"The world will always welcome lovers..." goes the eponymous song. And the world will always welcome Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer back for a new series of this mellow romantic comedy.

It is, allegedly, the last time we will meet Jean and Lionel Hardcastle, now married having eventually rekindled their romance after an almost 40-year gap. Presumably the story could have finished there but Jean has two daughters, [sic] Sandy and Judith, who have yet to find their "happy ever after" endings. So this series, the ninth since it all began in 1992, is going to address that omission. Sadly it is without the redoubtable Joan Sims (as Lionel's stepmother), who died earlier this year.

Much of this show's popularity can be attributed to the deft performances, but its old-fashioned style of humor plays a large part, too. It doesn't delivery a belly laugh a second, nor does it have the repetitive setup/punchline rhythm of a US sitcom, but id does leave viewers with smiles on their faces and warm feelings in their hearts. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Thanks so much to Maree Wilson for sending me this article which appeared in the July 6-12, 2002 edition of Radio Times as a choice for Sunday, July 7, 2002 (the airing of the first episode of the ninth and last season (UK). NOTE: Joan Sims actually died in June, 2001.

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