The Reluctant Landlord, review: Witty and gentle sitcom from Romesh Ranganathan

New comedy series is slightly edgy and only occasionally jarring

(Sky Television)

The Reluctant Landlord is what you’d call gentle comedy. Usually that's the faintest of faint praise, but in this case, the term can be used, mostly, favourably. It is, on the whole, funny, witty and only occasionally jarring, as with some ironic references to racial stereotyping. From the consistent understatement, and slight edge to it, you can tell it was co-written by Romesh Ranganathan (who also stars), Steve Stamp (People Just Do Nothing) and Will Smith (Veep).

It’s about a, well, reluctant landlord, Romesh (Romesh), who inherits a boozer from his dad, who was an enthusiastic landlord and popular with the regulars. Romesh isn’t. Much of his life revolves around his efforts to avoid (though not entirely evade) his responsibilities as a licensed victualler and dad. His wife Natasha (the always endearing Sian Gibson) does her best with him, only occasionally betraying frustration at his failure to prevent their son being bullied at school – the advice to “hit back” being taken a little too literally. Natasha, on the other hand, is so obsessed by quinoa and beetroot salads that “it’s like she’s been radicalised”. So yes, the humour is quite domesticated.

In this episode, a returning drinker named “Dirty Harry”, who has “been away”, exploits Romesh's better nature by passing forged Scottish banknotes to him. Dirty Harry is just that, and, played with magnificent malevolence by Phil Davis. He steals the show, obviously, as well as drinks, money and anything else he can get his hands on. Romesh calls him a “rough diamond” as an alibi for how easily dominated he is by the diminutive ex-jailbird. Like a dirty pint of snakebite, the chemistry of the Dirty Harry-Romesh relationship is unpleasant and unstable.

At one point, after more than one pint, Dirty Harry meets Romesh, out with his children, and does one of those stereotypical racist “goodness-gracious-me” impressions of an Indian person. That made me shuffle uneasily on the sofa. Harry even “did the head wiggle”, as Romesh later relates it. My mind raced back down the decades to forgotten (and never to be shown again) episodes of It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Mind Your Language and The Benny Hill show. (Please don’t look them up on YouTube). There was also a line about spina bifida that also went a little beyond acceptable pub banter. Maybe not so gentle after all, then.