Why do comedies keep making ill-advised comebacks? Nostalgia plays a huge part. The assumption is that a resurrected oldie will deliver a ready-made audience of former viewers, plus a whole new generation. Their characters already exist, so there's none of that pesky need to establish them – they can just pick up where they left off. Meanwhile, most TV executives are of a certain age and may let misty eyes obscure their vision.
The TV industry's need for one-off specials often prompts them to dust down old favourites too. The Royle Family and The Vicar Of Dibley now seem to exist solely as seasonal or charitable one-offs – none of which hit the heights of their peak period.
Birds Of A Feather is hardly a stone-cold classic either – there aren't many "former glories" to chase. Let's hope this doesn't spark a trend for resuscitating mediocre Nineties sitcoms. The last thing we need is a "long awaited" sequel to The Brittas Empire or Goodnight Sweetheart (another Marks and Gran creation).
A rare example of a successful resurrection was The Likely Lads. The original mid-Sixties black-and-white classic returned in 1973 as Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? Now in colour, it was an instant classic, taking the best mates played by James Bolam and Rodney Bewes, and imagining in a nuanced, believable way how their lives might have turned out. Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? remains one of the greatest sitcoms of all time (with one of the best theme tunes), yet it is the exception rather than the rule.There's a precedent in the US for un-cancelling comedies – see Arrested Development, Futurama and Family Guy – but these were all cult favourites whose fanbase was clamouring. I don't imagine there were hordes of Birds Of Feather devotees banging desperately on the doors of Broadcasting House.
The secret of many of our best-loved sitcoms is that they left us wanting more. There were only a dozen episodes of Fawlty Towers and 15 of The Office. By contrast, Only Fools And Horses kept returning and ended up far outstaying its welcome, as did Absolutely Fabulous and Red Dwarf. Call me a pessimist but I have a feeling that Birds Of A Feather will fall into the latter camp. Birds of a feather flop together, if you will.
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