Mel Smith

"We want to return to the old-fashioned comedy sketch standard," the young lad from the BBC tells Griff Rhys Jones. "There'll be a set with sofas, fat suits and highly coloured wigs, and you dressed as a woman,"he adds encouragingly, as if Jones needed persuading back into the comedy spotlight.

Some impressive guest stars (Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander and Larry Lamb among them) pop up in sketches that certainly have that old-fashioned comic quality - you could safely watch them with your granny. However, it's the updating of their trademark Alas Smith & Jones head-to-head sketch with his old partner Mel Smith that really makes this special.

It's the first time they've performed it for 15 years and, as Smith and Jones meander their way through a discussion about their alleged rift, they come to realise that friendship is important and grudges are irrelevant. "It's taught me the value of camaraderie," concludes Mel. "Well ... it is a lovely cheese," agrees Griff.

Surprisingly, this is the funniest so far of these one-off sketch shows by faded comedy stars. Maybe it's because Griff Rhys Jones has moved successfully on to other TV ventures, but he's clearly not taking his return to comedy too seriously and as a result the laughter flows quickly and easily. Hugh Bonneville, Tom Hollander and Larry Lamb are among the excellent supporting players in sketches skewering everything from bankers' bonuses to football supporters. Plus, 16 years on, there's even a face-to-face with his old Alas Smith and Jones partner, Mel Smith.

The late John Sullivan's prequel to Only Fools and Horses staggers on to 1962 with Del and Rodney's mum, Joan (Kellie Bright managing to be both sassy and naive), holding down two jobs to keep the Trotter family going. Meanwhile, Rodney's biological dad and smooth criminal Freddie Robdal (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is being hounded by DI Thomas (Mel Smith at his jowly best) for the Margate jewellery heist, and young Del (James Buckley) has got engaged to a posh bird called Barbara. Samantha Spiro and Alex MacQueen give wonderfully over-the-top, cartoon-like performances as the up-market Birds. The disdainful yet bewildered expression on their faces when they hear that Del's dad is a docker is akin to that of Downton Abbey's Maggie Smith when she enquired exactly what a weekend is. But, despite these moments, most of this is clunky and charmless. And lovely Lambrettas and Golden Egg restaurant aside, some of the period detail is strangely unconvincing. Yet audiences have loved earlier outings. An enduring nostalgia for the Trotters maybe.

Another one-off special for the Only Fools And Horses prequel, centring on the lives of the Trotter parents. Light-fingered Freddie Robdal (Nicholas Lyndhurst) is being investigated for the jewellery heist in Margate that ended the last Rock & Chips outing but, for all his wits, it looks like his affair with Del Boy's sweet mum Joan (Kellie Bright) might be his undoing. In the meantime, the teenage Del (The Inbetweeners' James Buckley) is hanging out with his pals, chasing girls and coming up with more hair-brained money-making schemes. Amusing enough, but it's actually the more charismatic and colourful grown-ups - Lyndhurst, Bright and copper Mel Smith - who keep this pukka.

Mel Smith calls ex co-star Pamela Stephenson charmless

Mel Smith doesn't think highly of Pamela Stephenson. They were colleagues in one of the most ground-breaking television comedy shows ever and subsequently found fortune in different professions. But they weren't friends then - and they certainly aren't chums now.

What a song and dance: Mel Smith directs Fringe show

Comedian Mel Smith and singer Peter Straker have a new show on in the Edinburgh Fringe called "My Dear, I'm Still Here", which chronicles Peter's 40 years in show business.

BBC2 continues its pattern of making a new documentary as an excuse for airing repeats, although why they're only running one classic episode of Not The Nine O'Clock News is a puzzle. Surely a show of its calibre deserves more?

But at least the tribute show actually has the original cast in it and not just a series of C-list talking heads that werent actually alive when the show was made. Stars Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith, Griff Rhys Jones and Pamela Stephenson talk about the series that helped turn them into household names, as does producer John Lloyd.

Youd think the guy in charge would have kept his team in check but not John. Mel, Griff and I were the naughty boys, he recalls. Wed always go to the pub at lunch and Rowan would work on his scripts. Poor Rowan, the nerdy student who did his work while his mates got hammered. But at least it paved the way for him to turn into TVs ultimate dork, Mr Bean.