Rebecca Front

Simon Amstell's acting ability is so lacking that it seems to have induced the rest of the usually reliable cast - including Rebecca Front, who's so good in The Thick Of It - to try to compensate by ramping up their performances too far. The result is as painful as quasi-fictional Simon's attempt to chat up an actor, who for the purposes of mild farce ended up in the front room with all the over-the-top relatives, matchmaking with glee.

Unlike other bad sitcoms, you can't accuse Grandma's House of being thrown together with too little thought: if anything, its problem is the opposite. On paper, the comic potential of Amstell's embarrassment coming up against his knowing self-awareness is there, but on the screen it comes across as simply annoying on all counts.

t's hard not to curb your enthusiasm when you enter Grandma's House (sorry). Does the world really need another self-referential comedy that riffs off its central character's public persona? If the second episode of Simon Amstell and Dan Swimer's sitcom is anything to go by, yes. Not only are the characters well drawn, but the one-liners are cracking. Tanya (Rebecca Front) goes into a weird state of Jewish mother overdrive that even Woody Allen might balk at writing: "You can have my pubic hairs if you want them!" Tonight, Simon tries to scupper her marriage to Clive.

Sardonic TV presenter Simon Amstell plays himself in his continuing sitcom about life in a Jewish family. Tonight he buys his mother (Rebecca Front) a new car, which she's reluctant to accept. She's also baffled by his ambition to write plays: "Don't you want to be a household name in America like Cat Deeley?"

I expect genuine grandmas - the kind you might see on The One Show knitting sweaters for penguins - would really enjoy Simon Amstell's new sitcom. And how could they not when its central character is a nice Jewish boy who's good to his dear old mum Tanya (Rebecca Front)? In episode two, he's ­actually bought her a car.

A very small car, admittedly, and it's yellow. But still a very thoughtful present - it's not even her birthday. Simon bears gifts for several members of his family, while totally ignoring his auntie Liz's birthday - to much hilarity.

Amstell and his co-writer Dan Swimer have cleverly sketched a family forced by blood to be nice to one another, without sharing anything else in common.

Auntie Liz (Sam Spiro) is a mass of quietly seething sibling rivalry whose life is just one crushing disappointment after another. "I've lost two stone now," she says as she celebrates finally hitting her target weight. "Wonderful!" beams her mother encouragingly. "How much more to go?"

Sardonic TV presenter Simon Amstell plays himself in his continuing sitcom about life in a Jewish family. Tonight he buys his mother (Rebecca Front) a new car, which she's reluctant to accept. She's also baffled by his ambition to write plays: "Don't you want to be a household name in America like Cat Deeley?"

Last year sarky, squeaky-voiced Simon Amstell gave up hosting the comedy pop panel game Never Mind the Buzzcocks to pursue other things, maybe act a bit. Now the likable - though clearly quite pleased with himself - funnyman is doing just that, starring in a new sitcom called Grandma's House (BBC2).

But is it acting? Because he plays a character called Simon who is thinking of giving up hosting a comedy pop panel game in order to do other things, maybe act a bit.

"Act?" says his horrified mother. "You can't act, can you?" She isn't happy about Simon's decision. Watching her son taking the piss out of pop stars on the telly makes her dead proud. It's the only thing that gives her joy and she records every episode. She's not really his mum, she's funny Rebecca Front, who can act a bit. I have no idea what the real Mrs Amstell thought about her son's decision to quit NMTB.

Can Simon act, though? Well, it's hard to know really, given that he's essentially just being himself. It's not exactly playing King Lear, is it? (Unless you happen to be King Lear.) But he is likable (in spite of clearly being quite pleased with himself). As he was on Buzzcocks. So what you have is a fairly traditional sitcom, with someone being himself at the centre of it, got it? It does take a bit of getting your head around. Maybe think of it as a kind of British Curb Your Enthusiasm.

No, that's clearly ridiculous, an insult to Larry David. But it does sort of work. Amstell is funny and the other characters are good. I especially like cousin Clive, who's about 13, has recently decided he doesn't want to be an independent financial adviser when he grows up, and enjoys visiting a website called Interracial Creampies (don't check to see if it really exists if you're at work, as I did - I'm expecting the tribunal any minute). And Simon's mum's new fella, Clive, who, as Simon says, is a prick.

Grandma's House is sharply written, with some nice lines and a bit of edge to it. And every now and then it will throw a little surprise at you - like grandpa's cancer (well, it may not be; last time he had cancer it turned out to be a raisin); the fact that Clive once ran over and killed a tramp; and Simon's cousin Adam disappearing upstairs to shave his head. Worth pursuing, I think.

