Or so it would seem. As events transpire, we discover that Baxter has been keeping an eye on his daughter online, whilst Quinn has been sending postcards to his children (using a nefarious colleague to post them from other countries). The two men have settled, somewhat.

Bespectacled Baxter is back in the law game and trying to help (though his good deeds end up in him being blackmailed by a client) whilst the gruff Quinn has indulged in a relationship with a married woman, spending his time in a “liar’s club” – a place for similarly dispossessed individuals. His pining for the need to talk of children is touching and clearly demonstrates the strain of an exiled lifestyle.

The two men cross paths in another affecting scene where Baxter can’t quite believe his eyes when Quinn walks by. But his older chum makes no effort at all to connect with his friend; a great moment, beautifully and slightly played by the actors.

Having said that, it’s Beesley and Warren who steal the show this time. The former has become a family man, of sorts, and helps the local community whereas the latter has become a booze and coke hound who describes himself amusingly as a “kung fu monk” before jumping on to a glass table in a club (where disturbingly few staff come to assist or clear up). He makes for a great fuck-up but his arrest and subsequent rehab sessions are also brilliantly and thoughtfully played; Warren is terrific throughout.

The most emotive scene comes when the two men are reunited, after Woody’s cold refusal of him at the airport in the previous episode, and a heartfelt apology is made – full marks to both Warren and Beesley for such a tender, yet subtle, moment.

Woody has turned up to spring Rick in an A-Team style breakout which returns the gang together and also the laughs (after a fairly serious and mirth-free instalment).

Baxter has discovered that the cause of their exile, Mackenzie (played by David Warner in Series 2), has been killed. Though, it should be said, the rather clunky way he discovers this fact is a tad absurd – the lawyer types “response to blackmail” into a search engine after the aforementioned blackmail. Is that really how one researches the topic? Anyway, the way home is realised.

Seeing the gang together at the end is a relief as the men on their own are not as engaging, or as interesting, as they are when pitted against one other. But this episode serves to show how men act alone; how they revert to form (or don’t and move on). It’s a fascinating process and the hesitation of Woody and Quinn to return home is telling, with both men claiming they now have a “life”.

Whilst definitely more downbeat in tone (for the most part) and again, like the previous episode, there’s a start-stop feel to the series so far, one hopes now the frenetic foursome can return to the problematically male hi-jinx we’ve enjoyed so much in Mad Dogs so far.

Aired at 9pm on Tuesday 11 June 2013 on Sky1.

> Buy the Series 1-2 boxset on Amazon.

> Order Series 3 on DVD on Amazon.

Watch the trailer…

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