In The Rebel we rubbed up against the ageing population again. This time in the form of 70-year-old anarchic ex-mod Henry Palmer, played with characteristic booming glee by Simon Callow. A new sitcom adapted by Private Eye cartoonist Andrew Birch from his own cartoon strip series, there were some nice spiky moments and lots of proper swearing and other mildly radical things that no British person can wholly dislike. Such as Palmer beating a police officer with a teddy bear, blowing up an ATM, smashing a shopping trolley into a supermarket, and shouting: "Gay, my arse!" while representing himself in court. Lots of deckchair smashing, Pink Floyd, and no mention of data whatsoever ensued. Some things don't change.

Untimely new comedy courting the grey vote with the dubious premise of: "Here, when you're old, you're nobody." Simon Callow plays permanently furious baby-boomer Henry who, when not being menaced by faceless youths on skateboards, rails against any suggestion that he should act his age. The targets are soft (political correctness, fancy coffee shops) and the lead character isn't sympathetic enough to gain real traction. A Victor Meldrew for the post-Brexit era? No, thanks.

The Rebel review

The key difference with The Rebel and One Foot In The Grave: Meldrew was battered by external forces driving him to distraction, but Palmer is the architect of his own fury. Plus you could never see Meldrew pogoing to The Jam in his living room.

These hot summer months are the dog days of TV schedules, with only a few new series starting. One noteworthy exception is Gold's The Rebel, a spikier, angrier One Foot In The Grave starring Simon Callow as an elderly ex-mod who never quite lost his appetite for seafront contretemps.

The language is on the ripe side of realistic, the scripts sometimes betray their cartoon origins - The Rebel started as a strip in The Oldie - and the dialogue given to Bill Paterson as Callow's ex-hippy pal is a bit on the clichéd side, but any show that lets old stagers like Callow, Paterson and former EastEnder Anita Dobson have this much fun is a good watch.