Main female character with a chaotic life, dishy enigmatic male, boozy friends, embarrassing sexual scenarios, therapy sessions...it's impossible to write about Roisin Conaty's GameFace without at least noting some of the similarities with Fleabag. it is worth noting, however, that this is the second series, not a new show, so any similarities with the second series of Fleabag that has just gone stellar and been garlanded with 11 Emmy nominations is purely coincidental.

And, of course, writer/star Roisin Conaty is very different to writer/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, background-wise. And Marcella (Conaty) is very different to cafe-owner Fleabag (Waller-Bridge). In this first episode the wannabe actor is scraping together a living as a plague victim in a museum. It's not exactly a role Marcella was born to play, but she throws herself into it with aplomb, even if the punters walk past without giving her boils a second glance.

The main plot in episode one involves the tangles we get into when we tell a lie. Marcella is smitten with her hot driving instructor Jon (Damien Molony) so when she passes her test with flying colours she decides to pretend she has failed again so that she will have to keep seeing him for more lessons, and hpefully something extra on the side that doesn't involve L plates.

Of course, what sounds like a simple fib soon spirals out of control and it is fun just to sit back and watch things teeter on the brink of spooling out into a terrible mess. Meanwhile there's a comic bonking scene between flatmate Caroline (Caroline Ginty) and filthy rat boyfriend Mark (Alfie Brown) and plenty of potential for humour when Marcella's life coaching therapist (Karl Theobald) lets his student Frances (Eliot Salt) sit in on their sessions.

Strong writing is helped by a strong – largely female – cast that also includes Pauline McLynn as Marcella's mum, Dustin Demri-Burns as her ex Simon and stand-up comedian Tiff Stevenson as boozy friend Tania who does some classic drunken falling down at the end.