Teenage Kicks

ITV1's Teenage Kicks: so bad it's quite good?

Unforgivable casual racism aside, was ITV1's new Adrian Edmondson sitcom Teenage Kicks all that bad? I laughed out loud a couple of times, and I hadn't even had that much to drink.

His missus has left him for a man from Belgium (Belgium! Ha ha ha!) and now Adrian Edmondson has moved in with his own kids. He's bumbling through his new singledom - bumbling into things and falling over, both metaphorically and literally. We have a good giggle at the way the Chinese lodger speaks - there are misunderstandings, boom boom.

Maybe it's ironic commissioning, like the Andy Millman sitcom in Extras. If so, it's a bit too clever. And if not, then it's just not good enough, I'm afraid. Predictable groan-along sitcoms are no longer acceptable television. There is interesting new comedy out there - look at Pulling - but not on ITV, on a Friday night. Hell, I may have to go out next week.

Adrian Edmondson stars as Vernon, a divorced dad with delusions of trendiness (he used to be in a band), who's forced to move in with his children in their student flat. Cue endless "embarrassing dad" jokes, close-ups of trousers splitting and even that Seventies sitcom staple - the comedy foreigner (a Hong Kong student). In the opening episode, Vernon seeks "an easy hot night of passion" and ends up in bed with more than one person. So old-fashioned it's as if The Young Ones never happened.

Adrian Edmonson plays a beleaguered ex-punk in this new sitcom. "I haven't had my end away since election night, 1997!" he whines, as his long-suffering teenage kids roll their eyes and the studio audience all but combusts in a shower of mirth. That this is one of the better lines to seep from this graceless gumbo of mainstream sentimentality and Bottom-esque cruelty gives you some idea of the roaring awfulness involved. Tonight, Vernon attempts to "get laid", while his Chinese flatmate is mocked for having a Chinese accent. Unbelievable.

It's tempting to think of Vernon as the middle-aged incarnation of Edmondson's infamous 80s character, punk Vyvyan from The Young Ones. If so, he's mellowed. There's less ranting and more angst.

Much of the comedy is based on the inverse generation gap. "Shouldn't you be getting a place of your own?" cries his daughter as he trawls the lonely hearts ads. But that's the least of her troubles when her tutor improbably takes a shine to Dad.

Not all the jokes sit quite comfortably in the politically-correct world of 2008. And Teenage Kicks doesn't break any radical new ground. We've seen plenty of children raise their eyebrows at their parents' behaviour before (Mrs Edmondson, aka Jennifer Saunders, in AbFab anyone?).

In fact, it has a rather old-fashioned feel. But it does it well. You know who you are supposed to laugh at. And, at the end of a long week, that's quite demanding enough.