Dinosaur series 2: cast, plot, Glasgow, but does it deliver?

The first series of Dinosaur, Ashley Storrie and Matilda Curtis’s sitcom about a young woman living with autism, had a lot going for it.

First, it was set in Glasgow. Not Glesga - Glasgow, and specifically the West End. You would find no misery or poverty here, no Rab Cs and Mary Dolls to embarrass the rest of us. Only nice, quirky, middle-class people roamed the patch of Earth on which Dinosaur was set. 

It was great to see Glasgow looking so bonnie, with much of the show shot at Kelvingrove, where the central character, Nina, played by Storrie, is a palaeontologist.

The cast was pretty decent. Greg Hemphill (Still Game) played Nina’s dad, David Carlyle (It’s a Sin) her brother, Sally Howitt (River City’s Scarlett) her mother, and Lorn Macdonald (Shetland, Outlander) was Nina’s will-they-won't-they friend Lee, who runs a coffee van. 

Above all, Dinosaur had Storrie, writer-actor, daughter of the late comedian Janey Godley and possessor of funny bones in her own right, as anyone who caught her Radio 4 show, What’s the Story, Ashley Storrie? will know. 

Dinosaur won two Bafta Scotland awards and a lot of media attention. So what was Mrs Grumpy Drawers TV critic’s problem? Possibly the fact that across six episodes, I laughed once. Episode three. I made a note. Dinosaur, alas, was a sitcom with a very pleasing “sit” but precious little in the way of “com”. 

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Now it is back for a second series. The tale picks up with Nina working on the Isle of Wight. While desperately homesick, she has made a pal, an American palaeontologist who is the Cary Grant to her Rosalind Russell, the Milhouse to her Lisa Simpson. Meanwhile, back in Glasgow, Lee is still on the scene. With life changing fast, Nina has big choices to make, as was also the case in series one when her sister got engaged.

I didn’t mind the recycling of the plot, but I was hoping for better on the laughs front. It was not to be.  

While I get that it is meant to be a gentle comedy exploring a complex subject - in this case, living with autism - that doesn’t mean it can’t generate laughs. Also returning this week is Trying (BBC1, Tuesday). The story of a couple desperate to start a family, it deals with tough stuff too, but every line is polished, every gag finessed. It flows easily, whereas Dinosaur feels stop-start. And don’t get me started on the joke involving a PDF. 

The Dry, Alma’s Not Normal, Such Brave Girls, it’s a crowded market out there for edgy comedies that can make a serious point and be funny at the same time. 

While watching the new series in full, I kept thinking of Armando Iannucci’s mantra to writers - “Shorter. Funnier. Better.” Is anyone saying that on Dinosaur? 

The potential is there, but the comedy needs several more passes before it can sing. Do that, and Dinosaur could be something to shout about on BBC1 instead of sitting quietly on BBC Scotland/BBC Three and iPlayer.