Miranda fans get happy ending in finale of hit sitcom

The show, which ended on New Year's day, was launched in 2009

TV critics are full of praise for the finale of sitcom Miranda, which has bowed out after five years.

Fans got the happy ending they had been waiting for as the title character, created by Miranda Hart, got married.

The New Year's Day episode had 7.3m viewers, according to overnight figures.

The first part of the finale, shown on Christmas Day, had 6.7m viewers overnight.

Writing in The Independent, Neela Debnath said Miranda had drawn to a close "with a sweet and heart-warming ending".

"It's surprisingly touching and quite tender - that's not to say there aren't any pratfalls - but the finale is about Miranda standing up to her mother and accepting herself as she is."

Gerard O'Donovan, writing for The Telegraph, said: "New Year's Day brought all the humour and joy we could have wanted in a masterclass of romantic comedy writing and performance that teased and toyed, then delivered big on the happy ending, with a wedding."

Social faux pas

Mark Lawson, writing in The Guardian, said: "As admirers had hoped, Miranda ended up on the floor twice in her comedy send-offs.

"But her expanding career, of which her inventive and well-acted sitcom is only a small part, suggests that her detractors are unlikely to get their wish of her falling metaphorically flat on her face."

Before the final show aired, Hart tweeted: "Happy New Year Day and goodbye to my creative baby day. 8pm BBC One. Can't promise but you MIGHT get a glimpse of that @GaryBarlow."

The show, which was first shown on BBC Two in 2009 before moving to BBC One, follows the trials and tribulations of Hart's character, a shop owner prone to committing social faux pas.

The programme also sees Patricia Hodge as her TV alter-ego's mother and Sarah Hadland as her shop's assistant manager.

The finale saw Miranda marry Gary (bottom left) after a cliffhanger ending to the second-last episode

The show, and its star, has won accolades from the Royal Television Society and the British Comedy Awards, among others.

The first episode of the third series was the most-watched television programme at Christmas in 2012.

The 41-year-old actress and comedienne is to star alongside Jude Law and Melissa McCarthy in American comedy Spy.

The film, directed by Bridesmaids' Paul Feig, is due to be released in UK cinemas in May.

An autobiographical book about Hart's life with her dog Peggy, Peggy And Me, will be also released this year.