Sir David's right royal carve-up

They say timing is everything in comedy. So let's call it a badly timed twist of fate that in the very week Stephen Fry called him 'one of the finest comedy actors in TV history', poor old David Jason had a bit of a 'mare. I speak, of course, of BBC1's The Royal Bodyguard. And I think it's only right and respectful that after today we all agree never to speak of it again.

Tonight, David Jason's Clouseau-like royal bodyguard is charged with protecting a redheaded prince on a shopping trip, but an armed robbery at a jewellery boutique escalates the situation into a national emergency. Cue hi-jinks as Guy Hubble (Jason) makes a succession of schoolboy errors while attempting a rescue. This sitcom is a complete flight of fancy and a welcome respite from all those comedies about the frustrations of everyday life. Most of all, it's a terrific platform from which Jason can show off his peerless comic timing.

David Jason's The Royal Bodyguard slammed by fans

More than a million people turned off Sir David Jason's new sitcom The Royal Bodyguard on Boxing Day - with thousands of his fans saying it made him look like a right plonker.

David Jason's 'The Royal Bodyguard' logs 7.1m for BBC1

Sir David Jason's The Royal Bodyguard pulled in over 7 million viewers last night, according to the latest overnight data.

Review: The Royal Bodyguard (BBC1)

Overall, The Royal Bodyguard will likely appeal to people I don't have anything in common with, in the same way the Last Of The Summer Wine entertained a certain demographic for years after it stopped being funny to most people. Maybe this sitcom will improve if the stories become more interesting and original, but I can't see it happening.

I realised that The Royal Bodyguard despised me about five or six minutes in. Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni's new comedy began with a backstory prologue to introduce us to its central character, Guy Hubble, a blazered ex-military jobsworth who has a job supervising the Buckingham Palace car park.

As the Royal Household wait for the Queen to climb into the royal coach, Hubble spots a stray crisp packet on the gravel and leaps forward to spare Her Majesty this distressing sight. And then, seeing that one of the Coldstream Guards is asleep at his post, he inflates the bag and pops it in his face, with a bang like a pistol going off. The coach horses bolt, with the Sovereign dangling from the steps. Having set this disaster in motion, Hubble then puts things rights, seconds away from a crash that would have put Prince Charles on the throne. How did this idiot get a senior post as a royal bodyguard? That's how.

It's not really a complicated comic idea, this. Think Inspector Clouseau and you're halfway there. Hubble, played by David Jason with a bantam-strut of self-regard, is chaos in trousers. But just in case we're a little slow on the uptake, the writers supply an exasperated superior to underline things for us. And then he finishes his little speech with the ponderous line: "With him in that job... anything could happen." Well, thank you for the clarification, but I'd actually worked that out five minutes ago. The character's the idiot, not the viewer. What followed was, as they say, "predictably hilarious", which means not terribly hilarious at all, unless you have a thing about seeing David Jason in his underwear hanging off a balcony. Nothing wrong with a cartoon, of course, but all too often this one is crudely drawn.

Clashing with a pair of sinister Slav assassins who talked about "shaking the vurld to its core", Hubble managed to cock everything up until his final cock-up inadvertantly saved Her Majesty and he was the hero of the hour again. It contained two sight-gags that made me laugh - one when Hubble attempted to eat a lobster with a knife and fork and another when a room-service trolley concealing him began inching out of the room propelled by his fingers - but another attempt at critical charity failed. I wrote in my notes that I thought the faults lay more in the direction than the script, since if it was played a little more deadpan some of the comedy would work much better. But then the credits revealed that the writers had also produced and directed it, so I'm afraid they're just going to have to carry the can.

This is David Jason's first new comedy series in 20 years - but what a disappointment it turns out to be.

It was written by Justin Sbresni and Mark Bussell - the creators of The Worst Week Of My Life - but the humour feels creaky and out-dated.

In a set-up suspiciously reminiscent of Rowan Atkinson's hapless spy Johnny English, Jason stars as Guy Hubble who is mistakenly promoted from the Buckingham Palace car park detail to head of Royal security, only to make a predictable hash of everything he touches.

In the first episode tonight, he's at a hotel in Scotland trying to foil an assassination attempt on the Queen.

Just as there are plenty of viewers out there who remain inexplicably enthralled by New Tricks, I suppose there might be a ready-made audience who are prepared to laugh at the sight of Jason in his Y-fronts. I can't see the attraction myself.

Interview: David Jason, actor

We've loved him as Del Boy and Jack Frost, and this Christmas David Jason returns to the small screen with another hit - an old-fashioned comedy about a bumbling royal bodyguard.

David Jason on comedy career & not pushing boundaries

The star of The Royal Bodyguard is not keen on swearing, violence - or interviews, he tells Andrew Duncan.

David Jason plays a bumbling buffoon called Guy Hubble, who becomes an accidental hero when, as Head of Security at Buckingham Palace, he rescues the Queen from her runaway carriage.

Hubble is appointed to guard his sovereign at all times. But everyone knows he's an idiot, including the high-up who appointed him (the magnificent Geoffrey Whitehead).

This new series is the most undemanding of farces, involving Jason being caught on a balcony in his underwear, hiding under tables and fighting with a suit of armour.