Royal Family New Twist (made me giggle )

Ricky Tomlinson, aka Jim, has not worked for years but is still utterly convinced he is the archetypal working man. He sits in the armchair, scratches his arse with the TV remote, and mulls who to back to be Labour leader.

Welcome to the Disloyal Family, a sitcom with no laughter track, because the state of Labour is not remotely funny. There is no real plot, just a group of people pretending to be working class, sitting around talking while all the action happens on the telly.

From his perch in the front room, Jim Disloyal looks at the dismal cast of characters and wonders who might be able to*take the lead role.

In the middle of the sofa is Denise, the drippy next generation, played by Rebecca Long Bailey. Big on talk, small on action.

“Have you got any new ideas Rebecca?”

“No, I thought I’d just reuse all the old ones. Nobody will notice.”

Next to Rebecca is Sir Dave Starmer, the long-suffering, lethargic lothario. He has positioned himself as close as possible to Rebecca for an easy life, but some suspect/hope he also has eyes for the Beverly Macca of politics, Tony Blair, the slutty girl about town who knows how to get loyal working men to switch sides.

Dozing on the sofa is Nana, depicted by one of our national treasures, Emily Thornberry. She puts on a posher voice which disguises her authentically humble childhood. She has still got her Christmas hat on in June. And there is always a strong chance that she laughs so hard at one of her own jokes that she leans over and breaks wind. She will be written out before the end of the series.

Over in the corner, sitting in trackie bottoms and eye-rolling a lot, is Anthony, rebooted as Lisa Nandy. She remains on the periphery, but occasionally offers incisive words of wisdom, which everybody ignores and just tells her to make the tea.

Fussing around them all is Barbara, the matriarch played by one of the most versatile actors of our age: Barry Gardiner. From applauding Blair’s Iraq War to Corbynista cheerleader, whatever he is chainsmoking probably isn’t legal. He was going to run for leader but is too busy working down the bakers/at that climate change conference. Which he flew to. In Abu Dhabi.

There is someone at the back door. Oh, it’s everyone’s best friend Cheryl, played by Jess Phillips. It’s only a small role, and she just pops in, says something funny in a regional accent, and leaves.

She can ask “have you had your tea?” and convince a certain type of pundit she has a unique connection with the nation. There is a sense that she will be a big star, just not of this show.

Ricky casts an eye around the room to decide who to back. It turns out he has always had a soft spot for Sir Dave. As he might say: “He’s all right, the big, long streak of piss”.

It means that in a decade Ricky has somehow gone from threatening to run for Socialist Labour against the Labour candidate in Liverpool because she was from London, to backing a knighted Islington lawyer to carry the socialist flag.