Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Kelsey Grammer, Jack Cutmore-Scott, Toks Olagundoye, Jess Salgueiro, Anders Keith, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Peri Gilpin, Patricia Heaton, Jimmy Dunn, Kevin Daniels, Renee Pezzotta, Parvesh Cheena, Nike Doukas, Amy Sedaris, Harriet Sansom Harris, Yvette Nicole Brown, Jorsy Cass, Rachel Bloom, Greer Grammer, Andrew Leeds, Dan Butler, Rafael Cebrián, Giovanni Chambers, Edward Hibbert, Angelique Cabral, Robert Mammana, Eden Rose, Carol Burnett, Tiffany C. Adams.

To know farce is to understand the universe is a cosmic gag that never runs out of embarrassment, the beauty of the absurd, nor the swift kick of charade. Indeed, farce is what holds the being of creation together as people profess love and practise deceit as the joke spins ever onwards.

There are few true masters of the art who get to show their works at a world-wide level anymore, comedy has been almost sanitised to death, and the merest mention on screen can have the looks of concerned, well-intentioned, but ultimately humourless and sullen souls quivering in their response.

The mastered art that comes from the writing team and the creatives on screen of the new second series of Frasier to television absolutely have every base covered when it comes to pleasing the die hard fan and new admirer alike, and whilst you can never expect the situation to change, there is always something within the ethos of the series to clutch at and be thankful for in terms of an insight into how the ego and heart of the man works.

Series two finds that across the board, the growing relationship between Frasier, played as ever with terrific energy and groove by Kelsey Grammer, and his son Freddy, portrayed with sincere abundance by British actor Jack Cutmore-Scott. So much have they become part of their lives again that in the final episode of the series, Father Christmas the act of meddling in other’s lives, for the person’s good, becomes a joy to behold.

It is though to the highlight of the series, Murder Most Finch, that the series has its natural peak in the eyes of farce as Olivia Finch, played with enthralling brilliance by Toks Olagundoye, hosts a Murder Mystery evening for friends and colleagues, and where the opportunity for comedy comes from the depths of misgivings and jealousy; it is an outstanding episode, arguably one of the top ten across both eras of the programme, and in its mother show of Cheers.

With guests such as Dan Butler, who reprises his role as KACL sports host Bulldog Briscoe with effortless ease, even addressing a personal moment with a flourish, Harriet Sansom Harris who returns as Frasier’s manipulative former agent in the episode The Squash Courtship of Freddy’s Father, and the continuing laid back astuteness of Nicholas Lyndhurst as Frasier’s oldest friend Alan, the series is one of delightful comedy, never straying into cruelty, always in the truth of the moment, and forever fundamentally Frasier.

Ian D. Hall