It is pretty big news that John Cleese has returned to the BBC to star in a new sitcom for the first time since Fawlty Towers. So it's a relief to say that Hold The Sunset is not a painful attempt to recreate the anarchic brilliance of his seventies heyday. The fact that it is scheduled in the early Sunday evening slot and not going out online on BBC Three shows that it is aimed squarely at a mainstream audience that isn't going to demand something too edgy.
Cleese plays Phil, an elderly neighbour of Edith (Alison Steadman). They are both widowed and finally, over homemade biscuits, Phil pops the question. If they pool their resources they can buy a lovely place in the sun. And to his surprise and delight Edith says yes. But she has barely had time to uncork the champagne when there is a knock at the door. Her 50-year-old son Roger (Jason Watkins) has split with his wife, quit his job and wants to move back in. And he wants some lovely homemade biscuits too.
It's an OK old school set-up, putting a different spin on what would be a more topical story of boomerang kids never leaving home. Watkins might be middle-aged, however, but settling back in brings the big kid out in him all over again. Before you can say "language, Timothy" he is moving the furniture around to how it was when he was young and getting stuck in windows.
But let's be blunt, if you are under 50, or maybe 60, no make that 70, it may not be for you. Even though Rosie Cavaliero pitches up and brings some nervy energy to proceedings as Roger's long-suffering ex-wife Wendy. And Ever Decreasing Circles legend Peter Egan doesn't do much in the first episode except walk his dog but presumably he will feature more later on. I recently heard in an interview that he doesn't eat meat - he's Egan the Vegan.
Cleese has said that he enjoyed making Hold The Sunset because it was an acting job and not a written by him – Charles McKeown, who has worked with various Pythons over the years, penned it. And the ex-Python is rather amiable as Edith's elderly suitor with the occasional twinkle in his eye. He could have gone down a Victor Meldrew route but he keeps the grumbling on a low light. I'm sure some critics are going to put the boot in just because this isn't as good as Fawlty Towers. It clearly isn't, but as a gentle slice of suburban sitcom the script is not totally faulty either.
Hold The Sunset, BBC1, Sundays from February 18, 7.30pm.
