ALL IN THE FAMILY (THE DRY, SERIES TWO)

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After delivering a really impressive debut season, the pressure has been on Nancy Harris' series on ITV and RTE to really raise the bar.

Not only does her Dublin comedy drama do that, it does it with ease.

Directed by Paddy Breatnach, 'The Dry' tells the story of Roisin Gallagher's Shiv Sheridan, an alcoholic who returns from London to live with her dysfunctional middle class family.

(SPOILERS ALERT)

At the end of Series One, Shiv's battle to stay sober spectacularly came off the rails.

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An affair with the posey, vain, feckless love of her life, Moe Dunford's artist Jack saw her lose her job.

Treated as a screw up by the rest of her family, she ditched a plan to return to London and instead turned up drunk at a reception for her uptight sister, Siobhan Cullen's doctor Caroline and her doormat of a boyfriend, Eoin Duffy's Rory in the art gallery where she had been working.

Her parents' marriage was fracturing after it emerged her father, Ciaran Hinds' Tom had been having an affair with Helene Patarot's acupuncturist Mina.

Shiv seized the microphone at the reception to deliver some home truths at the party where Caroline's cheating on Rory was exposed.

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Meanwhile Shiv's mum, Pom Boyd's Mary agreed to accompany her to AA meetings in an admission that she also had a problem with alcohol.

Series Two begins with Bernie finally agreeing to speak at one of the AA meetings on Shiv's birthday.

She goes down a storm when she delivers a rant about the treatment of women in Ireland for generations - much to the annoyance of Shiv who thinks her mum needed to talk about her own addiction.

Just before that moment, there's a montage that reveals big upheavals in the Sheridan household.

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Bernie is now sharing a bed with a new lover, Michael McElhatton's pompous academic Finbar who has moved into the house and assumed the role of "the man of the house".

After her dramatic break-up with Rory at the end of Series One, Caroline is having one night stands.

Tom is still at home but living in a converted shed in the back garden, while Finbar sneers at him in the kitchen.

Shiv and Caroline's gay brother, Adam Richardson's Ant is struggling to hold down his estate agency job and feels inferior to his successful lawyer boyfriend, Emmanuel Okoye's Max.

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Some things are looking up for Shiv, though.

She has remained sober after her meltdown at Caroline and Rory's party and has an administrative job in an art gallery which opens up the possibility of a bursary.

Shiv also catches the eye of Sam Keeley's charismatic barista and restaurateur Alex - a relationship that is encouraged by her AA sponsor, Janet Moran's Karen who is getting restless in her own marriage after ten years of sobriety.

Attracted to Alex, Shiv is initially wary because her drinking is often triggered by bad life choices around men.

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A chance meeting with Jack and his baby pushes her towards Alex who offers stability but also has his own family demons to contend with.

Engaged in a bitter separation with Shiv's former boss Dagmar Doring's Kirsten, Jack is struggling.

He's homeless - living in a van - and starts to desperately pursue a relationship with Shiv, even turning up at her AA meeting pretending to be an alcoholic.

Caroline discovers she is pregnant and starts to regret breaking up with Rory who now has a fiery Latin girlfriend, Paula Lafayette's Maria Luisa.

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While Ant has to suffer the indignity of delivering flyers to promote the estate agency, Tom is shocked when he is suddenly laid off from his delivery job.

He also becomes increasingly needled by Finbar who he suspects is financially leeching off Bernie.

His estranged wife basks in the glory of her AA meeting speech, hanging out with a gay bestie Thommas Kane Byrne's Billy who takes it upon himself to provide PR services for her.

Drunk on all the adulation, Bernie agrees to do an interview with a tabloid about her role in helping uncover the murder of a neighbour.

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Bernie, however, is also still secretly drinking, hiding bottles of white wine in the cistern of her bathroom toilet.

With the spicy stew of family dysfunction getting hotter and hotter throughout the series and Alex fielding a tempting job offer in Melbourne, Shiv has to weigh up whether she should join him or risk her sanity in Dublin.

One of the joys about watching 'The Dry' is witnessing the delusion of everyone around Shiv who treats her as the family screw up when they are making worse life choices.

This is particularly true in Series Two in which Harris brings the dysfunction on to a whole new level.

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Another joy is the performances.

Once again in the anchor role of Shiv, Roisin Gallagher demonstrates why she is one of the most exciting talents to emerge on the small screen in recent years, as her recent BAFTA nomination for 'The Lovers' has recognised.

Shiv is a recovering alcoholic who should be looking after herself but in Series Two she finds herself increasingly having to clean up the messes of those around her.

But in this bittersweet comedy drama, she receives little gratitude for all her good deeds - just disdain.

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However 'The Dry' isn't just Gallagher's show.

It's a triumph of ensemble acting, with Pom Boyd, Ciaran Hinds, Siobhan Cullen, Adam John Richardson, Janet Moran and Moe Dunford continuing to contribute in spades to its success.

Boyd is wonderful as Bernie, a sly but ultimately lost addict who throws herself into a toxic relationship and other terrible decisions.

Dunford remains terrific as a self absorbed, vain man in a porkpie hat whose misplaced sense of himself has been a little upended by the disintegration of his relationship with Kristen.

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Hinds is as excellent as always, as his character wrestles with the humiliation of losing his job while his ex flaunts her new lover in front of him.

Richardson impresses too as their self centred son while Cullen really shows growth as Caroline's perfect life is turned upside down by her pregnancy.

Moran builds on the good work of the first series as Karen who shows signs of wear and tear.

Emmanuel Okoye is on song as Ant's boyfriend Max, while Bryan Quinn makes a welcome return as the D4 rugger estate agency boss, Eddie.

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The quality of Harris' writing is so good that new additions to the cast also thrive.

Keeley is excellent as the new love in Shiv's life - hos role is a world away from Viking who he plays in 'Kin' but you can't help but wonder if his character is just too good to be true.

When Jimmy Smallhorne turns up as Gareth, a blast from Alex's past, his eye catching appearance threatens the barista's relationship with Shiv.

Thommas Kane Byrne shakes off his usual Dublin gangland schtick to camp it up as Bernie's AA best friend.

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Michael McElhatton also turns in a fantastic comic performance as Finbar, the cuckoo in the Sheridans' nest.

Taken together with Apple TV+'s 'Bad Sisters,' the BBC's 'Blue Lights' and RTE and AMC's 'Kin,' Series Two of 'The Dry' confirms these are great days for television drama on both sides of the Irish border.

Beautifully written by Harris with genuine laugh out loud moments and astutely directed by Breatnach, it allows its cast to revel in the many flaws of its characters and doesn't strike a forced beat.

Long may it continue to shine because it has just raised the water level for every other great Irish show.

(Series two of 'The Dry' was made available for streaming on ITVx on March 14, 2024)