THE chances are you’ve never heard of Beryl Vertue, although she’s one of the most influential and important figures in British comedy.

She was a school friend of Alan Simpson, co-creator of classic sitcoms such as Hancock’s Half Hour and Steptoe and Son.

As a result, she was asked to become a secretary at Associated London Scripts, the company set up by Simpson and his writing partner Ray Galton, Eric Sykes, Spike Milligan and Johnny Speight.

She went on to become their agents too, and also represented Tony Hancock and Frankie Howerd before moving into TV and movie production with her own companies, Associated London Films and Hartswood Films.

The latter is still going strong. Arguably its biggest hit was Men Behaving Badly. In recent years it’s been behind the hugely successful Sherlock, which was co-created by her son-in-law, Steven Moffat, but now Vertue is returning to comedy by acting as the executive producer of Me and Mrs Jones.

Written by Oriane Messina and Fay Rusling (whose previous projects include Green Wing and Smack the Pony), it stars Sarah Alexander as Gemma Jones, whose life is becoming increasingly complicated.

Not only does she have to contend with an awkward ex-husband and his new Swedish girlfriend, she also seems to spend an awful lot of time chasing after her twins.

So when a handsome man asks Gemma out, she jumps at the chance of a change of scene – after all, that’s said to be better than a rest, isn’t it? But it seems that fellas are like buses – no sooner has one come along than another stops by. However, the second male to tickle Gemma’s fancy is young enough to be her son. Should she turn him down, or go for it?

Joining Alexander in the cast are Vertue’s old Men Behaving Badly colleague Neil Morrissey, Nathaniel Parker, of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries fame, and Misfits star Robert Sheehan.