Where Friends is a US sitcom about drinking coffee and dating, Coupling is a UK sitcom about drinking and shagging.

It's currently in it's third series (as at October 2002), and is going to be used to replace Friends in the US after that show's last series.

It's the first sitcom in years that's had me corpsing on the couch for the entire episode.

The two leads are played by Jack Davenport, (ex of This Life), and Susan Alexander. (You know - the incredibly sexy one off of Smack the Pony).

It's written by Andrew Moffat, who also wrote the BBC2's 'Joking apart' - the first situation farce.

Almost single-handedly, it's demonstrating that British comedy programmes need not be limited to the quizcom format to be funny.