Goodnight Sweetheart

Preview copies of this one-off revival have not been released, but the information I've been able to find has left me quite disappointed, because Gary Sparrow (Nicholas Lyndhurst) will not be travelling in time back to wartime London. Instead, this is to be a sequel to Goodnight Sweetheart, and so time has relentlessly marched forward and we'll find our hero slipping between the mundane present-day and 1962.

In the last episode of Goodnight Sweetheart, Gary was left stranded in the 1940s as his time portal had closed. Now he's in the 1960s, can he keep claiming all those Beatles songs as his own? And in a classic time travel scenario, he gets the chance to visit the maternity hospital to see himself being born, but this makes "the laws of physics go berserk" and causes the portal to the present day to re-open again. But who would choose our current bland world over "swinging London" and Beatlemania?

The original sitcom saw Nicholas Lyndhurst's Gary Sparrow discovering a time-travel portal and, basically, using his power to simply go down the pub in a different era. This reboot, which is part of the BBC's sitcom season, promises yet more momentous events for Gary to be vaguely underwhelmed by. This time, he's offered the chance to witness his own birth. An existential mind-mangler, surely? Expect Gary to shrug the whole thing off in his customarily phlegmatic style.

Goodnight Sweetheart preview

Goodnight Sweetheart is often a better concept than its jokes, and is strong on its dramatic elements.

TV preview: Goodnight Sweetheart, BBC1

Is it possible for a sitcom to be terrible and very funny at the same time? That's the feat that this one-off revival of Goodnight Sweetheart as part of the Landmark Sitcom Season seems to have pulled off. This time travel comedy always was an odd idea and the internal logic problems of the original run, which ended 17 years ago, still haven't been resolved. On the other hand there are plenty of laughs.

BBC Landmark Sitcom Season: the revivals

As we were told several times during the Porridge screening, the BBC isn't looking to bring back any of these series back for now but I'm guessing if the ratings are good then any or all of the writers will be quickly called upon to write new episodes. However if none do go to series then I still think it was a nice little gesture to call back to some of Britain's best-loved sitcoms in this way. I agree with Allen when he says that comedy gets treated like a poor relation and watching these new variations on classic shows was a nice little treat. I do feel if this season does do one thing then it's highlighting the great comedy tradition we have in this country and to look to the future to see what new comedies that the BBC have in the pipeline.

Sitcom season will bring plenty of criticism & viewers

One-off returns for shows like Are You Being Served?, Porridge, Keeping Up Appearances and Goodnight Sweetheart could lead to big audiences and probably some full series, says Mark Jefferies.

Comedy reboots: never go back

If we want to wallow in nostalgia, let's have repeats rather than retreads.

Why Goodnight Sweetheart is the most subversive sitcom

There aren't many sitcoms about a grown man pretending to be a spy who wrote The Beatles' back catalogue. Who also befriends Noel Coward, saves Clement Attlee's life, and meets George VI, the Kray twins and Winston Churchill. Then again, time-travelling oddity Goodnight Sweetheart was no ordinary sitcom.

Hello Sweetheart

We're sorry that we've hardly blogged this year, but there is a very good reason: we've been trapped in 1962. It all started when we went on this innocent walk down an alleyway in East London and...What do you mean you don't believe us?