The return of Peter Kay's Car Share was in my diary for a few reasons.

Firstly, they film it outside my house, and the house used as Kayleigh's old gaffe belongs to our next door neighbours, Letitia and Phil.

You can see my fence on the telly. And the garage of Alan, who lives over the road. Rita's hedge.

Also, it's massively popular and filmed mostly in and around Manchester^[1] .

But the big surprise was a hilarious cameo from Elbow frontman Guy Garvey.

Garvey pops up right at the end as 'Steve' ("Don't give him eye contact. You'll be here all night.")

He looks convincing as a home mechanic, tinkering with his pet project under a Salford gazebo.

John and Steve bond over a shared passion for bikes. "She sings...like a bird."

"Come on lovebirds" gripes Kayleigh Kitson (the excellent Sian Gibson). "I'm missing Corrie here."

Outside of the rock star bit part, it's the switch from ordinary to fantasy that makes Car Share so popular, and relatable. That and the every day markers that commuters have to deal with. Terrible radio DJs (Forever FM is scarily accurate), cyclists with headcams, getting lost at the tram stop. Other people in general.

One minute Kayleigh is at a bus stop, the next she's serenading John in his dreams as he sits at traffic lights. To S Club 7. She bumps up her new job when talking to strangers. Anything to help the Monday to Friday mundane appear more exciting. More for her sake than theirs.

'I'm on the Metro now!' boasts Kayleigh as her public transport voyage continues. Manchester locals will note the unconventional journey - from Salford to Chorlton, to Wythenshawe, via the city centre, then back to Chorton.

"Blimey, you get about. What next? Rickshaw?"

The problem with their split journey of course is that phone signals are as frustrating as the traffic snarl up at the bottom of the Mancunian Way that John finds himself in with nobody to glance across at.

They're already like a married couple, but the will-they-won't-they is the hook this series will hang on.

"You shouldn't be eating chips John. Bad for your cholesterol!" says Kayleigh, like the long-suffering wife.

The gentle flirting between them is sweet. He guides her around Chorlton by phone. Until she finds...him.

"Fancy a lift?"

And everything seems right again.

The drive home brings the duet. He offer to pick her up tomorrow. She smiles.

"I said I'd drop some bike parts off for Steve," winks John.

But Sian Gibson gets the best lines - the writing is first class but Gibson delivers potty-mouthed exclamations with understated class.

Kay is a fan of comic conventions - will he bring John and Kayleigh together by the end of it? The joy of Car Share is the simplicity. Two people. A car. Some back and forth gags.

There are genuine big laughs when John becomes the victim of a (rude) viral video.

The soundtrack is deftly put together - the music is the third cast member really.

It's not groundbreaking, but it doesn't have to be.

Car Share is back - and it's destined to pick up even more passengers second time around.