Viewers cosy up to My Family

BBC1's family orientated sitcom My Family is still a huge attraction for viewers even with the show now entering its ninth series. The long-running sitcom, starring Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker, which first aired in 2000 was the nation's most watched sitcom last year out of the 32 that ran.

I don't know anyone who watches this BBC show and yet it's been a ratings winner for years. Robert Lindsay is a put-upon dentist and Zoe Wannamaker is his wife who can't cook. So far, so Butterflies... except that Butterflies was original. My Family is generic in every way you can think of: generic middle class family, generic plots, generic storylines, generic laughter...

The soporific family sitcom lumbers away, garnering ratings, which can only be due to the talent and likeability of the two leads, Robert Lindsay and Zoë Wanamaker, as they face weak domestic dramas episode after episode. Cue the sound of canned laughter.

While I love Peep Show and Garth Marenghi and all those cool shows, I'm quite happy to admit that I've always thought that the first few series of My Family were alright, and better than alright on occasion.

But now it's just so workman-like. Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker even recently refused to record an episode they thought was too poorly written to be associated with, and are clearly now just using it to pay the bills. Kris Marshall jumped shipped years ago, and the new characters haven't added a great deal. The fact that it's middle-class and filmed in front of a studio audience isn't the problem, the fact that there's no life left in the show is. Last night's episode was plodding in the extreme, and you've got to say that this series of My Family should really be the last.