BBC1's Only Child has returned for a second series, and while it may not break new ground, it delivers plenty of laughs. The show follows the classic sitcom template: a pretentious, slightly dim, unmarried man living at home with his widowed father—a scruffy, conniving, dirty old man. It's a setup reminiscent of Steptoe and Son, and the show even opens with a gag stolen from that classic series.
Out-of-work actor Richard (Greg McHugh) comes downstairs to find a coffin in the living room, with his father Ken (Gregor Fisher) asleep inside. For a moment, it seems the old man has passed away—a joke originally penned by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson for the Steptoe and Son film Steptoe and Son Ride Again.
Steptoe and Son was the BBC's biggest comedy for over a decade before ending in 1974. Wilfred Brambell played the unshaven, toothless World War I veteran, while Harry H. Corbett portrayed the deluded underachiever who believed himself an undiscovered artist. The two characters viewed each other as an embarrassment and a disappointment, yet they were stuck together. Only Child writer Bryce Hart recognizes a solid gold setup when he sees one, and he barely alters a detail.
Ken's personal habits aren't quite as repulsive as the old rag-and-bone man's—he doesn't eat pickled onions in the bath. But he's just as devious. 'Maybe you could get yourself a real job,' he suggests with sly sarcasm when Richard once again fails to land any auditions. For a 40th birthday present, he gives his son £50—then demands it back for rent.
Richard eats Choco Snaps for breakfast, spends his afternoons playing video games, and sleeps in his childhood bedroom. He's trapped in an eternal adolescence. When the two aren't lounging around the house, they're at the pub, another scene of barefaced theft from a timeless sitcom. The publicans, Jen and Ian (Clare Barrett and Robin Laing), pretend to be blissfully happy together, but she keeps bursting into tears and they're seeing a marriage guidance counselor. Fans of Father Ted will recognize them as versions of John and Mary, who ran the local shop and only tried to murder each other when they thought no one was looking.
Only Child might not have much claim to originality, but it has laugh-out-loud jokes and enough of a story to keep us hooked. Richard is smitten with his childhood sweetheart Emily (Amy Lennox), though he hides every time he sees her. Bryce Hart has a great ear for the sort of outdated slang that survives among families. 'By Jings!' Ken says, and 'Don't be such a mattock.'
Fisher clearly loves playing the character. When he's blearily waking up, he asks, 'What day is it?' Richard tells him it's Monday. 'What,' Ken asks, surprised at how time flies, 'this Monday?' I know how he feels.
