Enoch Sneed ...which was a form of medieval torture. This has now been brought into the modern era by 'updating' a classic sitcom. The word 'updating' is in quotation marks for a reason - the setting may be the 2010's, but the scripts are determinedly dated. Where Ronnie Barker reigned supreme as the t-t-t-tur-tightfisted Arkwright, we have nephew Granville in charge, a Granville who has ditched his dreams and settled for being a grasping shopkeeper like his uncle.This really is pitiful stuff. As another reviewer has said, the programme seems to be trying to re-capture 'Last of the Summer Wine' territory (a staple of Sunday night on BBC1 from the year dot). So we have a cast of familiar but much older faces filling the roles of Northern stereotypes and caricatures - battleaxe women versus feckless, lazy or ineffectual men. I know actors have to eat, but surely they can read, too? I can only point to the 'Memorable Quotes' section here as evidence for the dire, forced quality of this show.It seems appropriate Ronnie Barker's portrait scowls from the wall of the back room of his beloved shop. He must be thinking about his legacy being destroyed by this junk.

RaspberryLucozade The tail end of 2013 saw three of Britain's best loved sitcoms being revived - 'Rab C. Nesbitt', 'Birds Of A Feather' and 'Open All Hours'. The nation was initially in doubt when a remake of 'Open All Hours' was put to the BBC. My initial dread was relieved somewhat though when I learned that some of the original cast would be involved and that Roy Clarke would be providing the scripts. On Boxing Day 2013, a pilot entitled 'Still Open All Hours' went out on BBC1 and, contrary to all expectations, it was a ratings success.Albert Arkwright has died and his nephew Granville has inherited the shop, as well as his tight-fistedness and knack for conning his customers. Working as his lackey is his illegitimate son Leroy, who came about as the result of a one-night stand in Blackpool. Leroy has the same relationship with his father as his father had with Arkwright, though Leroy seems to have more success with the opposite sex than Granville. Some of the original gang are still around such as the now retired Nurse Gladys Emmanuel ( Lynda Baron ), Stephanie Cole's Mrs. Featherstone ( a.k.a The Black Widow ) who seems to have softened with age as is evident by her apparent crush on Granville and Maggie Ollrenshaw ( looking better than she did in the original series ) as Mavis whose indecisiveness has not improved over the years. New characters include Wet Eric and his fiery wife Kath ( Johnny Vegas and the gorgeous Sally Lindsay ), the long suffering Gastric ( Tim Healy ), Mavis' over-protective sister Madge ( Brigit Forsyth ), gullible Cyril ( Kulvinder Ghir ) and fluttery Mrs. Hussein ( Nina Wadia ).And, of course, ever present is the over-aggressive cash register ( the very same one used in the original series ).David Jason is nowhere near as impressive as Barker was in the title role but then I don't think Jason was even trying to be better than his predecessor, for a start Clarke wisely chose not to have Granville inherit Arkwright's stammer. Had he tried so, the result would have been frightful. That said, he still managed to bring the same likability to his character. James Baxter was annoying as Leroy but all the same his presence was still needed. The original surviving cast members still haven't lost the knack either. Of all the new characters, my favourite was Johnny Vegas' Wet Eric whose relationship with his fearsome wife was hilarious.Whilst unsurprisingly never comparing in terms of popularity with the original, 'Still Open All Hours' was amusing and well enough received to run to a decent three series. Another wise movie was the retaining of Ronnie Hazelhurst's brilliant theme tune.

JamesCartwright This is the worst so-called "comedy" series ever made. There is absolutely nothing funny about it at all. In any case the series is completely irrelevant in the 21st century. Corner shops like Arkwright's no longer exist as they have all been swallowed up by Tesco Express. Roy Clarke writes for a 1970 audience, not a 2016 audience. David Jason has not been in anything decent for so many years and he must be desperate to have agreed to do this. It was always a stupid idea, trying to revive a once-funny series 30 years later.This unfunny series should be axed. The BBC should be completely privatised, there is no excuse for taxpayers being forced to fund this unfunny garbage when we have hundreds of TV channels and the Internet.0/10.

Munstrum_Ridcully Terrific revival of the classic sitcom, with much the same cast, a plausible follow up scenario and the same gentle but genuinely funny sense of humour. Roy Clarke has lost none of his genius for turning a good line in to a killer joke, simply by tailoring his humour to the character and actor's strengths. Sir David Jason, ages the character of Granville to perfection and in doing so gives us a whole new insight in to why his Uncle was the way he was, by putting the pathos at a perfect pitch, never straying in to sentimentality. The new character of Leroy, is a modern equivalent of the Granville of old who much to his father's chagrin has everything he would have wished for in his youth. The father's half hearted attempts to "slow the lad down" only really serve to show how much he loves his boy as there is none of the genuine meanness of Arkwright senior behind the plans. All in all this demonstrates admirably how modern comedy has lost it's way, by showing HOW TO DO IT PROPERLY.