Austin isn't the first comedy about a father connecting with his long lost son. Scrolling through the higher numbers on the EPG the other day I came across the antique comedy Home To Roost starring John Thaw as a reluctan dad learning to be a proper father again when his offspring played by Reece Dindsale pitches up.

But this new sitcom, initially at least, set in Australia and starring familiar faces Ben Miller and Sally Phillips, puts a modern spin on an old story. Miller plays Julian, a writer whose son Austin – the product of a brief youthful fling – is autistic. So everyone has to tread carefully. Austin, played by Michael Theo, has the kind of autism where if you say it's raining cats and dogs he expects to see felines and canines falling from the sky.

So it's a sitcom not just about learning to love and to be a parent, but also about learning about autism. Which it handles pretty well. But...is it funny? Well, Ben Miller are certainly well cast. He's good as the angsty Julian, a pretty sucessful tweedy children's author who gets cancelled when he reposts a right wing post on social media. Phillips plays Ingrid, his long-suffering wife who illustrates his books and has a penchant for colourful dresses (I don't know whose idea it was for her to wear white jeans in one scene in the opening episode).

It's certainly not laugh-out loud funny, but it will make the corners of your moith curl up. At one point, in desperation to plug his new book, Julian sets up a signing session in an indie bookstore and only realises why they are so keen when he sees the copies of Mein Kampf in the window. The bookshop owner turns out to be jollly and friendly and Ingrid ends up having tea with her.

And Michael Theo, who is neurodivergent IRL, is very watchable in the titular role. He's obviously the hero of the comedy from the very start and we quickly see that there might be more to his quirky personality traits than meet the eye. If there is one good reason to watch this it's Theo, who somehow manages to look like both John Belushi and Andy Kaufman at the same time. Though, it has to be said, he is not as funny as either of them.

Austin, BBC One, Fridays and obviously on iPlayer too (I shouldn't need to keep saying that should I)

Credit: BBC/Northern Pictures/Screen Canberra/Australian Broadcasting Corporation/ITV Studios