Could you keep a secret for a week to win a million dollars?

Channel 4

****

Million Dollar Secret

Netflix

***

It might have been Davina McCall’s doing. Or Kirsty Wark’s. One of the Loose Women could have had a hand in it. Anyway, the menopause became such a mainstream subject someone made a sitcom about it. And it was funny. Whatever next?

The traditionally “difficult” second series is what’s next. I’m delighted to report that Bridget Christie’s comedy can still do the funny business, but it takes a fair old time to warm up. 

Linda (Christie, writer-director-star) is still in the Forest of Dean, having fled the family home and a life of domestic drudgery, meticulously recorded in ledgers down the years. Do you know how long it takes to empty the crumbs from a toaster? Linda does, and she wants the time back to spend as she pleases.

When the local women find out about “Linda’s ledger” they want the same deal. Soon, “the Mick Lynch of dusting” has started a revolution, much to the fury of the women’s other halves.

The forest setting and constant sunshine add to the comedy’s hippy-dippy charms, with Gloucestershire looking like America’s rural south. If the Detectorists vibes seem strong, that might be something to do with Mackenzie Crook being co-director.

When the jokes eventually get going The Change is back to its old self. In the meantime, there is a lot to enjoy, including Lisa Tarbuck as Siobhan, Linda’s disapproving older sister. Best of all are the head-to-head scenes, Alas Smith and Jones-style, between Christie and Paul Whitehouse (the very same), who plays dyed-in-the-wool sexist Tony. I’d happily have half an hour of those two alone. 

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Imagine for a second The Traitors, but set in Canada rather than Scotland. New kid on the reality show block, lot of competition, needs to make a big impression fast. The Traitors has murders. How about we set dogs on the contestants? Actual dogs.

It’s a long way from Clive James chuckling at Japanese game shows. 

Million Dollar Secret invites 12 strangers to a luxury hotel, The Stag, where one of them will be given a box of cash. To keep the million dollars their sudden good fortune must remain a secret from all the others. Add in some games, a nightly “elimination dinner”, a devilishly smooth Peter Serafinowicz as host and there you have it.

The six episodes look terrific, and there are some decent characters to follow, including “momma bear” Lauren from the Midwest and Sam, a New York City cop. 

But hang on a mo. I seem to recall Stephen Mangan hosting a similar gameshow last year, only this one was set in a Caribbean hotel and at stake was a briefcase containing 250k.  

Mind you, Mangan’s show, The Fortune Hotel, coming back this year for a second series, didn’t let dogs loose on contestants. Worry not: the hounds are exceptionally well-trained just to catch up with their “prey” and nothing more. There are limits, you know.