STEVE Coogan is the man responsible for one of THE great comic creations of recent years in Alan Partridge.

As with any comedian who has produced a work of genius, the problem is then where to go next?

In Mr Coogan's case it seemed as though that was a series of unspectacular movies, semi-regular appearances in the tabloids with various lurid headlines surrounding his love life and the curious case of Courtney Love.

But redemption is at hand in the form of Saxondale, currently running on BBC2.

Although no Alan Partridge - let's face it, you only get one character like that during a career - there is something genuinely appealing about Saxondale.

For the uninitiated, he's a former heavy metal roadie and sound engineer whose life really ended when he gave up life on the road with the likes of Deep Purple.

Now he works as a pest controller with his naive young sidekick Raymond.

If you're looking for huge belly laughs, then you're not going to find them in Saxondale.

There aren't even any real jokes in most of the episodes but that's part of the charm.

At times it is extremely poignant and even sad but some clever writing stops the whole thing from becoming embarrassing.

It does help if you have a working knowledge of the late Seventies, early Eighties music scene but there are some beautifully observed lines in the show.

For something a bit different, give it a try.