The return of Black Books did a very neat thing. It reminded us of the relationship of the three characters by splitting them up. It also did a tremendous sight gag without ever having to show it. The plot was simple. While Fran was on holiday, Bernard and Manny had split up due to Bernard accidentally toasting Manny’s hand in a Breville. We never see this, and the damage caused was represented by a piffling flappy bandage.
Sometime I think the show is a little bit too generous to its guest stars. Whilst Simon Pegg’s robotic bookstore manager was a great creation, I really just wanted to get the three regulars together. Though as seen, the realisation that they are all they have in their sad pathetic lives was both the best reintroduction, and marked for nice movement for the show. Black books is the best tradiional sitcom on British TV at the moment, and this run does not seem to have flagged.