My Family

Viewers cosy up to My Family

BBC1's family orientated sitcom My Family is still a huge attraction for viewers even with the show now entering its ninth series. The long-running sitcom, starring Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker, which first aired in 2000 was the nation's most watched sitcom last year out of the 32 that ran.

I don't know anyone who watches this BBC show and yet it's been a ratings winner for years. Robert Lindsay is a put-upon dentist and Zoe Wannamaker is his wife who can't cook. So far, so Butterflies... except that Butterflies was original. My Family is generic in every way you can think of: generic middle class family, generic plots, generic storylines, generic laughter...

My Family at 100

Executive producer Don Taffner Jr explains how My Family reached its 100th episode milestone.

The soporific family sitcom lumbers away, garnering ratings, which can only be due to the talent and likeability of the two leads, Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker, as they face weak domestic dramas episode after episode. Cue the sound of canned laughter.

I guess I shouldn't beat around the bush anymore so here goes... I... I... quite enjoyed Friday's My Family.

Like many, I watched the first series but lost interest quickly and have only dipped in and out ever since. So it was a little odd that I decided to give this first episode of the seventh series a go. Whether you like it or not, it is an achievement nowadays for anything, drama or comedy, to make it to its seventh series. I turned it on with low expectations and was surprised how it seemed to have grown up a bit. I can't abide the dopiness of Abby and Roger but they didn't get much screen time in this opener and the humour seemed surprisingly near the mark for a 'safe' series.

One of the lines so says my sister whose legs have two different postcodes would perhaps be more at home in Pulling but I was surprised how mature this first one was. This episode actually made me laugh in places and that's all I really want from a comedy. I doubt it'll continue to, but I'll give the second one a go just to see.

It was a depressing evening all round. The start of the eighth series of My Family, that's very depressing. There's another one coming, too, apparently. It's your fault, for watching it. If no one did, they wouldn't continue to make it. Stop it - it's lame, predictable, out-of-date, middle-of-the-road, middle-England, middle-piddle ... it's the central reservation of television. Watch Pulling instead. That's the fast lane, and the hard shoulder, all in one.

And you know what was really depressing about it? I caught myself chuckling on occasions. What the hell is going on? Maybe I'm old now.

Kids have a habit of growing up fast, but I'm sure it was only the other day that Michael Harper (Gabriel Thomson) was a little bespectacled geek with an unnerving interest in military matters and a tendency to stay in his room a lot. Suddenly he's studying at university, is sporting an eyebrow stud and has got his girlfriend pregnant. But then he's not the only one to have grown up. My Family has, too, going from relatively safe childish humour to... well something a bit saucier, with references to bondage and lines such as "Ha! Says my wonderful sister whose legs have two different postcodes!"

Despite these slight changes, the comedic juggernaut that is My Family is still trundling along in the middle of the road attracting viewing figures other comedies can only dream about. And another series is already being filmed.

While I love Peep Show and Garth Marenghi and all those cool shows, I'm quite happy to admit that I've always thought that the first few series of My Family were alright, and better than alright on occasion.

But now it's just so workman-like. Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker even recently refused to record an episode they thought was too poorly written to be associated with, and are clearly now just using it to pay the bills. Kris Marshall jumped shipped years ago, and the new characters haven't added a great deal. The fact that it's middle-class and filmed in front of a studio audience isn't the problem, the fact that there's no life left in the show is. Last night's episode was plodding in the extreme, and you've got to say that this series of My Family should really be the last.