STILL OPEN ALL HOURS NEEDS TO CLOSE.

Once upon a time, there was a brilliant television series called "Open All Hours". It starred the great Ronnie Barker, ably supported by David Jason and numerous other fine performers.

Sadly, Ronnie Barker is no longer with us but the BBC, in its infinite wisdom and using licence payers' hard earned money. has decided to resurrect the programme under the title "Still Open All Hours". David Jason is still present, taking the place of Arkwright, the shopkeeper previously played by Barker, but who has now died. Jason's character, Granville, is supported by his son, Leroy, and a mixed bag of others, some of whom were in the originals and some of whom are newcomers. Mostly, the oldies now seem too old and largely irrelevant while the newcomers simply appear to be have little to offer.

The 2 programmes to date, a special broadcast at Christmas 2013 and the first of a new series shown on Boxing Day, have been pretty awful. Shockingly poor scripts, rehashed story-lines, and a lot of very uncomfortable looking actors. This is a truly disappointing offering, populated by disjointed, episodic, telegraphed and mostly puerile 'jokes'; the Boxing Day programme contained at least 2 throwbacks to the original series, with Granville up a ladder and him wearing a money belt - neither being remotely funny nor anything as well scripted or acted as the Ronnie Barker originals.

The original was an example of great television comedy, brilliantly written and performed. This revisiting of an old favourite simply doesn't work on any level and why David Jason agreed to do it has to be one of the mysteries of the age, along with why the BBC has paid good money for it. I certainly won't be wasting any more of my time watching it.