You can tell a comedy series has taken off when people who don't usually discuss sitcoms are discussing it. For the last week I've been on a bit of a loop repeatedly meeting people who have told me they have really been enjoying the new Motherland spin-off, Amandaland, starring Lucy Punch as snobby, horsey Amanda who is down on her luck.

Nearly everyone I've met has loved it. With one exception. My long-suffering partner was not impressed. She thought it was too "obvious". Well, yes it is pretty cartoonish at times but that doesn't stop it from being genuinely laugh out loud funny at other times.

Watch the second episode which airs tonight (February 12) if you haven't already binged the boxset on iPlayer. The action is set around a boot fair with Amanda hauling her old junk including an enormous mirror and hoping to make a mint, only to end up hauling most of it back. And naturally when she is away from the stall one of her items is sold by someone else for a fraction of its value...

But maybe my partner didn't realise that this is a BBC One sitcom. Of course there are comedic calamities like this. But there are also brilliant lines. Irish character Fi, played by Derry Girls’ Siobhan McSweeney, is a chef in a super cool restaurant called Shin. So when someone says she is of "Shin fame" the phrase is misheard. It's a brilliant gag and if anyone disagrees they will have me to deal with.

In fairness my partner is not quite alone. Some armchair critics have suggested that Amanda is not sympathetic enough to be a lead character. But when did lead characters have to be sympathetic? Was Basil Fawlty sympathetic? Is Alan Partridge sympathetic? (very occasionally perhaops). Others have grudgingly suggested that they only enjoyed Amandaland because they had very low expectations for it and were pleasantly surprised. This is so stuck up. Wouldn't it be simpler for them to say that they enjoyed it?

I've only seen the first two episodes so far but it is hard to resist forging ahead to see more. Maybe it's the ultimate seal of approval that I saw someone doing just that on the 17.50 from East Croydon to Brighton last night. Even watching Amandaland on a thumbnail screen over her shoulder (see below) made me laugh.

Amandaland, Wednesdays, 9pm, BBC One and series all available on iPlayer.

Picture credit: BBC/Merman/Natalie Seery