Main News Stories About 'In With The Flynns':

• Family sitcom In With The Flynns to return to BBC One (22/12/11)

BBC cancels In With The Flynns

BBC One has cancelled In With The Flynns after airing two seasons (12 episodes) of the comedy series.

Written by Patrick Munn. TV Wise, 30th October 2012

Liam (Will Mellor) is pretty fed up with his humdrum lifestyle, while his younger brother Kevin (Alex Carter) seems to have it all. Meanwhile, Jim (Warren Clarke) has found his inner Picasso and has started churning out lamentable portraits of the family. The humour seems to have picked up in tonight's episode, although it's still heavily propped up by canned laughter.

Lara Prendergast, The Daily Telegraph, 6th September 2012

The Beeb's bland family sitcom continues. After such dire reviews last season, one does have to wonder why it was recommissioned. Some may find comfort in the mild humour, but many will find it a less-than-scintillating Friday-night option. Tonight, the Flynns throw an anniversary party for Caroline's (played by Niky Wardley) parents. Watching your own family could well be a funnier experience.

Lara Prendergast, Radio Times, 24th August 2012

The Flynns' front door is always open to northern actors willing to make cameo appearances, and this week's visitors are Beverley Callard and Paul Copley, playing Caroline's crass expat parents, Pat and Alan.

It's their wedding anniversary, they're home from Spain to celebrate, and poor Chloe is at the nasty end of Pat's observation that her mum and dad only got married to give her a surname. Cue a series of gloriously half-baked flashbacks to the Flynns' courtship - the pregnancy test, Liam's terrible curtains haircut - intended to reassure Chloe of their love. And amid the toilet humour, love is what In with the Flynns has got going for it. It's unusually warm.

Emma Sturgess, Radio Times, 24th August 2012

Q&A with writer Simon Nye

A question and answer interview with writer Simon Nye.

BBC TV Blog, 22nd August 2012

In with the Flynns debuts modestly in new 9.30 slot

In with the Flynns kicked off its second series with a fairly modest audience on Friday night (August 17).

Written by Paul Millar. Digital Spy, 20th August 2012

In With The Flynns, the BBC One studio-based sitcom, has returned for a second series - and quite a few changes. For starters, some of the cast have been totally changed, with new actors playing old characters.

However, the main change is the time slot. The first series was broadcast before the watershed; therefore it was seen at the time as the BBC's attempt to replace My Family with something similar. As a result, it was attacked by just about every TV critic for being as old-fashioned and unfunny as its predecessor - except me, because I quite liked the first series. It wasn't brilliant, but for what is was (a family-friendly sitcom) it did OK.

The issue is, have all the changes damaged it too much? The humour used is still the same as it was before, featuring tame jokes and slight slapstick. Not innovative, but something you can watch with anyone. The problem now, though, is that it doesn't fit this slot. Also, there's the issue of the shows around it. Next Friday's episode is scheduled between two studio-based sitcom repeats: Miranda before and Mrs. Brown's Boys after. No favours from the BBC here, slotting it between these two modern day giants.

It's safe to say that In With The Flynns probably won't survive long enough to get a third series, to the joy of every other TV critic and reviewer in the country. Except me.

Ian Wolf, Giggle Beats, 20th August 2012

TV review: In With the Flynns

The BBC's In With the Flynns feels like a tired, lame sitcom because it is a tired, lame sitcom.

Written by Sam Wollaston. The Guardian, 17th August 2012

Sky has thrown down the gauntlet to the BBC lately. Daring dramas, comedies that actually raise a chuckle and even the annexation of one of the Beeb's comedy crown jewels in Alan Partridge. How will Auntie respond? With a second series of piss-weak sitcom In With The Flynns, that's how. The Flynns are a family of rough diamond Mancs: think the Royles, if they spruced themselves up for a visit from the Queen. Tonight, Liam and Caroline (Will Mellor and Niky Wardley) turn vigilante, Jim catches a big fish and Chloe introduces an obnoxious new friend. But the dialogue is flat, the jokes telegraphed and the characterisation superficial. Sure, it's gentle family entertainment. But nothing about this cardboard cut-out family feels recognisable or real enough to succeed on even those limited terms.

Phil Harrison, Time Out, 17th August 2012

This family sitcom might be all about staying in, but as series two opens Liam and Caroline have been to the pictures. They return to find a man in a Barbara Windsor mask in their front room, about to make off with a laptop. It's only when they manage to restrain him that they realise the burglar is an old schoolmate of Liam's - though Corrie viewers might recognise him as the murderous John Stape. Their almost quick-witted reaction makes them the very mildest of vigilantes.

