There seems to be several comedies started on the BBC based on memoirs about growing up in 1970s Britain.
Cradle to Grave based loosely on the autobiography of Danny Baker is much better and funnier.
This is based on the memoirs of writer and actress Emma Kennedy who is played by Lucy Hutchison. She is a 10 year old obsessed with Star Wars. Her parents are Brenda and Tony Kennedy played by Katherine Parkinson and Dan Skinner. The Kennedys have moved into a new estate in Stevenage and pleased that they are social climbing and on the verge of being considered middle class meaning dinners parties and being part of the new town community.
The Kennedys make friends to a couple who only live together. Tim is the typical 1970s Lothario looking type and Jenny is more traditional girlfriend who is also pregnant. They also have African neighbours who seemed to be confused by everyone's antics.
With the focus being on young Emma and her school friends lends the sitcom some similarities with Outnumbered and also allows it to insert pop references such as Stars Wars or the latest heartthrobs or pop groups. One of the episodes had the young girls in distress as Donny Osmond got engaged.
The adults get into their own misadventures usually based on confusion of some sort. One of the episodes had both couples pretending to be gay as they wanted to impress their new lesbian neighbours from Denmark.
The sitcom has no laughter track. If it did then the audience never bothered laughing. It is a mirth free zone. I thought the first episode was very bad and although it slightly improved, this lacks the heart, warmth and insight of Cradle to Grave.
The 1970s setting seems to be all over the place. It just went for some kind of generic 70s nostalgia. There was a good touch when showing those scary public information films which they used to show at school, because I saw them at school then.
The whole show wants to rely on just nostalgia but the script is poor. There is not much laughter in 'look bad women drivers' when it featured Brenda trying to pass her driving test and she was a horrible driver or Tim trying to get ready for parenthood by building a cot. Even the episode where they went on a disastrous camping holiday was rather predictable.
Some of the language is jarring as its too modern. They really did not speak like that in the 1970s. Having a black couple in the show and then sort of dismissing them just looks like casual racism even if the Kennedys actually may had treated their neighbours like that 40 years ago.