Simon Amstell's decision to quit as host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks was just about worthy of a few column inches within the showbiz pages of The Sun and the Daily Mirror, but its own sitcom? Apparently so... The opening scene of the sarky comedian's first stab at situation comedy sees him being berated by his family for ditching his lucrative line in insulting pop stars. It seems upsetting Preston from The Ordinary Boys pays the mortgage.

It has to be said that acting isn't exactly Simon's strong point, since he struggles to portray even a convincing version of Simon Amstell. While a fine cast including seasoned humourists like Rebecca Front (The Thick of It) as Simon's mum and Linda Bassett (East is East) as his Grandma put in fantastically accomplished performances, to say that the former Popworld host looked a little out of sorts is something of an understatement.

With all of this self-referencing and ham-fisted stabs at acting, I was expecting to loathe Grandma's House, but it's actually rather good, with some decent gags and - apart from Mr Amstell - a genuinely brilliant cast. Other topics covered in the series opener included the facial hair issues of Auntie Liz (Samantha Spiro) - easily resolved with a roll of Sellotape, it seems; Grandpa (Geoffrey Hutchings) suspecting he has "cancer" (he's peeing a lot); and best of all, mum Tanya's buffoon of a new boyfriend Clive, a barnstorming performance from The Thick of It's James Smith.

All in all the Grandma's House opener offered up more than enough laughs to merit tuning in next week, but one wonders whether it might not be improved with someone else in the lead role. Next time, Simon, cast someone else as yourself.

Every TV presenting slot that has been vacated by Simon Amstell has been a sorrier place because of it: he made Never Mind The Buzzcocks edgy and exciting, while his shameless mocking of stupid pop singers was the only reason to watch Popworld. So it was great to see him back in TV presenter mode (of sorts) in self-referential sitcom Grandma's House.

It opened with Amstell in the company of his overbearing assembled family - Little Englanders holed up in Essex - announcing that he wanted to quit his TV quiz show because he felt bad about being mean to celebs. 'You're a presenter who takes the p*** out of people - it's not mean, it's cheeky,' implored mum (Rebecca Front). 'It's not very Buddhist, though,' pondered Amstell. 'You could do The Knowledge,' offered Grandad.

And so the conversation gloriously ping-ponged, with Amstell remaining barbed and his daft family hopelessly out of their depth.

This was one of those neatly crafted scripts where every line counted and it reached even giddier heights when we were introduced to Clive, the alpha-male bore dating his mother. He calls Amstell 'Captain'. He once ran over a tramp. And he's 'big in boxes'. 'So... what's your favourite box?' asked Amstell over lunch. Clive missed the mercilessly mocking tone. 'OK, good question... the stack nests.'

It proves what we've always known about Amstell: he's brilliantly funny but we won't be inviting him round for tea.

When Simon Amstell stepped down as host of Never Mind The Buzzcocks, it was a black day for the noble art of taking the mickey out of pop stars - and guests. What, we all wondered, would he do next?

This is it - a sitcom in which Simon plays a character named Simon who is about to break the news to his family that he has decided to give up his TV job of taking the mickey out of pop stars.

Except nobody says mickey, of course: they're allowed to use much, much stronger language on BBC2 than I ever could in a family newspaper.

If this format sounds like it's in serious danger of disappearing up its own backside, don't forget that two of the greatest sitcoms ever made, Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, also featured Jewish comedians - Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David - playing versions of themselves. And it didn't exactly do them any harm.

Rebecca Front plays his mum, Linda Bassett his grandma and Geoffrey Hutchings is his grandad. And the fly in the ointment of this happy family is mum's new boyfriend Clive (James Smith) - an easy target for Amstell's barbed humour.

How closely this set-up mirror's Simon's own family is something we can only guess at as we admire his grandma's comfortable living room which is all G Plan furniture and ironic splashes of kitsch.

It's not as caustic as Buzzcocks but it's a grower.

Fizzing with scathing put downs and cruel one-liners, Simon Amstell's career as a comedian and television host has been an undoubted success. So it was a surprise when he gave up his role on Never Mind The Buzzcocks to do something else.

That something else, as it happens is Grandma's House, a self-referential sitcom written by and starring the man himself. The action evolves Amstell's character, a TV presenter who is quitting his job to try to do something more meaningful with his life, sound familiar?

Each episode is set at Grandma's house where the family gang up on the newly unemployed star and the humour is played out through a series of petty domestic exchanges. Anyone who's ever caught Amstell's stand-up show will know that his family offer rich pickings in the comedy department so there's a lot to hope for as the show kicks off it's six-part run tonight.

Whilst the show is very much Amstell's baby he's more than adequately supported by an enjoyable cast, led by BAFTA award-winning actress Rebecca Front who you'll remember from The Thick Of It and Nighty Night who plays his oppressive Jewish mother.

It's very postmodern and a very different proposition to the current crop of sitcoms on the box, so it may take you some time to get on the show's wavelength, but once you have, we suspect it will be well worth it.