Fear, Stress & Anger (BBC2); Once Upon A Time In Iran (C4): FEAR, stress, anger - three words that might describe the feelings of a TV critic faced with a new comedy series.

But Waiting For God writer Michael Aitken uses them for the title of his humorous dissection of middle class life in 21st Century.

Yes, it's another comedy about suburbia and sofas and senile grannies. The surprise is that I laughed. Not necessarily at jokes about a middle-aged man's infrequent sexual potency. "I only get one a month, what am I supposed to do - go fishing with it?," asks Martin when his wife rejects impromptu sex over the kitchen sink.

Or even the jokes about his work in advertising, although he was the man who brought us the S-Bend Sally campaign, involving snakes and toilets.

He was proud of his achievements. "There's not many people who can look at themselves in the mirror, stand proud with their nipples erect and say 'hey you, you're Mr Toilet Snake Europe'." There are not, I would suggest, many people who'd want to do that.

There are signs that Aitken knows that we know he's on familiar territory as he pokes fun at Martin, wife Julie and their two daughters: Lucy, "who wants to run a small country", and Chloe, "who is a bit blonde") with the introductory voiceover. It goes on about baby-boomers enjoying peace, cheap holidays and good teeth - "which is what makes them the smug little bunnies they are today".

As Martin is played by Peter Davison, who's made a good living playing distressed husbands and fathers, we can rest assured that the character will be hapless, hopeless and put his foot into it.

Working at home as a consultant - the dreaded c-word in his view - he has to call the plumber, get the car repaired, visit his mother in the old people's home, and walk the dog.

He fails at all of them. The dog gets concussed, painted and falls in the river. His mother remains silent, preferring to spend the day riding up and down in a lift or standing in the fireplace. The latter habit is worrying, not to say hazardous come September when the fire is lit.

The inevitable dinner party with their best friends ends in discord as the wife accuses the husband: "You're not a person, you're a pimp". He retaliates with "What does that make you?". She doesn't like the answer and full-scale marital war ensues.

Traffic jams are usually the worst thing that can happen on a coach trip, unless you're on a pilgrimage to a holy shrine in Iraq. Once Upon A Time In Iran followed 32 believers on the 1,000 kilometre journey through war-torn Iraq.

They included several soldiers who'd travelled the same road during the Iran/Iraq war. Their destination was the holy city of Karbala which, as teacher Maryam said, "is a piece of heaven on earth".

Keith Sim's film took the long and winding road, learning about the pilgrims themselves and the country's history en route in a thoughtful, beautifully filmed road movie.