotte Coleman's previous boyfriend and fellow school teacher who was still in love with her, and Peter Serafinowicz who played her thick, violent, rugby playing brother.

Essentially what made it for me was that pretty much all of the characters were more than one-dimensional -- something you don't see much in sitcoms these days (c.f. Peter O'H's comments in the 'How do I write comedy' thread). And, almost most importantly, it didn't have a laugh track, which stopped it feeling like a cheesey BBC sitcom in the first place. In fact it's just kind of sweet [ack].

So, yes, I'd recommend it. Thanks for noticing it's on again. I'd be glad to see it again. Well done Simon Nye. I forgive you for that thing set in a TB hospital.

Oh - Moran's character eventually fit in. My dark comments are due to the fact I only saw the first episode where everyone hated him. Also, the premise of the show (bloke who loves living in London has to go and live in the middle of the sticks) is my worst nightmare.

I thought their relationship was the most unconvincing I'd seen on national television.
I couldn't get past the wife's complete lack of awareness, sympathy at her husband evidently having a rough time and leaving his life/career, and unwillingness to compromise. It completely spoiled it for me.