Also passing through the Flynn household is Chloe's manipulative new friend Megan, who can persuade an adult to adopt her in under a minute. Her snivelly tricks work on Liam's dad Jim (Warren Clarke), though he's more interested in the large cod he's clutching. Cue the fish puns - and a reassurance that, although In with the Flynns is pretty broad, it's not total carp.

Emma Sturgess, The Guardian, 17th August 2012

BBC continues unabated with its ungodly pact with Will Mellor, cruelly ignoring public demand or opinion. With a Beady Eye song serving as both theme tune and warning to quickly change channel, the Flynn family return for another series of non-jokes and situations that only work if all the characters are stupid. Here, we get supposedly hilarious mix-ups over a poached cod and a bungling burglar. It's written by Men Behaving Badly's Simon Nye, who used to knock out decent ribald comedy with a hand tied behind his back. Here, he attempts to do it with both hands tied.

Phelim O'Neill, The Guardian, 16th August 2012

TV review - In With The Flynns, BBC1

The latest comedy offering from the BBC is certainly ideal pre-watershed viewing - no sex, no swearing and no violence. Alas they also left out the laughs.

Written by Arlene Kelly. Suite101, 22nd June 2011

Three episodes in and we've reached the old sitcom standby of dad having the snip, albeit with Tommy and Jim adding some refreshing "wingmen" humour to the situation.

Yes, if there are two men you don't want around when a doctor is approaching your nether regions with a knife, it's grandad and uncle Tommy.

But after Caroline has a pregnancy scare, Liam turns to his dad and brother for moral support.

And thank God he does because the waiting room scenes are the highlight of what's turning out to be a rather watchable series, despite its frequent habit of raiding the Comedy Cliche Cupboard.

And for once, the Krameresque Tommy doesn't steal the show. No, that honour goes to Liam's bum-cheeks. If you've ever wondered how a pre-watershed sitcom would handle naked star jumps, Will Mellor provides a surprising demonstration.

That gym membership was certainly a good investment.

Jane Simon, The Daily Mirror, 22nd June 2011

Out with the Flynns

Two episodes down and In With The Flynns has yet to offer much hope for the sitcom-lover. For those yearning for another Miranda, or merely something to erase the memory of My Family, the eponymous Mancunians are proving a tad underwhelming.

Written by Matthew Richardson. The Spectator, 21st June 2011

Filming In With The Flynns

We asked Jamie Glazebrook, Executive Producer of In With The Flynns, how the show was filmed.

Written by Jamie Glazebrook. BBC Comedy Blog, 15th June 2011

How to be... a sitcom parent

Want to star in a rubbishy sitcom? Then get a zany family with horrible kids and give off exasperated vibes.

Written by Stuart Heritage. The Guardian, 15th June 2011

If reality television has taught us anything, it's that the stuff people say in real life is funnier than anything script writers can dream up. This new entry to the family sitcom stable nods briefly in the direction of real life, but then takes all its dialogue from 'The Big Sitcom Book Of Unlikely Conversation'.

It's a pity - despite that niggle this is shaping up to be a decent half-hour, with Caroline and Liam (Niky Wardley and Will Mellor) competing this week to see who's the best parent.

Jane Simon, The Daily Mirror, 15th June 2011

In an attempt not to appear as irredeemably middle-class as everyone knows it to be, the BBC has set its latest family sitcom, In With the Flynns, among the proletarian masses of Manchester. But the socially downward setting can't disguise the rather tired and traditional format. It is still mum, dad, rebellious teenager, lovable scamps and eccentric relatives exchanging banter in contrived situations, to the accompaniment of inexplicably hysterical canned laughter.

However, the banter isn't bad, there is a definite warmth between the characters and Craig Parkinson shows great scene-stealing potential as dissolute Uncle Tommy.

Harry Venning, The Stage, 13th June 2011

I was somewhat dreading having to watch this, fearing it was going to be something akin to Life of Riley and other unfunny nonsense. But while In With the Flynns is not the funniest sitcom ever made, it does have its moments.

The first thing which strikes the viewer is the way the show is filmed. While this show was made in front of a studio audience, the filming looks much more realistic than a programme like Life of Riley or My Family. When you first see it, it doesn't feel quite right, but you soon get used to it.

As a pre-watershed TV sitcom there is very little in the way of offensive material. The closest to anything really disgusting was one of the sons in the family admitting to eating a pasty from a bin, which for me was one of the best bits, as well as admitting he got free soup from people who were serving it to the homeless.

