FROM FRIENDS TO FAMILY (BIG BOYS, SERIES TWO)

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And so to its tricky second series.

Series two of Jack Rooke's autobiographical sitcom 'Big Boys' comes 18 months after the first aired on Channel 4 to much acclaim.

A heartwarming mix of buddy comedy, sexual awkwardness, 2010s student nostalgia and honest observations about male mental health, the first run earned Rooke a Writers Guild of Great Britain award and one of its stars Jon Pointing BAFTA and Royal Television Society nominations for Best Male Comedy Performance.

The first post 'Derry Girls' vehicle for its main star Dylan Llewellyn, it followed the adventures of his version of Rooke as he came to terms with the death of his London minicab driving father, his arrival in the rather ropey Brent University and his desperation to lose his virginity as a gay teen who had yet to come out to his family.

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Along the way, Jack got to forge a close friendship with Pointing's Danny, a working class straight lad from Margate from a dysfunctional family with mental health challenges.

They acquired as friends, Izuka Hoyle's no nonsense, fiercely intelligent Scottish Oxbridge reject Corinne and Olisa Odele's outlandishly gay Nigerian fashion student Yemi who took Jack under his wing in a bid to help him lose his virginity.

Series Two finds Jack still struggling to lose his virginity after coming out to his kindhearted mum Camille Coduri's platinum blonde haired Peggy, his cousin Harriet Webb's Shannon and grandmother Annette Badland's Nanny Bingo.

Peggy has informally adopted Danny following his mental health struggles and in the wake od his nan Sheila Reid's Iris succumbing to the ravages of Alzheimer's.

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Danny is overwhelmed by her kindness, as she offers him an alternative home to stay over the summer break from uni.

With the gang entering second year, Danny takes it upon himself to find them a student house to stay off campus but has unrealistically high expectations that result in them frantically scrambling around for a place to live.

Turning to Katy Wix's student union employee Jules for help, Jack and Danny find themselves back in the ropey blue shed they were living in in first year, with Yemi and Corinne joining them.

Living with Yemi reveals a surprising and very noisy sideline hustle he has going on.

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Jack acquires a table tennis table he doesn't really want from the lecturer he has a crush on, Robert Gilbert's Tim as he continues to fixate on whether the academic is gay.

Despite Danny's interest in her, Corinne gets involved with a pretentious spoken word artist Barney Fishwick's Spencer.

Jack flirts with Jake Dunn's Oscar and thinks he is getting somewhere until the fellow student goes home with Yemi.

As part of their journalism degree, Danny and Corinne get work experience on a cringey lads magazine and website while Jack winds up manning the phones on a "yoof" programme on a community radio station.

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Danny's rather unpleasant, hard drinking, estranged father, Marc Warren's Dennis surprisingly reaches out to him.

After celebrating with her family and Jack's friends what would have been her husband's 60th birthday, Peggy also tentatively starts to date another minicab driver but doesn't know whether to tell her son.

Shannon also winds up getting pregnant, with Shane Zaza's gormless delivery driver Tariq the father.

As with the first series, Roofe's sitcom continues to mine 2010s nostalgia, sexual embarrassment and student life for its laughs.

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Among the phenomena Series Two affectionately pokes fun at are lads mags culture, the ice bucket challenge, the obsession with updating Facebook feeds, chirpsing and references to Jack's obsession with Alison Hammond and her participation in 'Strictly Come Dancing'.

However there remains an undercurrent of sadness as well, with Rooke's narration hinting at a much greater tragedy at play which has yet to reveal itself.

Ultimately, though, for 'Big Boys' to work, it needs to get its balance between bittersweet comedy and drama right.

Series Two is a bit hit and miss.

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Always watchable, the first two thirds of the six episode run doesn't quite deliver the laughs with the frequency that you might hope.

It does, however, really hit its marks in the fifth and sixth episodes, with the work experience episode a particular highlight.

Rooke's writing is still decent though and he has an ear for a decent line.

But what really keeps you invested are the performances.

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As ever, Llewellyn delights as the sweet natured and hapless virgin Jack whose deep friendship with Danny is really touching.

Hoyle is once again strong as the no nonsense Corinne but she takes her character further by revealing a sensitivity underneath the tough exterior.

Odele continues to amuse as the larger than life Yemi, while Coduri, Badland and Reid provide much of the show's heart.

Webb really develops Shannon into the kind of quirky fringe family character that also thrived in Lisa McGee's 'Derry Girls' and she delivers some of the show's best lines.

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Zaza, Warren, Fishwick and Dunn are good additions to the cast - although special mention should be given to the guest appearances in Episode Five by Rosa Robson as the radio presenter Beth, Henry Perryment as a knobby lads mag editor Eddie and Dani Moseley as one of his disgruntled employees, Meryl.

Watch out for the appearance of one of Llewellyn's 'Derry Girls' co-stars as an Irish midwife alongside Eoin Duffy as a colleague.

Wix sometimes veers too much into the territory of impersonating David Brent as the Brent University students union employee Jules, while Gilbert is a sturdy presence as Jack, Corinne and Danny's exasperated lecturer Tim.

As with Series One, though, it is Pointing who really impresses as Danny, with many of Series Two's heartwarming moments fashioned around him.

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Pointing delivers a really subtle performance as a Margate lad who graduates from being a bit of a skirt chaser in the first series to a really enthusiastic and caring member of an alternative family that he is building around him.

Breezily directed by Jim Archer, series two continues to revel in its very British 'In Betweeners' style mix of bawdy and embarrassing situational humour.

And while it doesn't land the volume of gags you feel it should, you still feel invested enough in the fate of its characters for Series Three.

That should see Jack, Danny, Corinne and Yemi navigating their final year of undergraduate life at Brent.

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And as anyone who has been an undergraduate knows that means a transition into the real world of work and all the challenges that brings.

There's plenty of material for Rooke to explore  

Let's hope he gets the mix of comedy and drama just right to give this promising show the perfect series it deserves.

(Series Two of 'Big Boys' was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK between January 14-February 11, 2024, with all episodes made available on the All 4 streaming service on January 14, 2024)