Vicious

Does Vicious mark end of invisible gay TV characters?

New sitcom Vicious features a camp gay couple as leads. It may feel like a throwback, but it shows how far TV has come, from John Inman's flouncing character in Are You Being Served? and presenters using 'gay' as an insult.

Vicious: Episode 1 review

Given the way audiences react to old-fashioned sitcoms these days you can forgive it for dipping its toe rather than putting its foot into it. But without a doubt this is a promising first step for a show that could well take centre stage in ITV's comedy line-up.

Will Vicious prove a watershed for gay relationships?

This might be the 21st century but it is still notably rare for a British TV drama or comedy to centre on a gay couple.

Ten Things About... Derek Jacobi

Derek Jacobi will certainly pull in an audience with Vicious, but what else has he been up to? Is there a famous figure in history he hasn't played? To enlighten you, here are ten facts about the acting legend.

The humour may not exactly be top drawer, but the cast list of ITV's latest stab at primetime comedy can't be argued with. Sir Ian McKellen - Gandalf! Magneto! - and Sir Derek Jacobi - Claudius! The Master! - together... surely it can't be that bad?!

The Sirs play geriatric gay couple Freddie and Stuart, who in this opening episode decide to throw a camp and catty wake for their recently deceased friend. Gurning Misfits actor Iwan Rheon also appears as sprightly leather jacket fan Ash, who's just moved in upstairs, while another acting heavyweight Frances de la Tour plays the couple's ravenous friend Violet. The jokes are groan-worthy, clichéd and occasionally offensive, so we don't expect everyone to come away from Vicious having loved it, but legends like McKellen and Jacobi cosying up together on the same sofa just has to be seen...

A studio-bound, single-set, multi-camera sitcom, Vicious is a gratifyingly old-school farce in which thespian deities Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi have a char-grilled whale of a time as an incessantly bickering homosexual couple. Sealed within their sepulchral Covent Garden abode - they shriek like vampires when the curtains are accidentally opened - pompous actor Freddie (McKellen) and retired bar manager Stuart (Jacobi) tussle waspishly over decades of perceived slights, while never missing an opportunity to mock each other's supposed decrepitude.

Now, these are hardly original comic creations - the vituperative, hammy old queen has long been a staple of popular culture - and there is nothing especially notable about the premise. But that simply doesn't matter when the execution is as strong as this.

Resembling a startled, wounded guinea pig, Jacobi squeals and frets amidst a knowing flurry of camp mannerisms, while McKellen booms fresh insults in that oak-lined voice of his. He also pulls some of the funniest "Why, I've never been so insulted in my life!" expressions this side of imperial phase Frankie Howerd. It's an impeccable dual assault of seasoned comic timing.

Enjoyment is magnified by the addition of Frances de la Tour as their dotty, man-hungry pal. Famously, she starred in Rising Damp, one of ITV's few great sitcoms, and it's tempting to view her presence here as a deliberate nod to the past. Not that her involvement is merely symbolic - she's a peerless comic actress - but you could argue that she's essentially playing lonely Miss Jones 30 years on. Even the dingy brown set recalls her most celebrated role.

Broad and boisterous in the best possible sense (ie it's nothing like that avalanche of horror, Mrs Brown's Boys), Vicious is jam-packed with gags, hitting the ground running with an impressive opening episode which establishes set-up, character and backstory with consummate ease.

A co-write between acclaimed playwright Mark Ravenhill and Gary Janetti, a former executive producer on Family Guy and Will & Grace, it revels in its camp bluster with such benign relish, I doubt it'll get into too much trouble for reinforcing stereotypes. It's obvious that Freddie and Stuart are blissfully happy in their enmity, and it's that undercurrent of warmth - the spoonful of sugar beneath the barrel-load of bile - that make these characters so engaging.

I'm no soothsayer - I've never said "sooth" in my life - but I predict that Vicious will be huge. A hit sitcom! On ITV! Nurse, the smelling salts...

TV Preview: Vicious

Vicious whizzes along with minimal time spent on set-up and maximum time spent on laughs.

Can you believe they managed to get Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Derek Jacobi on a TV show together... and then forced them to make awkward '70s sitcom-esque gags? Nah, we kid. Vicious seems like good fun, and we'll be tuning in just to see how wide Iwan Rheon can get his mouth to open. Seriously, in the trailer his jaw is flopped down like a Sesame Street puppet.

Sir Ian McKellen: Don't call me old

Ian McKellen says the title of a new ITV sitcom was changed from Vicious Old Queens to Vicious when he joined the cast as he did not want to be called 'old'.