"Waiting For God" by Riverside Drama Company.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

The TV series, "Waiting For God", starring Stephanie Cole ran for five series in the 1990s, and then a play was devised by the author of the TV series, Michael Aitkens.

Set in Bayview Retirement Home run by slimy, greedy Harvey Baines, ex-war correspondent and photographer Diana Trent is furious at where life has now landed her and determined to make her presence felt at every opportunity, especially aiming her wrath at "the idiot Baines".

In the neighbouring apartment is ex-accountant Tom Ballard, deposited here as his daughter-in-law can’t stand him in the house any longer. Far from being upset and resentful, he optimistically regards this as the next "adventure" and happily "switches off" to indulges in flights of fancy, including telling Diana he has just visited the moon.

The TV programme can still be seen on certain satellite channels and is just as funny as it always was in play form. There are loads of visual gags but the real jewel in the crown is in the script, which is sharp, caustic and extremely well observed, showing that just because a person is of a certain age, there's still plenty of fire in the tank!

Playing Tom is Martin Holtom, and I can't think of anyone else who could play this part. If you can imagine Harry Secombe, in his Goons era, playing this part, you'll get a feel of the zaniness, as well as the naughtiness behind those eyes. And you get to see more of Martin than you may have ever seen before as Tom! With a role like this there's also a requirement of comic timing, and that is there as well.

What i really liked about Martin's performance, in fact with all the performances, was the pace. There was space for the laughter, and this play is so well written, and the actors so adept at what they do, they were confident of where the laughs came, and the strength of those laughs, and time was given to get those laughs.

The "battleaxe" of Diana is played by Liz Turner, who is the furthest away from a battleaxe but I've seen her play some excellent powerful matriarchal women in her time. This is another example of Liz's wonderfully comic character roles. The role is delivered with such natural ability that it almost felt like you weren't watching an actor, but being a fly on the wall.

Liz bought out the roaring lion in Diana but we also saw the softer side of the character. When in conversation with any of the other characters the different chemistries were plain to see, showing what a lot of work has been invested in the characters and presenting those relationships that we all loved from the TV series.

Harvey Baines is played by Dan Bates. I've seen Dan in many roles over the years and Dan gets under the skin of every character he plays. There is a certain sliminess and accent that sounds like Baines could have hailed from Peckham, akin to Boycie. But you can't really dislike this character too much because there's an inner ignorance, maybe naivety, with Baines, which means that you find yourself laughing at him, especially in the scene about the golf club rejection form.

Samantha Badman plays Jane, who in the original TV series was played by Janine Duvitski and visually there is an obvious character recognition. I recently described Sam as chameleonic and, yet again, she has morphed herself physically into this character. There is no part that Samantha can't make her own; be it Shakespeare, a Gothic detective or a shy retirement home manager who just wants to be noticed for being a woman, with needs, and wants, and after her discovery of Diana and Tom's blossoming relationship and listening to Diana, much more!!

Jenni Wright plays Sarah, the devoted niece to Diana. Some really nice family bonding moments between these two, especially when Sarah reveals that she is pregnant and Diana becomes Sarah's birthing partner. It's the conversation between Diana and Sarah prior to this as to why Diana never had children of her own that makes the hospital scene most poignant. There're also some lovely comic moments with this pair, especially as Sarah's fiancé's name is Richard; well, you can imagine!

Paul Norris is Tom's son Geoffrey, and another wonderful performance by Paul as Geoffrey. We get to hear all the back story about Geoffrey's wife and the relationship with Tom, as well as very different relationships with everyone else from the accountant to the plumber to the Jehovah's witness who came a knocking! The original TV son always seemed to be just a bit weedy to me but here, Geoffrey has more character and you find yourself feeling sorry for him, in a non-weedy way.

Moya Magee plays Millie, Dr Gyno and another Doctor, Dave Wilson plays Basil, Dr Henry and the Undertaker. All of these characters are minor characters but provide major laughs.

Denise Sparrow, who is the Bayview religious person, who can never remember if she is there to perform a wedding or a funeral, is played by Celia Billau. By the end it's like a cut price Richard Curtis film with two possible weddings and a funeral.

Directed by Lizzie Norris, who by the way could not have chosen a better cast for this production, has created a smash hit comedy on the Duchess Theatre stage. This is a play that isn't performed very often, and in this case, it should be done on a more regular basis, especially when performed in such a wonderfully comic way as this one. The laughs came thick and fast, and not just giggles but big old belly laughs. Lizzie was assisted in the directing by John Sully.

There are laughs in here derived from unexpected and possibly shocking responses from people of a certain age who most people would expect not to speak in the way that they do in the play. It shows that people aged sixty plus have a sense of humour, have a life and still most of their body parts still working; some may be a bit rusty, but still working! Proof indeed that the older generation are not ready to be written off just yet.

The set design, also by Lizzie Norris is simple in parts and not so simple in other scenes, such as the hospital scenes. With many scene changes, which were done with music by Schubert, as in the TV show, and stage blackouts, giving a feel of the scene changes of a TV programme, just done live, and done very well I may add, on stage. Thanks to the stage crew Celia Billau and Dave Wilson and the Stage manager, Donna Osmond, keeping the pace for the scene changes running smoothly.

Sound Design is by Keith Salway and Rob Osmond. The soundscape which ranged from ambulance sirens to birdsong to a seaside atmosphere to the screeching tyres of the borrowed sports car were executed perfectly.

Lighting is thanks to Dave Martin, allowing us to digest the small scenes within the production with the stage blackouts to divide the scenes, as well as all the usual lighting required for everything else within the play. Non-intrusive, as it's supposed to be.

The costumes matched the actors perfectly, and by that, I mean that by looking at the costumes themselves, you'd be able to guess which character the costume is for. they helped create the personality of the character. Mina Machin and the company made sure that everyone looked as they were supposed to with the gathering of the costumes.

Thursday night, opening night, was sold out, and the audience were rapturous in their appreciation of the cast and production team, as well as the beautifully written script.

Don't wait to get a ticket for this brilliant show, get one or two tickets NOW!

"Waiting For God" is at the Duchess Theatre until Saturday 19 November.