The Reluctant Landlord
- TV sitcom
- Sky One
- 2018 - 2019
- 13 episodes (2 series)
Romesh Ranganathan stars in a semi-autobiographical sitcom about a man running his late father's pub. Also features Sian Gibson, Yasmine Akram, Nick Helm, Marek Larwood, Steve Edge and more.
- Series 1, Episode 1 repeated Wednesday at 3pm on Sky Comedy
Streaming rank this week: 3,112
Press clippings
Sky backs comedies
Sky has reiterated its commitment to comedy, as work resumes on several of its shows. A fourth series of Brassic is being written, Breeders looks set to return for a third series, and drafting is underway on a third series of Intelligence. Further episodes of The Reluctant Landlord were also in development before the coronavirus pandemic struck.
British Comedy Guide, 23rd May 2021Romesh Ranganathan's constantly unimpressed landlord serves up some low-key festivities in the world's most terrible pub. Although Romesh is keen to have a day off at Christmas, the regulars are horrified at the prospect. Can he match up to his dad's legendary celebrations?
Hannah Verdier, The Guardian, 23rd December 2019The likable sitcom where Romesh Ranganathan has inherited a pub but, for some reason, is not very happy about it returns for a second season. When his wife Natasha (Sian Gibson) is unexpectedly called into work, Rom has to look after their two kids while wrangling the roguish Seven Swans regulars.
Graeme Virtue, The Guardian, 4th September 2019Comedy.co.uk Awards 2018 shortlist
The shortlisted TV and radio shows for the Comedy.co.uk Awards 2018 have been announced. 60 programmes are now in the running for the Comedy Of The Year title.
British Comedy Guide, 21st January 2019Series one of Romesh Ranganathan's sitcom concludes with a talent show. The event threatens to get out of hand as oafish barfly Lemon encourages the misanthropic landlord to trash the pub. Prepare for a last-minute change of heart as a second season of the show has been greenlit. Passable, if never essential.
Phil Harrison, The Guardian, 4th December 2018Series two of Romesh Ranganathan's new semi-autobiographical sitcom has been commissioned before the first has been aired, so he must be doing something right. Judge for yourself in its riotous opening episode, in which his character is forced to take over a family pub frequented by a curious set of locals.
Mike Bradley, The Guardian, 30th October 2018Romesh Ranganathan interview
Romesh Ranganathan reveals how his father's legacy inspired his new comedy The Reluctant Landlord.
Craig Mcclean, Radio Times, 30th October 2018The Reluctant Landlord, review
Romesh Ranganathan takes over his father's pub in this easy-to-watch sitcom.
Helen Chandler-Wilde, The Telegraph, 30th October 2018Review: The Reluctant Landlord
New comedy series is slightly edgy and only occasionally jarring.
Sean O'Grady, The Independent, 30th October 2018It's a promising opening for Romesh Ranganathan's semi-autobiographical sitcom, a story loosely based on his experiences of taking over his late father's pub in East Grinstead. In the show, he'd rather be a hip-hop DJ, though he's under pressure from his wife Natasha (Car Share's Sian Gibson) to make a go of it.
There have been plenty of comedies set in pubs before, but this is the perfect home for Ranganathan's trademark deadpan wit, whether he's chiding his children for suggesting that Spiderman can fly, or resisting Natasha's attempts to get him on a healthy diet. (She suggests beetroot and quinoa, but he'd prefer a toastie.)
The supporting cast adds flavour, particularly Phil Davis as Dirty Harry, a jailbird with a menacing stare and a wallet full of forged Scottish banknotes.
The show is genial on the surface, though the language veers towards the fruity, and there's an undertow of multiculturalism which is delicately teased out.
Is it really OK to like The Great British Bake Off and the Wu-Tang Clan, Ranganathan wonders? So far, yes.
Alastair McKay, Evening Standard, 30th October 2018