In With The Flynns

BBC cancels In With The Flynns

BBC One has cancelled In With The Flynns after airing two seasons (12 episodes) of the comedy series.

Liam (Will Mellor) is pretty fed up with his humdrum lifestyle, while his younger brother Kevin (Alex Carter) seems to have it all. Meanwhile, Jim (Warren Clarke) has found his inner Picasso and has started churning out lamentable portraits of the family. The humour seems to have picked up in tonight's episode, although it's still heavily propped up by canned laughter.

The Flynns' front door is always open to northern actors willing to make cameo appearances, and this week's visitors are Beverley Callard and Paul Copley, playing Caroline's crass expat parents, Pat and Alan.

It's their wedding anniversary, they're home from Spain to celebrate, and poor Chloe is at the nasty end of Pat's observation that her mum and dad only got married to give her a surname. Cue a series of gloriously half-baked flashbacks to the Flynns' courtship - the pregnancy test, Liam's terrible curtains haircut - intended to reassure Chloe of their love. And amid the toilet humour, love is what In with the Flynns has got going for it. It's unusually warm.

The Beeb's bland family sitcom continues. After such dire reviews last season, one does have to wonder why it was recommissioned. Some may find comfort in the mild humour, but many will find it a less-than-scintillating Friday-night option. Tonight, the Flynns throw an anniversary party for Caroline's (played by Niky Wardley) parents. Watching your own family could well be a funnier experience.

Q&A with writer Simon Nye

A question and answer interview with writer Simon Nye.

In With The Flynns, the BBC One studio-based sitcom, has returned for a second series - and quite a few changes. For starters, some of the cast have been totally changed, with new actors playing old characters.

However, the main change is the time slot. The first series was broadcast before the watershed; therefore it was seen at the time as the BBC's attempt to replace My Family with something similar. As a result, it was attacked by just about every TV critic for being as old-fashioned and unfunny as its predecessor - except me, because I quite liked the first series. It wasn't brilliant, but for what is was (a family-friendly sitcom) it did OK.

The issue is, have all the changes damaged it too much? The humour used is still the same as it was before, featuring tame jokes and slight slapstick. Not innovative, but something you can watch with anyone. The problem now, though, is that it doesn't fit this slot. Also, there's the issue of the shows around it. Next Friday's episode is scheduled between two studio-based sitcom repeats: Miranda before and Mrs. Brown's Boys after. No favours from the BBC here, slotting it between these two modern day giants.

It's safe to say that In With The Flynns probably won't survive long enough to get a third series, to the joy of every other TV critic and reviewer in the country. Except me.

In with the Flynns debuts modestly in new 9.30 slot

In with the Flynns kicked off its second series with a fairly modest audience on Friday night (August 17).

This family sitcom might be all about staying in, but as series two opens Liam and Caroline have been to the pictures. They return to find a man in a Barbara Windsor mask in their front room, about to make off with a laptop. It's only when they manage to restrain him that they realise the burglar is an old schoolmate of Liam's - though Corrie viewers might recognise him as the murderous John Stape. Their almost quick-witted reaction makes them the very mildest of vigilantes.

Also passing through the Flynn household is Chloe's manipulative new friend Megan, who can persuade an adult to adopt her in under a minute. Her snivelly tricks work on Liam's dad Jim (Warren Clarke), though he's more interested in the large cod he's clutching. Cue the fish puns - and a reassurance that, although In with the Flynns is pretty broad, it's not total carp.

Sky has thrown down the gauntlet to the BBC lately. Daring dramas, comedies that actually raise a chuckle and even the annexation of one of the Beeb's comedy crown jewels in Alan Partridge. How will Auntie respond? With a second series of piss-weak sitcom In With The Flynns, that's how. The Flynns are a family of rough diamond Mancs: think the Royles, if they spruced themselves up for a visit from the Queen. Tonight, Liam and Caroline (Will Mellor and Niky Wardley) turn vigilante, Jim catches a big fish and Chloe introduces an obnoxious new friend. But the dialogue is flat, the jokes telegraphed and the characterisation superficial. Sure, it's gentle family entertainment. But nothing about this cardboard cut-out family feels recognisable or real enough to succeed on even those limited terms.

TV review: In With the Flynns

The BBC's In With the Flynns feels like a tired, lame sitcom because it is a tired, lame sitcom.