Alison Steadman

I turned to BBC One on Sunday night as the channel aired a brand new sitcom in the form of Hold The Sunset; a show that had been primarily promoted as John Cleese's big return to TV. Cleese stars as Phil; a slightly crotchety gent who has been in a relationship with his neighbour Edith (Alison Steadman) for several years after their respective partners passed away. The opening of the episode sees Phil attempt to propose marriage to Edith who eventually accepts this along with his offer to move to sunnier climes. However, their future happiness is halted by the arrival of Edith's son Roger (Jason Watkins) who has left his wife to move back into his childhood home and quickly regresses into a childlike state. Later, Roger's wife Wendy (Rosie Cavaliero) arrives at Edith's to confront her husband, however her kindly exterior frustrates her mother-in-law who quickly snaps at her. So, begins the start of a six-week journey where Roger will no doubt get angry about Phil's relationship with his mother and will probably attempt to sabotage it. For a sitcom that was promoted as Cleese's return to the BBC, he has very little to do here once the plot kicks in and Roger arrives back. Phil is presented as somewhat of a stick-in-the-mud but one that stands back and lets the drama unfold rather than doing anything about it himself. Cleese's chemistry with Steadman isn't strong enough to make me believe that the pair have known each other for decades and want to spend their twilight years together. The stand-out performance in Hold The Sunset comes from Jason Watkins who provided the sitcom's only laugh-out-loud moments, however Roger is such a petulant character that it's hard to sympathise with him. Similarly, Rosie Cavaliero's Wendy should be a sympathetic character, but she's painted as such a passive woman that you feel Edith's frustration towards her. Charles McKeown, who's best known for his work with Terry Gilliam, crafts rather obvious comedy situations which feel very tired by 2018 standards. This is best exemplified by the closing set piece which sees Roger getting stuck in the shed window whilst trying to escape an awkward confrontation with Wendy. Hold The Sunset reminds me of David Jason's The Royal Bodyguard, as both were created as star vehicles for comedy legends and both have fallen flat at the first hurdle. Despite a fine comic turn from the always-reliable Watkins, Hold The Sunset failed to make me laugh or sympathise with the characters, so suffice to say I won't be tuning in again.

TV preview: Hold The Sunset, Sunday, BBC One, Episode 2

It's a soft, gentle predictable script given half a kiss of life by a 24 carat cast. Of course there are better things on TV. And better things to do on a Sunday evening at 7.30pm. But I'm sure there are some people out there who like it. Though if they aren't the over-fifties who tweeted me saying it was shite I do wonder who they were.

It's a classic 80s sitcom set-up: widow Edith (Alison Steadman) has been fending off marriage proposals from boyfriend Phil (John Cleese) for years, but on the day she relents, up pops cuckoo in the nest Roger (Jason Watkins), her 50-year-old man-child son who's left his family. Desperately needs jokes.

Hold the Sunset review

Why do bad things happen to good people? Well, not bad exactly, but decidedly mediocre.

Hold the Sunset, BBC One, review - this is an ex-sitcom

John Cleese and Alison Steadman star in the exhumation of long-lost genre.

TV review: Hold the Sunset

After 39 years away, John Cleese returns to the sitcom format with a cosy affair.

Archive: Nancy Banks-Smith reviews Abigail's Party, '77

Any party on TV is the signal for insult, indigestion and vomiting off.

Static is about a chap called Rob who moves back in with his parents, except - they've moved house, and downsized to a caravan park! In Margate! The caravan is small, and he keeps bumping into the furniture! Cos the caravan's small! And his dad's got a fat belly!

Apologies to my neighbours if you heard loud clapping coming from this sofa. It wasn't applause: I was looking to open a vein. Only the existence of a locked safe containing compromising evidence could possibly explain why Alison Steadman and Phil Davis lent their undoubted talents to this. Compromising evidence of black-mass sex with long-dead jackals.

Static with Rob Beckett preview

In the end, the personalities win over the script's shortcomings and Static settles into the bland but likeable. Is that enough? Or will Static be going nowhere?

Rob Beckett's Static is going nowhere: review

By calling his creation Static, Beckett is inviting critics to say his comedy vehicle is going nowhere. Reluctantly, I'll oblige. It seems more likely to get towed off to the scrapyard than commissioned for a full series.