"The Good Life" by Riverside Drama Company.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

When Tom and Barbara Good decide to exchange the pressures of the rat race for an alternative, more sustainable way of living, they set about turning their suburban home in Surbiton into a model of self-sufficiency. They grow their own fruit and veg, keep livestock in the garden, make their own clothes, and even generate their own electricity from manure. It's the good life for them - but not for Margo and Jerry Leadbetter, who live next door, and are desperately trying to maintain the Surbiton status quo. 

Jeremy Sams's stage play, based on the hugely popular sitcom by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, reunites the well-loved characters (not forgetting Geraldine the goat) as they get themselves into and out of scrapes - some old, some new, all hilarious.

Tom is played by David Round. While it was strange, to start with, to see Tom as a bearded character, David drew in all of Tom's energy, enthusiasm and Cheerfulness. there were even times where you could even hear Richard Briers delivery coming through the character.

Barabara is played by Jane Harris. Barbara is like a ray of sunshine with her quick wit and positive attitude, two traits that are forefront in this character and shown on stage on Thursday night. Once again, the more you listened to Jane's delivery, the more you could picture the gorgeous Felicity Kendall saying those words.

Margot is played by Lizzie Norris. Margo loves all the perks associated with having a husband with a good income. She's usually unflappable with a pretentious air although she can be undone if she does not get her own way, and Lissie draws this out of the character brilliantly, especially when Margo discovers how useful the gift she gave Barbara earlier that day turned out to be. Lizzie is so good at getting beneath the skin of a character, and combine that with the upper class voice of Margo, and you have the perfect snob.

Jerry is played by John Sully. Jerry likes to keep his wife happy, in every way possible, if she'd let him. John is great at bringing the fun side of Jerry to just within sight, before Margo yanks his lead bringing him into second in command. This in itself is great fun to watch, and the scene with Sir and the office banter is wonderfully played out.

Sir, aka Andrew Ferguson, the boss over both Tom and Jerry at the offices where the designs and production of the small plastic figures that used to be found within cereal boxes, is played by John Hurley. The running joke in the TV series where Sir could never remember Tom's name has been kept in the play, which raised quite a few chuckles from the packed auditorium.

Sir's glamorous wife, Felicity, is played by the wonderful Liz Turner. The dinner at the Leadbetter's scene where they all loosen up with drink and food is especially comical, especially with the dancing to Edmundo Ros.

Moya Magee doubled up as Mary, Dr Joe's slightly eccentric receptionist who delivers a spare canister of oxygen to the Good's home, and Margaret, the boss's enthusiastic secretary.

Dave Wilson is Harry the Pigman, who managed to get on the wrong side of Margo, and decided to spice up their dinner party with Mr and Mrs Ferguson!

Anna-Birga Ostendorf is the Milkwoman who enters the story after Margo lifted a bottle of gold top from the milk wagon, but all for a good cause. It would have to be for Margo to turn thief in Surbiton.

Dr Joe, who is not a vet, is played by Russell Mason, and helps to resolve a situation in the second part of the play.

Jonathan Greaves plays the policeman who becomes quite an arresting sight for one of the play's characters, all in the line of duty in saving a life.

And, of course, Geraldine the Goat makes several appearances throughout, and is operated by Donna Osmond; and what a cute goat she is as well - Geraldine, not Donna that is!

Directed by Celia Billau, assisted by Liz Turner. When two Directors of this stature and history pool their Directorial experiences, you can guarantee that the result is a success. Need I say more?

The long list of props are provided by Sandra Read, Alison Lihou, Janet Whyatt, Diana Edwards and Donna Osmond, who are also the Backstage Team.

Sound Designer is Keith Sawley, who made sure that all of the sound effects were delivered in a timely fashion. The doorbells and the Volvo car horn could have been a little quieter as they seemed just a little out of place being at the volume that they were, but apart from that, everything sound wise was spot on.

The lighting, by Robert Osmond and Lewis Reid, was a simple procedure, visually, and alternated between the split set of the Leadbetter's sitting room and the Good's kitchen.

Talking of the set, they were built by Bob Baron along with several helping hands and looked great alongside the furniture on both sides of the stage.

"The Good Life" is one of those TV sitcoms from the 1970's that will forever be loved by people of a certain age. The script is well written and includes new material as well as sections from the original TV series. The comedy is from an age where TV comedy was at its' peak; a style that did not have to rely on smut, but seaside humour, and although these characters are from fifty odd years ago, the comedy was written to stand the tests of time. At the end of the day, funny is funny, and this show retains the fun as well as the funny.

"The Good Life" is at the Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton until Saturday 14 March, but I'd check for returns because as of Thursday night, the rest of the run is a complete sell out.