Home to Roost

This is one of those peculiar comedies of the 80s that hung around for years without anybody apparently liking it that much. In those days it was just accepted that a certain slot in the schedule would be filled by sitcoms (usually 8 till 9 each night), and they didn't need to be especially funny.

Whenever I see it I'm baffled that they cast two northern actors as the leads, only to ask them to play Lahndahners. Why not have just set it in Leeds, where Yorkshire TV was based? They have houses there, even semi-detached, and father and sons - I know, I've been. As it is, the constipated accents are a constant distraction. Then again maybe that's not such a bad thing, as the material hasn't really moved on from Sid James' Bless This House 15 years earlier. The modern twist is supposed to be that John Thaw is divorced, but really he's the same old sitcom Dad always making a fool of himself; and Reece Dinsdale is just the typical clueless sitcom son. The only difference is that, instead of there being women in the family, they have a cleaning lady! Maybe that's why they couldn't set it in Leeds...

It's true that it's better than most sitcoms around today, but that's no kind of standard. It's certainly not a patch on Chappell's earlier series Rising Damp. I guess you can't expect to get a cast like that twice in a career.