Dame Maggie would never countenance this behaviour at Downton Abbey. Sterling performances by Julia McKenzie and Robert Portal as auntie and nephew are helped by the ever obliging valet played by Alan Cox and young Mabel the maid (Lucy Griffiths) who is lead into the strange world of the upper classes. We are led upstairs, downstairs and up the garden path.

‘The Auntie Matter’ is written as a farce and follows the comings and goings of Romana and the Doctor, who are separately investigating in ignorant bliss of each other.

As Romana hovers into view as a spirited girl who Reggie could love, we start to see the downside of marriage. Meanwhile, Reggie, desperately in love, has taken his intended home to meet his Aunt Florence, only to find although she is most suitable, she won’t be his intended. Before long, Romana is off down the shop looking for books on experimental physics and the Doctor has grabbed the housemaid and taken off on the trail of unexplained alien technology in the vicinity. As the pair enjoy the comforts of playing Lord and Lady of the manor, they nevertheless get the itch of boredom. The Doctor and Romana are on sabbatical, having sent K9 or ‘the Dog’ as Romana refers to him, on a spin round the universe, dragging the Black Guardian behind him. Aunties are always at the epicentre of the story and can harm or heal depending on the plot. ‘The Auntie Matter’ for those non-Wodehouse fans is a significant title as there are as many Aunties as Wooster ever had hot dinners in the Wodehouse books. PG Wodehouse may or may not be rotating slowly in his box but here is another pastiche of the great comedies of the 1920s. Joanna Lumley was great as The Queen, but the star performance is surely Julia McKenzie as the Gangsta Granny herself, a very sweet old lady who may have an aged body but the mind and spirit of a young one, a quality brought out perfectly by McKenzie.If you are a fan of Bertie Wooster, then look away now. He was barely in it, but anytime he appeared on screen with his awful fake tan and ridiculous accent, it was hard not to laugh. A personal highlight was Robbie Williams as Flavio Flaviola, the Spanish (I think?) host of Strictly Come Dancing. Speaking of the cast, they are ALL fantastic! Not a flawed performance in sight, from Reece Buttery’s shy but lovely Ben to Miranda Hart’s snooty and hilarious Linda, everyone plays their parts perfectly. The writing is fantastic, and perhaps just as funny as the book. You don’t need to be a kid to enjoy it you can be any age as long as you have a sense of humour. But what’s great about it is that it has enough charm packed into it to balance it out. Using a study of the Tower of London’s plumbing, Ben devises a plan to break in and steal them, but how long before suspicious Neighbourhood watch leader Mr. She admits that the only jewels she was never able to steal were the crown jewels. Ben suddenly realises that his Granny is actually really cool, dubbing her a “Gangsta Granny”. The next day, she explains that in her youth she was a jewel thief known as ‘The Black Cat’, and tells him about all of her robberies. One night, he finds a tin of precious jewels in her kitchen, follows her out of the house, and sees her trying to rob a shop. But one thing he really hates is having to stay at his Granny’s (Julia McKenzie) house on Friday nights so his parents can have dance lessons. His passion is plumbing and dreams to be a plumber one day, but his parents (David Walliams and Miranda Hart), who are obsessed with ballroom dancing, Strictly, and it’s host Flavio Flavioli (Robbie Williams), have other dreams for him. Ben (Reece Buttery) is an 11 year old boy living in London.

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