Ted Lasso is back to save us all from sadness: it's a cup of tea and a great big hug

One of Apple TV+'s biggest hits, Ted Lasso, is back – and the reviews for Season 3 are unanimous. The third season of Apple's warm-hearted sports-set comedy-drama is just what fans of the show have been waiting for. 

If you're not familiar with the show, I think you'll love it. It's about a nice guy who takes over as the coach of a failing Premier League football club. It's gently funny, a little bit quirky and very much a feel-good show, which is just the tonic when everything else seems so awful right now.

What do the reviews of Ted Lasso S3 say?

Collider says that Season 3 "is back to remind us exactly why we adore these characters so much... [it's] a return to form, the small-screen equivalent of a hot cup of tea and a big, soft blanket". 

According to Jean Henegan of Pop Culture Maniacs, "The characters feel more crisply formed. The performances are calibrated perfectly. And the writing appears to be more on track than it was throughout last season’s uneven outing." And USA Today says that "It remains reliably the same: funny, heartwarming, occasionally deep and full of romantic comedy references."

Empire magazine says the " gently funny, quirky sense of humour remains as strong as ever, bolstered by now richly defined characters" – but it also notes that "the hints have been heavily dropping that Season 3 could be Lasso’s last," so there's definitely a bittersweet vibe to this season.

The Hollywood Reporter agrees: "based on the four episodes sent to critics, Ted Lasso absolutely feels like a show that’s treating this run as an end, if not the end." However, "Ted Lasso has become a show in which every character feels worthy of being the star of their own show — which is awesome in a landscape where many series don’t have a single character worthy of anchoring a show". So perhaps if this really is the final season, there could be spin-offs in the pipeline.

I'll leave the last word to the Evening Standard's Nick Clark. "At a time of a cost-of-living crisis, escalating culture wars and politics being dragged through the gutter, thank goodness for the return of the warm, wholesome embrace of Ted Lasso."