The first series of Mum found saintly Cathy (Lesley Manville) mourning the death of her husband and dealing with her, erm, colourful family. The second series starts with a marginally lighter issue. She is about to turn sixty and also has her Essex family descending on her en masse.

I have to be honest, I have a bit of difficulty with Mum, which is written by Stefan Golaszewski and has already bagged a Bafta award. While Lesley Manville delivers a brilliantly subtle performance at the centre – as does Peter Mullan as her slow-burn suitor Michael – there are a few too many cartoonish monsters around her for my liking.

The prime example of this is Kelly, the girlfriend of Cathy’s son Jason. Kelly (Liz McGrillis) simply puts her foot in it too often, saying the wrong thing and doing the wrong thing - for example, treating Cathy as positively geriatric. Kelly means well but is so thoughtless it is often hard to see the good in her. In the first series we saw that she had a difficult mother herself but I'm not sure if that entirely excuses her.

At the start of this episode Kelly is sitting on a wooden table and rocking it so much it set my teeth on edge. Cathy of course gently suggests that she gets off. And when she doesn’t Cathy just lets her stay on it. Jason (Sam Swainsbury) is not much better, wandering around the house not helping or doing anything, just staring at his phone. It’s like watching two people with learning difficulties. 

And then there is Cathy's brother Derek's partner Pauline (Dorothy Atkinson), who is so stuck up she makes Hyacinth Bucket seem like Stormzy. When she is told they are going to a carvery for the birthday lunch you almost expect her to walk out of the house and keep walking. In fact she just walks out of the house and has a cigarette. Quite what the simple, down-to-earth potato-loving Derek (Ross Boatman) sees in her or vice versa we may never know. 

Add a couple of foulmouthed grandparents (Karl Johnson and Marlene Sidaway) to the mix  and you’ve got a veritable gallery of grotesques. I do like Mum, but it’s mainly down to Lesley Manville and Peter Mullan. Apparently a third series has already been commissioned. Maybe the rest of the family can be killed off in a gruesome Essex-based carvery accident and Cathy and  Michael can finally enjoy some peace in that one.

Mum, Tuesdays from February 20, BBC2, 10pm.