Do You Require Protection from The Royal Bodyguard?

You’ve no doubt seen the trailers for the latest attempt by the BBC to produce something in the sitcom genre that might be popular and funny at the same time – and spotted old timer David Jason.

I’ll bet you were holding your head in your hands by the end of the BBC One Christmas trailer… but hold on a moment.

The Royal Bodyguard is produced by Jimmy Mulville’s Hat Trick Productions, and is written, directed and produced by Mark Bussell and Justin Sbresni, the guys behind one of the BBC’s greatest recent hits, The Worst Week of My Life.

Could it be that the trailer is doing the show a disservice? It certainly won’t be Curb Your Enthusiasm or Family Guy, but there is every chance that this new series could be laugh out loud hilarious if you can gather enough of your family and friends around the box at 9.30pm on Boxing Day.

It certainly seems that the writers were consciously looking for something aimed at a group audience, if Justin Sbresni is to be believed.

“When we were growing up there were classic programmes like Dad’s Army or Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em which were real family viewing. Nowadays there are shows like The X Factor and Strictly which families congregate around the television to watch as a group, but there aren’t many comedy shows. Mark and I have families of our own, and we wanted to write something that we could all watch together. In the last few years many comedies have been pushing the boundaries, very dark and risque. That’s not what we’re doing.”

Meanwhile, old Del Boy Trotter himself has finally hung up the moustache, hat and overcoat of Inspector Jack Frost to return to comedy in a big way in what appears to be a very physically demanding role. Jason is no spring chicken, but he seems very happy in the role.

“I am really enjoying working with the very talented producer Jimmy Mulville, and working on a great comedy project with the BBC. It’s good to have a laugh again!”

Now, this is what is going to happen next: the show will get a massive audience from die-hard David Jason fans and people who recall The Worst Week of My Life. Then, the show will get critically panned in the press yet manage to build up an audience from those wanting to see David Jason’s Buster Keaton routine.

But will it be funny? We’ll have to wait and see!