Martin prepares to leave a part of his childhood behind.

Its Martin’s last day at primary school and Phidelma has news for the Moones.

I’ve enjoyed this gentle comedy and will certainly watch series two but I can’t help but feel that it would have benefited from longer episodes to let us savour the comedy of some of the situations. For example, Martin’s parents Debra and Liam were hilarious in their own right but there was just not enough time to develop them further. Similarly Martin’s sisters, particularly Trisha, were comedy fare all on their own but with so much going on they were very much background characters which is a shame.

This week was Martin’s last week at primary school and he was determined to leave on a destructive note, planning on some serious mayhem and mischief while his friend Padraic was determined to leave in a gentler manner. However, as the week wore on, Martin started to realise that not only was he leaving behind his primary school but putting away a part of his childhood that he would never get back and his plans of destruction were discarded, only to be taken up by Padraic and some of his classmates. Meanwhile, Martin’s parents were trying to decide where to send their kids for the summer to keep them occupied. On realising that they had promised Sinead that she could go to an expensive Girl Guide camp should she come top of her class, the devious pair set about trying to sabotage her efforts when it appeared that she might be heading in the direction of success. Trisha was trying to keep her head down for a number of reasons, not one of which was studying and her truanting led her to guess that there was perhaps more to Phidelma’s rows with her boyfriend than meets the eye. Finally Phidelma had to come clean to her family about matters with her boyfriend throwing the Moone family into turmoil just in time for a second series!

There were some great little scenes in this episode with Liam trying to disrupt an exam with an empty lunch box, fleeing awkwardly when his deception was discovered – especially considering he bumped into Trisha hiding behind a bush smoking! Debra’s recollection of a saucy moment with Liam was interrupted by the sheer fact that she realised it wasn’t with him and this amazing piece of comedy was inspired. Martin’s wistful farewell to his school was somewhat marred by various students burning items and jumping on the teacher’s car and while utterly destructive, Martin was calm within the chaos.

Moone Boy is a lovely little sitcom with tender warmth and a potential for further comedy as Martin tackles growing up, turning from a sweet wee boy into no doubt a surly teenager. Entertaining and while my laughter levels rarely reached hysterical heights, the show raised many chuckles and was enjoyably silly and with heart.