Back for an extraordinary (in terms of longevity if nothing else) 11th series, and love is in the air at the Harper household as single mother Janey (Daniela Denby-Ashe) receives not one but two unexpected marriage proposals. Needless to say parents Ben (Robert Lindsay) and Susan (Zoë Wanamaker) have opposing views as to which offer she should accept.

The BBC should have killed off My Family at the end of series five before it went into terminal decline.

Now, 11 years on, the end is finally near as the last series begins.

Tonight Ben and Susan are at war with each other yet again as daughter Janey (Daniela Denby-Ashe) finds herself on the receiving end of three marriage proposals in one night.

Her parents are both very certain which man they'd like as a son-in-law - but will it be ­laid back Australian Craig, or wealthy Mark, who is Kenzo's father?

The acting is as subtle as the Harpers' taste in interior decoration (purple and orange, anyone?) and as uneven as Craig's wobbly Australian accent.

Although there are some surprisingly funny lines buried in here, you might find it hard to spot them after they've been bludgeoned to death by mum and dad Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker's sledgehammer delivery.

I'm not a huge fan of TV sitcoms, but I do find the BBC show My Family, starring Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker, stupidly funny.

But despite drawing in nearly five million loyal viewers, the BBC has decided to swing the axe.

As My Family contains no swearing, no violence, no rampant sex and a couple of stars in their sixties, it clearly has no place on the new BBC.

Robert Lindsay hits out at axing of My Family

Robert Lindsay told TV Times magazine: "It's got so many fans and the BBC has treated it appallingly. The ratings were great but they ruined it by putting it out after the 9pm watershed."

To commemorate the life of a man who died last month aged 64, but before that wrote successful sitcoms, including two of Britain's best - Only Fools and Horses and Citizen Smith - here's a televised tribute. As RT went to press, the documentary's makers were still stitching it together, so we can only speculate as to its contents. Presumably, David Jason, Robert Lindsay and Nicholas Lyndhurst were top of the production team's to-call list. And I'll eat the umbrella off a pina colada if there aren't clips from his creations and some archive interview footage of the writer himself.

Why the writing was already on the wall for My Family

The BBC's decision to can the Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker sitcom after a decade has not come before time.

Audio: Miranda Hart on news of My Family being axed

Long-running BBC One sitcom My Family, starring Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker, has been axed. Comedy actress Miranda Hart gave her reaction.

Robert Lindsay gets raunchy as he returns to the stage

As the star of popular sitcom My Family, Robert Lindsay is famous as long-suffering patriarch Ben Harper. But as the award-winning actor returns to the London stage again, younger fans may be in for a bit of shock at his latest role.