The 11 best returning US dramas coming soon to a TV near you (3/11) | The Riches

When’s it back? Virgin 1, Wednesday 3 September

The world’s always a better place when Eddie Izzard is on the telly, even if he’s not doing stand-up routines about cats driving Pavlov round the bend.

If you’ve never seen it, The Riches stars Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver as Wayne and Dahlia, a pair of con-artist drifters who stumble upon possibly the best ruse ever, almost seamlessly taking on the identity of the Riches, a couple killed in a car crash en route to a new life.

For most of series one they enjoyed the white-picket-fence life of suburban America with their three kids, but things started to go horribly wrong as people started to pop up who knew they weren’t who they said they were – including the real Doug Rich’s lifelong friend, Pete.

From what we’ve been reading, it seems the second series of The Riches will be much, much darker than the first – is that possible? Dahlia has to hit the road with sweetly senile Grandma Rich, adventure-seeking Nina and the kids, while Wayne stays behind to clear up the Pete-shaped mess, which is quickly turning into a Dale-shaped disaster. I’m starting to grind my teeth just thinking about that man.

The family will be staggering from one nightmare scenario to another for a somewhat limited run this time, as season two only has seven episodes (at this rate it’ll be 2020 before we stop feeling the repercussions of that flamin’ writers’ strike!), but thankfully a full-length season three is in the pipeline.

In the meantime, you might enjoy Izzard’s chat with the good folks from satirical site The Onion, or check out this site for some great promo clips. Alternatively, just kick back and enjoy these wonderfully improvised webisodes – Izzard at his best (they are also on the series one DVD)…

• Click here for other autumn returning US dramas