George Jeffrie

With the last series of My Family starting later this month, In With The Flynns picks up the sitcom baton and sprints off with it.

Weirdly, both series have American roots. My Family was created by Fred Barron, while The Flynns is executive produced by Caryn Mandabach whose name you'll have seen attached to such monoliths as Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Nurse Jackie.

This is a British version of her US show Grounded for Life and it's written by George Jeffrie and Bert Tyler-Moore - the two big comedy brains behind Pete Versus Life and Star Stories.

Where My Family feels forced and artificial to the point of being almost physically painful to watch, In With The Flynns, with its seamless use of flashbacks, is much more relaxed.

Set in Manchester, it stars Will Mellor and Niky Wardley as Liam and Caroline, the harassed young parents of a teenage daughter Chloe and two younger sons.

Warren Clarke plays Liam's dad Jim and Liam's brother Tommy is played by Craig Parkinson - who you'll recognise as the only probation worker to survive the Asbo Five in Misfits.

With Liam and Caroline too busy to keep a proper eye on their kids, it's left to Tommy this week to give them the benefits of his worldly wisdom.

If you're a fan of Seinfeld, you'll probably spot that Tommy has a touch of the Kramer about him - he is a law unto himself and completely Teflon coated so that blame never sticks.

Judging from this first outing, The Flynns could be with us for even longer than My Family has managed.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 8th June 2011

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