Casting announced for BBC sitcom reboots

Casting has been announced for BBC's sitcom reboots, with Simon Day playing Alf Garnett in Till Death Us Do Part.

Jon Culshaw is to join the Hancock's Half Hour retread as Sid James, with Katy Wix as Hattie Jacques.

And Steptoe and Son will be recreated by Drop The Dead Donkey's Jeff Rawle alongside Ed Coleman.

The three one-off episodes for BBC Four are part of the channel's Lost Sitcom season, based on existing scripts, after the original recordings were wiped from archives.

Fast Show star Day will play the bigoted Garnett, in a role made iconic by Warren Mitchell, in the 1967 episode A Woman's Place is in the Home.

Written by Johnny Speight, the script has Alf arriving home to find himself in an empty house with a burnt supper, so he sets about putting things right using his local telephone box.

Boy Meets Girl star Lizzie Roper co-stars as Else, who was originally played by Dandy Nichols, with Sydney Rae White as Alf's daughter Rita and Carl Au as her layabout husband Mike.

The Steptoe and Son episode A Winter's Tale, written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, sees Harold desperate to go on a skiing holiday, without Albert, under any circumstances.

As previously announced, Kevin McNally and Robin Sebastian are reprising their roles from Radio 4's Missing Hancocks in the Hancock's Half Hour episode The New Neighbour, also written by Galton and Simpson. Kevin Eldon also plays John Vere once again.

Yesterday, it was revealed that Kevin Bishop would be starring in the BBC's remake of Porridge, in which Fletch's grandson, who has been jailed for computer hacking.

Shane Allen, Controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning said of the Lost Sitcom season: 'When the originals were made and then lost, no-one knew they'd go on to be such classic and well-loved series.

'It feels rightful and respectful to bring them back to life with a new cast to be appreciated all over again for the brilliant writing they all contain.'

The Lost Sitcoms are a BBC Comedy Scotland production, filming at Pacific Quay in Glasgow, produced by Owen Bell and executive produced by Steven Canny.

By Jay Richardson

Published: 29 Mar 2016