The Robinsons (BBC1) Selling Houses (C4) The question that needs to be asked of a new comedy series is the obvious one: does it make you laugh?

I'm happy to report that The Robinsons did raise a chuckle, although as it concerned a children's entertainer called Mr Smarty hanging himself you may surmise that this isn't the usual sort of sitcom.

I'm not sure you should actually call it a comedy series. There is humour - verbal, visual and character-driven - but no studio audience or laugh track (thankfully). The Robinsons comes from the writing-directing team of Mark Bussell and Justin Stresni, the duo behind the BBC comedy The Worst Week Of My Life, and is decidedly quirky.

It's cast up to the hilt with actors rather than those known solely for their comedic skills. We're used to seeing Martin Freeman from The Office in comedy but the likes of Anna Massey, Richard Johnson, Abigail Cruttenden, Amanda Root and Huge Bonneville ensure that this comedy is a serious business.

Ed (Freeman) is a hapless chap with an eccentric family and, by the end of the first episode, no job and no girlfriend. His parents named their children after British kings and queens, which may account for their odd behaviour.

George (Bonneville) is a time management consultant who brings his work home with him, organising his six-year-old son's birthday party to a tight schedule. Faced with too many guests, he decides on a points system to choose which children will attend - "four points if they invited him to their party, two if they've invited him to tea".

He reprimands his sister Vicky for being four minutes late for a shopping trip on the grounds that "any time after the agreed time is late".

Vicky thinks she's found Mr Right in Peter after he takes her to dinner and tells the head waiter: "I'd like a table for two, preferably near the window but not next to it, at least 10ft away from the smoking area and a minimum of 20ft from both lavatories and kitchen to avoid unnecessary waiter traffic."

Clearly he's a man who knows what he wants. I imagine that Peter buying a house would test the patience of even Andrew Winter, the presenter of Selling Houses.

He was in Bromsgrove, outside Birmingham. As people have said that being outside Birmingham is the best place to be, you'd have expected John and Anne Marie's four-bedroomed detached house to be snapped up. On the contrary, after four months there hadn't been any viewings.

Winter demanded an explanation from their estate agent as to why this "interesting looking sixties place" wasn't selling. He had only to take one look at the decor to understand the reason. A tour of the house provoked a series of unfavourable comments including, "This isn't a beautifully-fitted kitchen, is it?", and "The two single bedrooms are a disgrace".

His came to the inevitable conclusion: "It's a good job they've had no viewings because it's in no state to be viewed". Unlike The Robinsons, which looks as though it might become unmissable viewing.

Published: ??/??/2004