Tom Conti

Doc Martin review

One last dose of feelgood fun . . . or was it?

Review: Paddington 2

Well, well, a sequel that is even more fun than its predecessor. It doesn't often happen but Paddington 2 manages to shift the stale marmalade sandwiches from 2014 to deliver a pacy, enjoyable adventure, which boasts a cameo cast that is like a who's who of British acting talent.

Alternative comedian John Dowie is back

Alternative comedy pioneer John Dowie is to perform his first live show in 14 years. The comic was performing satirical songs with humorous monologues before the alternative comedy boom of the late 1970s, and is probably most famous for writing the stage play Jesus - My Boy, which enjoyed a West End run with Tom Conti in the starring role

Last in the series of this adorable sitcom starring Sally Phillips and the venerable Tom Conti. Jenny applies for a job at the local surgery, meaning that the family could finally be on their way back to independence from her parents. Becky gets a little over-excited and starts booking viewings with estate agents to look at posh, modernist flats with sleep pods and espresso taps in the kitchen. The whole thing has been beautifully written with a lightness of touch not seen since the last series of Rev. Let's hope there's more to come.

Nina Conti profile

Ventriloquist Nina Conti is the daughter of actor Tom Conti. She has toured the world with her monkey puppet but says it was her childhood dream to become an actress.

Nina proves she's no muppet ahead of festival

Tom Conti's daughter Nina proves she's no muppet for working with dummies ahead of Edinburgh Festival appearance.

Is it big and broad? Is it light and well observed? Sky's intergenerational sitcom is a bit
of both and the mix makes for a frustrating watch - one of those comedies you're willing to succeed instead of just enjoying.

The premise is a winner: when Jenny Pope (Sally Phillips) loses her London job, she and her family are forced to move in with her parents in parochial Kettering, Northamptonshire. Tom Conti adds a touch of class as her dad, but there are glaring lapses. At the climax of tonight's episode a blast of Adele signals that we've hit a plot point calling for Real Emotion. The crunch of gears could make your eyes water.

Sky1's penchant for overly gentle, family friendly sitcoms continues with one starring Sally Phillips. She plays Jenny, a mum who is forced, along with her husband and children, to move back in with her parents (Susie Blake and Tom Conti), where, suffice to say, they're not particularly wanted.

Sky 1's comedy firmly plants a flag on Modern Family territory with its crowd-pleasing farcical mix of hip oldsters, dippy parents and cool kids.

It most emphatically isn't Modern Family, of course; it's more like a lighter version of BBC1's My Family with its infantile mum and dad: Jenny (Sally Phillips) who loses her job and Nick (Darren Strange), the latest in a long line of hapless sitcom dads, a deluded pin brain with lame ideas about being an "entrepreneur".

As the family finances suffer and their house is repossessed, they have to move in with granny and grandad (Susie Blake and Tom Conti). The comedy catch is that the grandparents really don't want them and treat everyone, adults included, like kids. Just in case there's anything here you don't get, the whole premise is helpfully set out in the animated opening titles.

When Jenny Pope (Sally Phillips) loses her job due to a violent outburst against a colleague, her self-styled entrepreneur (read 'jobless') husband Nick (Darren Strange) and their children Becky and Sam are forced to move in with Jenny's parents. With three generations thrown together, there's a hint of Modern Family about Parents, not least in Nick's Phil Dunphy-esque role: Nick's desire to sway Jenny's father Len (Tom Conti), who thinks Nick needs to get a job, is very reminiscent of Phil's failed attempts to impress Jay. But although there are some amusing moments, Parents is rarely laugh-out-loud funny, with the possible exception of Jenny's rendition of the company mission statement to the Dad's Army theme tune. Ground-breaking it certainly is not, but it does have its moments.