Vale Colin from Accounts series 3

We’ve never been huge fans of Colin from Accounts. Prioritising romance and cute dog chaos over straight-up laughs isn’t the way to keep anyone who wants comedy to be funny interested. But there was almost enough good stuff going on in series three for us not to totally hate it.

Also, this will clearly be a much worse show…

Production has commenced in Sydney on Tough Love, a new Australian original comedy series about a family confronting the possibility of life without their mother and three very unprepared children.

Created by and starring Rick Donald (Population 11, Educators), it also stars acclaimed Australian actress Miranda Otto (The Lord Of The Rings, Talk To Me) as Kerry Hart, mother to 39-year-old Shane played by Donald, Liz Kingsman (F1: The Movie, Project Hail Mary) as daughter Steph, Hugo Johnston-Burt (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, Return To Paradise) as middle son Rodney, and Jay Ryan (North of North, Territory) as Steph’s partner Mick.

The series will be directed by Trent O’Donnell (Hacks, Sunny Nights) and Madeleine Dyer (Ghosts Australia), the directing team behind Colin from Accounts.

Set within the chaos of a suburban Australian family, Tough Love follows Kerry as she receives a cancer diagnosis. Her immediate crisis isn’t her own mortality: it’s the terrifying realisation that all her adult children are totally incapable of surviving the world without her. Through the chaos, Tough Love explores the complicated bonds of family, the fear of losing someone you love and the messy, often hilarious struggle to become self-sufficient.

Ah yes, death, cancer and children having to cope without their mother, those three naturally hilarious topics. We’d rather watch a sitcom about 2000s Triple M show Tough Love than this. At least that’d have Mick Molloy and Robyn Butler in it.

So, maybe we take it back? Colin from Accounts is actually fine compared to Mum Cancer Death LOL?

At least Colin from Accounts put the effort in to make the non-“will they get back together (hint: yes)” parts of the show amusing. Like making Ashley’s dodgy stepfather Lee look increasingly like Rolf Harris. Or turning Gordon’s brother into a Hughesy-esque sweary whiner. And they were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to peripheral characters. There were plenty of them to enjoy throughout the series.

Ashley and Gordon’s obviously wrong for them new partners, twitchy, fish fanatic David and annoying lawyer Chelsea were pretty good value. And who knew Ashley’s Dad was a gay cruise ship entertainer? Played by, who else, Mark Trevorrow. Bob Downe may not be such a well-known comedy character these days, but after his one-episode cameo, Trevorrow definitely still has it when it comes to physical comedy and dodgy crooning.

Having said that, you need more than a sprinkling of funny characters to make an eight-episode series classic comedy, and the plotting and story arc were a real weak point in what should be a good send-off for Colin from Accounts.

Why was Gordon’s awful new boss (played by Broden Kelly) in only two episodes? And where was the reckoning after dodgy Lee’s appearance at the sperm bank?

There were some enjoyable episodes – the druggy sex party, the disastrous road trip – and then there was the meandering course of Ashley and Gordon getting back together. We know this isn’t one of those American shows where they’ve scoped out the multiple plot arcs of six seasons before episode one’s even aired, but the people who like Colin from Accounts watch those shows, and if we were one of them, we think we’d feel a bit ripped off about how this ended.