Condragulations dear viewer – the combination of a musical theatre challenge and a ‘Ru-sical’ inspired by Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Cats left us feline purr-fect.

• Read on for reasons including being wowed by Veronica Green and empathising with Lawrence Cheney

We’ve seen Veronica Green onstage in the West End’s first drag pantomime and she was clearly underserved in that show because she absolutely bosses the leading lady role here, as Evita von Fleas. Runner-up killer line of the show: ‘Am I a fan of musicals? Does the Pope shit in the woods?’

Tia Kofi, whose sparring with A’Whora is always entertaining, could have ruined the Ru-sical by purposely miscasting it but she plays to everyone’s strengths spurning Cherry Valentine’s overtures to win the von Fleas part.

Who couldn’t feel empathy with Lawrence Cheney who broke down in tears during the Ru-sical rehearsal: ‘I hate being shit at things’ and ‘I’m gay – I should be able to sing and dance.’

We didn’t expect the sexual tension between former lovers A’Whora and Tayce, who had the show’s best line about Lawrence: ‘Bless her cottons. She’s having a breakdown and it’s only week two.’

Bimini Bon-Boulash and A-Whora were unexpectedly convincing as ruffian rats in a punkish, Prodigy-inspired number.

A pregnant Sheridan Smith appears as one of the judges and is perfectly cast: ‘I’m fan-girling so hard right now – either that or my waters have broken.’

What RuPaul’s Drag Race does so well is to provide a safe space for contestants to express their feelings and we loved Cherry Valentine’s moment in this episode where she talks about growing up gay in the traveller community. ‘There’s toxic masculinity. I’m literally the only gay person in the whole community. I don’t think I’m fully proud.’

Check out Veronica’s impressive ‘She-3-P-Ho’ look above. A little skirmish between comedy queens Lawrence and Ginny Lemon show the latter may have the upper hand. Lawrence to Ginny: ‘She’s left you some new material.’ Ginny’s retort: ‘Well it saves you using mine.’

Drag Race rarely spares those who may be getting ahead of themselves and Asttina seems a little over confident: ‘Girls, step your pussy up’ while stretching herself a little too much in the Ru-sical’s ingenue role.

• Watch episode 2 on BBC iPlayer and let us know your thoughts of season 2’s cast in the comments below
• Picture via Facebook courtesy BBC’s RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
• Have you seen any of these shows? Let us know what you thought in the comments belowEnjoyed this review? Follow its author on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook