"Not since Baby David arrived on The Royale Family has sloppy parenting been so entertaining" writes Liz Nicholls

Of all days of the year, it is television’s duty to provide refuge to singletons on February 14.

Unfortunately, just like every year, unattached folks tuning in all this week have had to survive a hateful love-bomb of meal deal adverts (heart-shaped chocolate puddings oozing goo and gleeful romantics shovelling spoons of mash into each other’s greedy gobs) and compilations of bonk music (by Trevor Nelson).

Those with any sense who are heartbroken will be shipping out to the pub this evening to go on the pull.

It’s that or the patron saint of single women everywhere – still carrying the torch since 2001 – Bridget Jones’ Diary (9pm ITV2) and settling in for a hungover viewing of Take Me Out tomorrow (Saturday, ITV1, 8.50pm) to console themselves that things could be… well, worse, and even more embarrassing. As an antidote to all that’s coupley, it’s nice to see Uncle (continues Monday, 10pm, with first five episodes on iPlayer), which is BBC3’s refreshing take on dysfunctional relationships.

The sitcom, rolled out without fanfare earlier this year following a 2012 pilot, follows out-of-work musician Andy who is forced into the role of severely substandard mentor to nephew Errol (Elliot Speller-Gillott) after being emotionally blackmailed into looking after him by chaotic sister Sam. Andy (stand-up comedian Nick Helm) is the sort of shambolic stoner (think a British Big Lebowski, but somehow less glamorous and more Eyoreish) who turns in such a realistic performance of 30-something relationship despair that you feel like the whole sorry mess might be a documentary of your own younger years (no? Just me then). When he’s not trying to copulate with his young ward’s music teacher or get back with his angsty ex, he’s trying to dish out life advice to a bemused 12-year-old who doesn’t really know what sex is yet (except for the warped ramblings of Nick’s own examples about orgies and “safe words”).

And, most cheeringly, it seems that we have a Bridget Jones for our own generation in Sam – about time! Divorced Sam (Daisy Haggard) gets her kicks browsing Facebook to find former schoolmates who look older than herself while trying to find a messed up “fairy godmother” at her addiction support meetings.

She finds her in the form of gloriously wicked Suzy (Sandra Dickinson) – a Jagger/ Hendrix/Zeppelin groupie whose private parts are “a shrine to 1970s rock royalty”.

Not since Baby David arrived in The Royle Family has sloppy parenting been so entertaining. Because, really, what we need in our comedy – surely, especially the homegrown stuff – is to watch people who could be our mates making a complete balls of everything, in entertaining fashion. Uncle does that: it’s snappy, silly and slickly acted which means you do actually care about the messed up emotional lives of the characters. As opposed to watching Hollywood couples kiss and make up with about as much chemistry as if they were held at gunpoint. An unhealthy dose of “real”, then.