Other decent comic moments included the eldest member of the family, Jim (Warren Clarke), going on a date with a woman he met in a car boot sale - but still making the woman pay £1.50 for a scart lead.

However, for me the best and worst moments were the flashbacks. This was an interesting comedic device, synonymous with In With the Flynns writers like Daniel Peak (who also employs similar cutaways in Mongrels). The best comic moment was a bit of slapstick involving an eyebrow piercing. The worst, however, was when the other son, who was being bullied, walked into a lamppost - which was clearly fake.

In With the Flynns isn't going to set the comic world alight, and many critics will be rallying against it, but in terms of pre-watershed sitcoms, it isn't the worst show in recent years.

Ian Wolf, Giggle Beats, 13th June 2011

In With The Flynns offered nothing we haven't seen before in sitcoms from Bless this House to My Family. Bland, predictable and without a single character to cling to.

Simmy Richman, The Independent, 12th June 2011

In With The Flynns review: The new My Family?

Although at first the characters don't come across as believable, by the end of the episode everyone seems to fit into the set-up well, and there are more than a few genuinely funny moments.

Written by Harry Hamburg. On the Box, 9th June 2011

Sitcom Punchlines R Us. Product 17 "You say that like it's a bad thing". Usable in a wide range of situations in which one character is being criticised by another (e.g. in response to... "You've never done a hard day's work in your life"). Ten per cent discount if purchased with "No need to thank me" or "As the bishop said to the actress". The presence of Product 17, in In with the Flynns, BBC1's new family sitcom, was a little bit depressing. But the honest truth is that if you're looking for another Life of Riley or My Family this will do the job perfectly well. I don't know why you would be engaged in that search when Outnumbered and Lead Balloon are available to give a far sharper account of family life, but some like to travel down the middle of the road and In with the Flynns has its moments if you're in an indulgent mood. There was a painfully good sight gag involving an eyebrow piercing and a bead curtain, and I also liked the wife's dismissive description of the challenges of driving a fork-lift truck: "It's basically go-karting with a bit of Tetris thrown in." If you find that joke crosses the line, complain to the BBC, not me.

Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent, 9th June 2011

Dull, tired and completely edge-less

In With The Flynns has been described as edgy by lead star Will Mellor, but the truth is that this sitcom is about as tired and old as a brand new TV programme can get.

Written by Rachel Tarley. Metro, 9th June 2011

In with the Flynns, BBC One, review

Let's start today with a spot of free association. If I say the words "BBC One primetime sitcom", what do you think of? My guess is a family of harassed but likeable parents and their mischievous but likeable children - all of whom exchange mild banter that convulses the studio audience with inexplicable mirth. You might further imagine a couple of eccentric relatives and some contrived misunderstandings that lead to a few easily resolved scrapes. Throw in a title that's a pun on the family's name and Bob is pretty much your uncle. And if that's what you did think of, then congratulations - because the new show In with the Flynns contains all of the above.

Written by James Walton. The Daily Telegraph, 9th June 2011

In with the Flynns (BBC1) is bland, smooth and unremarkable. You would call it a sitcom designed by a committee, were it not for the fact that programmes with a lot of writers tend to be quite good. There's a family, without much money: the kids say the darndest things and the teenager gets a piercing. The father's adult brother lives among them, I think in an attempt to splice the eternal humour of the family unit with some of the classic larks of Men Behaving Badly.

The acting is not great. The kids are not great. Are you even allowed to slag off child actors? Is that like saying you don't think Pippa Middleton's all that? Will Mellor's long-suffering but chirpy dad has a portfolio of exaggerated hand-gestures that he borrowed off the 1970s: the "what's he like?" backward thumb point; the "I don't know why I bother" flap. Somebody on the set should be poking him with a stick, saying: "Have you ever seen anybody do that? Anybody in real life?"

It is unfair to single any of them out, though, since the problem is the set-up: if they want us to fall in love with the Flynns, as one might a regular family, beset by tribulations but battling through, yik yak yik yak, then they need to be a bit more like actual people. And if they want us to fall about, like we're watching Miranda, only without the hassle of getting the actual Miranda, then it has to be funny.

So, take this snatch of dialogue: "Your perfume is exquisite." "Actually, that might be Brasso". No two people in the history of enlarged frontal lobes have ever had that exchange: yet where's the thrill, the intoxication, the certain something that makes up for how unlikely it is? I think there should be a litmus test for all sitcoms; is it as funny as a kitten falling down the back of a sofa? Nope? Well, then, back to the drawing board, or we need to start paying more for home videos. It would save so much human endeavour. And the kittens would be doing that stuff anyway.

Zoe Williams, The Guardian, 9th June 2011