In With The Flynns

In With The Flynns offered nothing we haven't seen before in sitcoms from Bless this House to My Family. Bland, predictable and without a single character to cling to.

In with the Flynns (BBC1) is bland, smooth and unremarkable. You would call it a sitcom designed by a committee, were it not for the fact that programmes with a lot of writers tend to be quite good. There's a family, without much money: the kids say the darndest things and the teenager gets a piercing. The father's adult brother lives among them, I think in an attempt to splice the eternal humour of the family unit with some of the classic larks of Men Behaving Badly.

The acting is not great. The kids are not great. Are you even allowed to slag off child actors? Is that like saying you don't think Pippa Middleton's all that? Will Mellor's long-suffering but chirpy dad has a portfolio of exaggerated hand-gestures that he borrowed off the 1970s: the "what's he like?" backward thumb point; the "I don't know why I bother" flap. Somebody on the set should be poking him with a stick, saying: "Have you ever seen anybody do that? Anybody in real life?"

It is unfair to single any of them out, though, since the problem is the set-up: if they want us to fall in love with the Flynns, as one might a regular family, beset by tribulations but battling through, yik yak yik yak, then they need to be a bit more like actual people. And if they want us to fall about, like we're watching Miranda, only without the hassle of getting the actual Miranda, then it has to be funny.

So, take this snatch of dialogue: "Your perfume is exquisite." "Actually, that might be Brasso". No two people in the history of enlarged frontal lobes have ever had that exchange: yet where's the thrill, the intoxication, the certain something that makes up for how unlikely it is? I think there should be a litmus test for all sitcoms; is it as funny as a kitten falling down the back of a sofa? Nope? Well, then, back to the drawing board, or we need to start paying more for home videos. It would save so much human endeavour. And the kittens would be doing that stuff anyway.

In with the Flynns, BBC One, review

Let's start today with a spot of free association. If I say the words "BBC One primetime sitcom", what do you think of? My guess is a family of harassed but likeable parents and their mischievous but likeable children - all of whom exchange mild banter that convulses the studio audience with inexplicable mirth. You might further imagine a couple of eccentric relatives and some contrived misunderstandings that lead to a few easily resolved scrapes. Throw in a title that's a pun on the family's name and Bob is pretty much your uncle.

And if that's what you did think of, then congratulations - because the new show In with the Flynns contains all of the above.

Dull, tired and completely edge-less

In With The Flynns has been described as edgy by lead star Will Mellor, but the truth is that this sitcom is about as tired and old as a brand new TV programme can get.

Sitcom Punchlines R Us. Product 17 "You say that like it's a bad thing". Usable in a wide range of situations in which one character is being criticised by another (e.g. in response to... "You've never done a hard day's work in your life"). Ten per cent discount if purchased with "No need to thank me" or "As the bishop said to the actress". The presence of Product 17, in In with the Flynns, BBC1's new family sitcom, was a little bit depressing. But the honest truth is that if you're looking for another Life of Riley or My Family this will do the job perfectly well. I don't know why you would be engaged in that search when Outnumbered and Lead Balloon are available to give a far sharper account of family life, but some like to travel down the middle of the road and In with the Flynns has its moments if you're in an indulgent mood. There was a painfully good sight gag involving an eyebrow piercing and a bead curtain, and I also liked the wife's dismissive description of the challenges of driving a fork-lift truck: "It's basically go-karting with a bit of Tetris thrown in." If you find that joke crosses the line, complain to the BBC, not me.

In With The Flynns review: The new My Family?

Although at first the characters don't come across as believable, by the end of the episode everyone seems to fit into the set-up well, and there are more than a few genuinely funny moments.

A mainstream, family-based sitcom billed as "warm" and "authentic" sets all the alarm bells ringing. This new six-parter written by Daniel Peak is a kind of aspirational working-class companion to the bourgeois settings of Outnumbered and My Family, but if anything, it's even more flat-footed. It feels incredibly dated, from the staging to the characters to the jokes. Will Mellor and Niky Wardley are the parents working extra shifts to take the family on holiday; Warren Clarke is the best bit as the grouchy grandfather looking for romance.

With the last series of My Family starting later this month, In With The Flynns picks up the sitcom baton and sprints off with it.

Weirdly, both series have American roots. My Family was created by Fred Barron, while The Flynns is executive produced by Caryn Mandabach whose name you'll have seen attached to such monoliths as Roseanne, 3rd Rock from the Sun and Nurse Jackie.

This is a British version of her US show Grounded for Life and it's written by George Jeffrie and Bert Tyler-Moore - the two big comedy brains behind Pete Versus Life and Star Stories.

Where My Family feels forced and artificial to the point of being almost physically painful to watch, In With The Flynns, with its seamless use of flashbacks, is much more relaxed.

Set in Manchester, it stars Will Mellor and Niky Wardley as Liam and Caroline, the harassed young parents of a teenage daughter Chloe and two younger sons.

Warren Clarke plays Liam's dad Jim and Liam's brother Tommy is played by Craig Parkinson - who you'll recognise as the only probation worker to survive the Asbo Five in Misfits.

With Liam and Caroline too busy to keep a proper eye on their kids, it's left to Tommy this week to give them the benefits of his worldly wisdom.

If you're a fan of Seinfeld, you'll probably spot that Tommy has a touch of the Kramer about him - he is a law unto himself and completely Teflon coated so that blame never sticks.

Judging from this first outing, The Flynns could be with us for even longer than My Family has managed.

Straight-ahead family sitcoms are a hard trick to pull off, but when it works, it's a trick that can run and run (look at My Family, starting its 11th series next week). Here's a new contender, loosely based on the US hit Grounded for Life (which briefly aired on ITV) and featuring a likeable, mildly chaotic Manchester family. Parents Liam and Caroline had their first child when they were still teenagers and are now in their 30s and struggling with three. Liam's unreliable brother Tommy should help with the parenting chores but only adds to their woes. The first episode revolves around the couple's efforts to work the overtime necessary to pay for a holiday in the sun - neglecting their children along the way: one has her tongue pierced, another gets bullied and the third takes to scavenging from bins. The comic rhythms are creaky at this stage, but Will Mellor and Niky Wardley are convincing as the hassled parents, while the star of the show looks to be Craig Parkinson as wayward Uncle Tommy, who tonight dishes out advice to his nephew on martial arts.

Six to watch: family comedies

In with the Flynns is the latest family-based sitcom. We list our favourites of the genre but have we missed any?