Danny Baker’s rose-tinted TV memoir continues with more ducking and diving from various members of the Baker clan. The emphasis here is on influential patriarch, Fred “Spud” Baker (Peter Kay), whose job seems to consist of emptying boats and sticking half of everything in his pocket. But a new security team threatens his livelihood: “the only thing I’m earning at the moment is me wages,” cries Spud at one point.

There’s also a hint of things to come. The dockers are being offered redundancy and developers are buying up land around the Thames. A way of life is coming to an end. 

And elsewhere another way of life is starting as Danny manages to get hold of a primitive video player. His face when he first sees it in operation resembles man’s face when he first saw fire, a mixture of awe and fear. Is it witchcraft? Not that Danny can afford any videos, having spent every quid he doesn’t have on the machine. Instead the family watches the same episode of Rising Damp on a loop until they can recite every word of the script themselves. 

Which is probably why the script of Cradle To Grave is so good. Baker knows his comedy like he knows the back streets of Bermondsey. The series is a little too sentimental at times, but there is no shortage of laughs. I’m not sure if this would stand as many repeated viewings as Rising Damp of course, but it is well worth watching once.

Oh, and the theme tune by Squeeze, is insanely catchy.

Cradle To Grave, Thursdays, BBC2, 9pm.