Bob, Mark Heap, and Christine, Ruth Jones, find themselves at a crossroads with other members of the cast of The Great Outdoors

The tribulations of a group of walkers hit the small screen today with the start of a comedy drama set in a dysfunctional rambling club.

The Great Outdoors follows the antics of the members of a walking group as they come to terms with the conflicting demands of leader Bob and newcomer Christine, armed with a GPS and high-tech gizmos that threaten Bob’s more traditional approach to rambling.

Each of the three episodes takes place over the course of a single, one-day walk. The BBC Four series, starring Ruth Jones, previously seen in Nighty Night and Gavin and Stacey, and Mark Heap of Spaced and The Green Wing, has lovely views, stolen kisses, packed lunches and punch-ups, according to the corporation’s blurb.

The first programme, broadcast tonight, Wednesday, at 9pm on BBC Four, features ‘a titanic battle of wills’ between Bob and Christine, newly arrived from Barnstaple, exiled for a mysterious rambling crime. She is, according to the former, a nemesis in breathable fabrics.

The makers promise teenage mortification as a geeky schoolmate joins the club; a stressed married couple for whom the countryside just doesn’t seem as relaxing as it should, and the horrors of dealing with the inflated village hostelry prices after it turns into a gastropub.

The BBC says: “For Bob and Christine, each at a crossroads in their life, a small thing like a walking club can take on epic importance. Every episode of The Great Outdoors is a voyage of personal discovery – like a miniature road movie, but with sturdy footwear instead of a car.”

As for being dysfunctional, it sounds like every club we’ve ever known! You can make your own mind up this evening. The three half-hour programmes are also being transmitted on the BBC HD channel.