Serving up laughs

Brenda Blethyn and Jimmy Akingbola play unlikely friends in a sitcom set in a seaside cafe

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NEW: COMEDY

Kate & Koji Wednesday, ITV HD, 8pm

Vera’s Brenda Blethyn swaps solving crimes for serving cups of tea as a cafe owner who forms a strong, if volatile, friendship with an African asylum seeker in ITV’s new comedy Kate & Koji, from the writers of Outnumbered.

Blethyn plays Kate and Rev’s Jimmy Akingbola is Koji, who comes into her struggling seaside cafe. After discovering he’s a doctor not legally allowed to work in the UK, Kate makes Koji an offer. She’ll give him free food and drinks in exchange for medical advice for her customers, many of whom have to wait weeks to see a GP.

Kate’s nephew Medium (The Inbetweeners’ Blake Harrison) spreads the word and the cafe is soon packed with locals wanting a consultation. But how long before Kate’s nemesis, Councillor Bone (