ICYMI: The Couple Next Door is returning for a second season, this time with a whole new cohort of characters but the same twists, turns and explosive drama as the first series.

While the first series was based on the Dutch show Nieuwe Buren, the show's writer has said that the second season is "very, very loosely" from a Danish series called Dopamine (which, btw, you can actually watch on Channel 4's iplayer).

It's worth mentioning that, despite taking place in the same cul-de-sac, the second outing of the show has a completely new set of characters, including the femme fatale Mia, except for *one* returning character: Alan Richardson, played by Hugh Dennis (who also plays Pete Brockman in Outnumbered, FYI!). When we meet Alan, he is doing court-mandated community service around the neighbourhood...but what exactly did he do in season one to wind up this way?

To answer this question and more, keep reading for your cheat sheet on Alan...

Who is Alan from The Couple Next Door?

In order to give you a refresher on where Alan is at for the second season of The Couple Next Door, here's his official character summary for series two:

"Isolated and alone since Jean left him a year ago, Alan has had to suffer the scorn of the community, as his crimes towards Becka became more widely known. Now fully recovered from his stroke, he’s been sentenced to community service, completing menial tasks around the local area to repay his debt to society. But has Alan really mended his ways? And if he has, will his past stop him ever finding love again?"

So much drama! Speaking on his character's arc during season two, Dennis says: "My character arc is about redemption. I've seen the error of my ways and hope to turn out differently than expected. I've done my time for the crimes committed in the first series, but I'm still in the cul-de-sac with new neighbours. I'm good at noticing things and become aware of one new neighbour, wondering what's going on in her life."

What did Alan do in The Couple Next Door season one?

When we meet him in season one, Alan is a bookkeeper who is married to Jean, a woman with mobility issues who has been sleeping downstairs, and not in the upstairs marital bed, as a result.

Jean hopes that a stairlift will help reignite some of the passion in their marriage and back in bed with her husband, however, unbeknownst to her, Alan has become a peeping tom and has developed an obsession with season one character Becka.

Alan's obsession spirals into stalking: he compulsively scours Becka's social media, attends the yoga class she teaches, and even stares into her windows with a telescope.

Things go in an even darker direction when Jean makes her way upstairs towards the end of the season, discovering his obsession and peering through his telescope only to see, in real time, that Alan has actually broken into Becka's house!!

He is pleasuring himself in Becka's bedroom while watching (and recording on his own phone, for posterity) a video he has found of Becka and her husband enjoying a foursome. Alan then realises Becka can see him and has a stroke. However, Jean covers up for him, calling paramedics and claiming that he was in Becka's house in order to confront an intruder.

The incident temporarily results in Alan having limited mobility and having to use a wheelchair. In this period, Jean discovers that Alan has also been lying about their financial situation: they have considerably more money than he has been letting on.

With carers in place to look after Alan, Jean leaves with half of their full some of money and warned him that, when his health improved, the police would be coming round.

"Actions have consequences, Alan," she said, in an amazing parting exchange.

Why does Alan return in season two of The Couple Next Door?

When we meet Alan, it's a year after the drama of the initial season. But it's worth wondering why, exactly, the creators chose this particular character to return to the show.

According to writer David Allison, it's due to his nosy nature - and the fact he's curious about other individuals in the cul-de-sac.

"So he does provide a kind of anchor to the street, he’s quite nosy, he wants to get involved in other people’s lives, so naturally he tends to insert himself into stories," Allison has explained.

So, there you have it!