Flowers: Channel 4's cult comedy returns for a second series

Flowers - Channel 4's darkly comic and surreal sitcom about a family on the verge of collapse and ravaged by mental illness - is set to return to our screens very soon.

The first series followed the unconventional Flowers family: father Maurice (Julian Barratt), mother Deborah (Olivia Colman) and children Amy (Sophia Di Martino) and Donald (Daniel Rigby).

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The second series will continue to chart the exploits of this most unusual family, but things will be slightly different.

Plumbing, girl bands and self-help books

The action will apparently pick up a few years after the events of the first series.

There have been a few changes in that time. For one, Maurice - who battled with depression throughout the first series - is now on medication and appears to be in a better place.

Things are looking up for Deborah too, and she's just about to publish her self-help book '“ Living with the Devil '“ about coping with Maurice's condition.

Warning: trailer contains strong language

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The aimless Donald now runs his own independent plumbing business, while Amy is part of an all-female music group - The Pink Cuttlefish Orchestra - who she has invited to stay at the Flowers' house.

Add to that Amy's new girlfriend Hylda - a former addict, and now a priest - as well as the ridiculously optimistic Japanese illustrator Shun (played by series creator Will Sharpe) who is now the family's lodger.

Blooming marvelous

Of course, with so many plates spinning, it's not unreasonable to assume that it will all come crashing down at some point, and with some many disparate personalities on show, tempers are bound to flare.

Series one focused on Maurice's depression, but the second outing will explore the effects of bipolar disorder on a life, and how a history of mental illness can pass through generations of a family.

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The central, dysfunctional family of Flowers, as seen in series 1 (Photo: Channel 4)

If the premise of a family struggling with their demons doesn't sound like the best groundwork for a sitcom, Flowers may surprise you.

With a deft blending of comedy styles - everything from the blackest of black humour to slapstick, and a few cringe-out moments that everyone could relate to - it was perhaps 2016's oddest new comedy, but one that was well worth watching.

It offered real glimpses of humanity and insights into mental health issues. Flowers is a show packed with originality, and plenty of morbid laughs.

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The first series was shown across a week, with new episodes debuting nightly, so it's likely that the second run will take the same format.

There's no concrete release date on offer, though the trailer recently released by Channel 4 states the series will be 'Coming Soon', so it shouldn't be too long until we have it on our screens.

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[Main image: Channel 4]