My Family, BBC1

3:54pm Saturday 26th April 2008

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I KNOW I'm making myself unpopular by admitting this, but what on earth does everyone see in My Family?

The tired sitcom is currently limping into its eighth series and is showing no signs of losing its popularity.

It's not a bad show.

It's fine if you're into middle-of-the-road comedy, but personally I can think of lots of ways I'd rather spend an hour of my Friday night.

Including watching re-runs on UK Gold. Or filing my nails. Or watching paint dry.

To me it seems to belong to a time gone by, the 2.4 Children and The Good Life era perhaps.

Those shows were hilarious at the time but watching them back they look dated and a bit obvious.

But what do I know?

Millions of viewers can't be wrong.

And the pan-faced Zoe Wanamaker and buffoonery of Robert Lindsay seem to be a formula that keep Friday night viewers laughing their socks off.

Last night's episode relied on a yawningly-overused storyline way past its sell-by date. Ben hears of his imminent death from a psychic and struggles to cope with his final hours.

There were a couple of gags that raised a half-smile, but more because of the slapstick skills of Wanamaker and Lindsay than anything clever in the script.

If you ask me, this show lost it when that guy who now does the BT ads left.