Lovesick season 3: Britain's most charming sitcom is back on Netflix

Tom Edge's comedy-drama series is ready to win the hearts of television viewers all over again

2018 is off to a good start for fans of charming, astutely written comedy dramas - Lovesick has returned to Netflix for a third season.

The sitcom, created by Tom Edge, centres on a group of English pals living in Scotland. Before writing this off as just another British Friends rip-off though, note its central format - setting Lovesick aside from the rest is the plot which sees Dylan (Johnny Fynn) forced to contact all of his previous sexual partners after being diagnosed with chlamydia (hence the series' original title: Scrotal Recall).

Each episode focuses on a past love interest of Dylan's, their encounter of which the viewer learns of through flashback - a handy device that successfully adds tension to the present scenes bookending each outing. In fact, Lovesick switches up its linearity so frequently that, at times - whether it intends to or not - most episodes become inadvertent puzzle in which the viewer must discern which stage of these character's lives we're in, adding a richer excitement to the antics of main characters Luke (Daniel Ings), Evie (Antonia Thomas) and Angus (Joshua McGuire).

In this way, Lovesick becomes the source of as much analysis usually reserved for complex dramas.

Lovesick began life on Channel 4 back in 2014 tackling the first episode syndrome with aplomb before finding its assured footing within a matter of episodes enabling the solid characterisation to take hold. If Angus feels like the butt of the joke at first, he becomes the source of the series' biggest laughs, while Luke - initially seeming to be cut from the same lewd cloth as Jay from The Inbetweeners - is handed the show's most moving arc in season 2.

Then there's Dylan and Evie, the two best friends who seem destined to end up together despite life's continual obstacles. If this story appears to be headed one way, Lovesick retains the sense that it could subvert those expectations when it one day draws to a close.

It's to the credit of Flynn and Thomas, whose intense likeability aids their character's storyline tenfold, that if you're left feeling disinterested in the outcome of their plight, the problem is not with the writing, but you, the viewer.

All three seasons of Lovesick are now available to watch on Netflix