Two Doors Down is a Scottish television sitcom, produced by BBC Studios that is broadcast across the UK at prime time. It was created by Simon Carlyle and Gregor Sharp and stars Arabella Weir, Alex Norton, Doon Mackichan, Jonathan Watson and Elaine C. Smith. Following a pilot broadcast in 2013, the first series began airing April 2016. A second series began airing on 21 November 2016. The show was recommissioned in December 2016 for a third series by BBC Two which aired in early 2018, as well as a Christmas special in December 2017. A fourth series was broadcast between January and February 2019. A fifth series is to commence filming in summer 2020, and set to air in 2021. Two Doors Down won the Best Comedy award at the 2017 Royal Television Society Scotland Awards.
Premise
Two Doors Down focuses on neighbours living side by side in a typical Glasgow suburb. BBC Scotland describes the characters as "not so happily living together" – the neighbours are constantly visiting uninvited, and overstaying their welcome, at Beth and Eric Baird's house. Beth is often taken advantage of by her neighbours, frequently having to make tea, pour drinks and prepare food, while the remaining characters chat in the living room. Eric and Beth therefore try and avoid their neighbours as much as possible so they can enjoy some peace and quiet in their own home. The series creator, Simon Carlyle states, "Two Doors Down is about crazy neighbours. We’ve all got them. They seem ok, but when you scratch the surface they’re a bit nuts."
The pilot episode was shown on 31 December 2013. It was shot with all the crew and cast in a cramped, medium-sized living room. After the pilot was deemed successful, filming was moved to purpose-built sets in Dumbarton. Exterior scenes are filmed in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire. Series four was filmed in Avonbrae Crescent, Hamilton.
Critical reception
Two Doors Down has received mixed reviews. Writing for The Guardian, Ben Arnold said the pilot for the series was "a mundane set-up, not helped by a woeful lack of laughs." Writing again for The Guardianat the beginning of the second series, Arnold called the series "woeful". The Arts Desk wrote that the series "owes an awful lot to both Abigail’s Party and The Royle Family, as well as socially awkward characters from any number of sketch shows, with equally broadly defined characters – only without the bits that make you laugh out loud." Writing for RadioTimes, David Butcher said "Sometimes Two Doors Down is so uneventful it almost vanishes" but called it a "nicely sour-edged sitcom". Conversely, writing for The Guardian, Zoe Williams said "this endearing ensemble BBC Comedy about a sort of Scottish neighbours has something-for-everyone humour." Euan Ferguson wrote in The Observer in December 2016 "BBC Two's Two Doors Down has it all. Wit, delight, long awkward silences, burps, bacon-farts."
