Adam Faith and former EastEnders actress Gillian Taylforth star in a new six-part comedy about a man who will stop at nothing to build a family dynasty.
In episode one, Jack panics when he discovers that Roger has a low sperm count. Contains strong language.
Make way for Squire family: brassy Maxine (Gillian Taylforth) and her self-made husband Jack (Adam Faith)
The House That Jack Built 9.00pm BBC1
Watch the first episode of this new comedy series, from Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran's Alomo stable, and you'll be forgiven for thinking that you have in fact dozed off and awoken in the year 1973, when all TV sitcoms had sofas dominating stagy sets and stereotyped families whose members shouted at one another.
Though the origins of The House That Jack Built possibly lie in an urge to replicate the success of the BBC1 sitcom hit My Family (it has a stroppy daughter, a droopy son and perpetually baffled parents), it definitely has its heart in Bless This House/My Wife Next Door territory.
Watch The House That Jack Built and you enter a strange world, a world that exists only in television situation comedies, a world where the mere mention of "low sperm count" sends the audience gasping for oxygen, such is their delight. And you should hear the laughter when someone mentions "ovaries". It's a wonder every piece of glass in the studio doesn't shatter in the gale of mirth that greets this apparently astoundingly funny gynaecological reference.
So what's it about? Well, Adam Faith is Jack, an unappealing, nouveau riche self-made man with lots of money and no taste. He has a brassy wife (Gillian Taylforth) and three selfish children. Fans of The Archers may recognise the voice of the youngest as that of Kellie Bright, who plays another brat, Kate, in the Radio 4 soap.
Jack wants a grandchild and he goes on and on about it to his eldest son and his wife, who are having problems conceiving (hence the sperm/ovaries references).
The whole thing has a certain fascination, and you might find yourself gazing upon it as you would some archaeological find from a century lost in the mists of time.
