COMEDY duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb return to TV this week with new sitcom Back, penned by Simon Blackwell (The Thick of It, Peep Show).
While Peep Show's laughter was driven by the existential terror of 30-something urbanites, Back's humour draws upon mid-life crisis/childhood trauma and family dysfunction in a sleepy English village.
Mitchell plays Stephen, son of a recently expired and much loved village publican Laurie (Matthew Holness). A recent divorcee still recovering from his short-lived legal career in London ("Look, the majority of those people recovered a significant amount of their money – and officially I resigned," is his testy take on the debacle), Stephen now hopes to inject a touch of 21st century sophistication into his family's business: chorizo and brie paninis on the menu, a possible expansion into static caravan-based 'glamping'.
With his mum (Penny Downie) and sister Cass (Louise Brealey) both scatty self-defined 'creative' types, the path seems clear for Stephen to finally step out of his domineering dad's shadow: then his dimly remembered globe-trotting foster brother Andrew (Robert Webb) turns up at the funeral and immediately becomes the focus of everyone's attention.
Worse still, it turns out that their late father had made plans for this insufferably charming interloper to 'help out' with the running of the pub.
Despite the slightly uneven feel common to many opening episodes and an awful, massively telegraphed joke about a Bluetooth speaker, Back still offered a good few laugh-out-loud moments.
Its intriguing set-up definitely has potential.
:: Back, Wednesdays, Channel 4, 10pm. Catch up at Channel4.com
