James Baxter

This Christmas special bubble of nostalgia - charmingly outdated even when Ronnie Barker was the stuttering shopkeeper and Granville was a tousled lad in a tank-top - isn't so much a sitcom as half an hour of small talk.

The assorted widows and divorcees of the street met, as they always do, around a kitchen table, to exchange gossip about any available middle-aged men.

Granville's son Leroy (James Baxter) was on the pull as ever, this time chatting up a local vegan lass waving a 'meat is murder' placard outside the shop.

One day it'll be Leroy in the brown apron, battling the dyspeptic cash register and diddling customers out of pennies. But in the outside world, the ants will have control.

There are very few British sitcoms more beloved than Open All Hours, a slice of comic northern life as comforting as warm Yorkshire parkin.

Of course Ronnie Barker, who added grumpy, low-level-swindling shopkeeper Albert Arkwright to his portmanteau of great comedy characters, is no longer with us. But David Jason, his put-upon nephew and protégé Granville, has become an all-conquering TV star in the years since Open All Hours ended in 1985 and he returns to that little corner shop as its new owner.

He's helped by his son Leroy (Emmerdale's James Baxter), the result of a one-night stand 25 years ago - a handsome, ambitious lad who fights off female attention very much as Granville used to back in the old days.

This special episode, written by Open All Hours creator Roy Clarke, takes us back to the shop for a day, and reintroduces us to some familiar faces.

Anyone remember the Christmas 2007 revival of much-loved landed gentry sitcom To the Manor Born? Or have you done your best to expunge it from your memory, viewing it as an object lesson in the dangers of going back?

We weren't allowed to see any previews of this return to the Doncaster corner shop once haunted by Ronnie Barker's Albert Arkwright and his bumbling nephew Granville - which in itself, may not be a good sign. So here's what we've managed to piece together. Arkwright is no longer with us - the shop is now run by Granville (David Jason) and his rather too handsome son Leroy (James Baxter). Granville's still on the look out for some hot loving; tonight, he'll be attempting to arrange a date with old flame Mavis without her scary sister Madge finding out. Oh, and there's rather a lot of anchovy paste to be shifted. No doubt we can expect hilarious consequences.

There's apparently the prospect of a new series next year; we can't help but wince slightly at the prospect. G-g-g-give up while the g-g-g-going's g-g-g-good, G-G-G-Granville.