Jason Watkins

And so, with a sigh but not quite the desuetude expected, to the BBC's retro week. Both Are You Being Served?, wrongly described everywhere as "one of Britain's best-loved sitcoms", and Porridge were better than anticipated. Jason Watkins in particular as Mr Humphries turned in a searing performance, but doesn't he always? And Porridge was almost a delight, if only to feel the warm ghost of Ronnie Barker. Till Death Us Do Part, never funny in the first place, was execrable. Don't get me at all wrong, but what's even the point of Alf Garnett without the racism?

A good and faithful stab, BBC, at exhumation, but please now stop. Because Britain, and the world, can do better comedy now. I offer sample lines, from The Simpsons and from last week's revamped Served.

Editor (seeking a restaurant critic): "You know, Homer, we need someone like you... someone who doesn't immediately pooh-pooh everything he eats." Homer: "Nah, usually takes me a few hours."

Young, updated Mr Grace: "I've just had a cappuccino, followed by a massive brownie." Mr Rumbold: "Well, I hope you flushed it twice; that cistern has a mind of its own." These are both jokes about human faeces. Only one is funny.

Watching unPC sitcoms should be part of the curriculum

The BBC's remakes of Till Death Us Do Part and Are You Being Served? are only to be appreciated through the filter of irony. But things like It Ain't Half Hot Mum weren't malicious.

Are You Being Served? (BBC1) review

The episode may have seemed cut-short, being wrapped up just as a plot was begin to take form, but this was an otherwise perfectly-pitched remake of an audience classic. One would have struggled to think of a writer better qualified to bring back Are You Being Served?, and I would be incredibly surprised if it didn't follow in the footsteps of Still Open All Hours and were not at least considered for a more permanent return.

This one-off extension to the classic department store sitcom may have time-jumped to 1988 but it still feels old-fashioned, reheating the original formula of mild miscommunications against a backdrop of ladies' underthings. The script from Benidorm creator Derren Litten is elevated by a game cast - notably Jason Watkins as Mr Humphries - who clearly understand that when it comes to innuendo, you only get out as much as you put in.

Are You Being Served serves more of the same

The old show was never a critics' favourite - despite our howls about these comedy rehashes being sacrilegious grave-robbing. But it had a kind of bravery; the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalising gay sex was within recent memory, and living together was still 'living in sin' in the provinces. Its knowing primness was clever - a huge wink to the fourth wall of the masses that although the outré characters seemed naughty, and Mr Humphries got into scrapes with a wide array of young men, he was never explicit about them. But the world has moved on - Kim Kardashian's bum failed to break the internet and against shows like Catastrophe, this looks more than passé.

TV preview: Are You Being Served?, BBC1

So let's face it, this does nothing new but does the old thing pretty well.