The first episode sets up Alan as the perpetual outsider. Graham is embarrassed by his un-sporty son - "Everything this family has is down to sport," he says, though it looks as if the family line might stop with his eldest - and Ange won't let her son Charlie play with Alan any more. Less self-possessed children may have crumbled when faced with such disapproval, but what makes this series so lovely is that Alan is absolutely certain of who he is, and he refuses to be "normal" for anyone, whatever that means. He gives it a good go with football, not to please his dad, but to win back the friendship of Charlie. As an over-dramatic and not entirely graceful boy, it doesn't quite go to plan.
Football's loss is a comedy audience's gain, however, and this is relentlessly funny. In a clever twist, Alan is also embarrassed by Graham, particularly when he starts big school and he desperately attempts to cover up the fact that his dad is the Cobblers' maligned and unpopular manager. Both of them, it seems, are used to getting grief, but oddly enough, Alan seems much more capable of carrying it than his father. "To think my dad got his knickers in a twist because I liked country dancing," he says, as the footballers of Northampton Town share cigarettes in the communal bath.
Football's loss is a comedy audience's gain, however, and this is relentlessly funny. In a clever twist, Alan is also embarrassed by Graham, particularly when he starts big school and he desperately attempts to cover up the fact that his dad is the Cobblers' maligned and unpopular manager. Both of them, it seems, are used to getting grief, but oddly enough, Alan seems much more capable of carrying it than his father. "To think my dad got his knickers in a twist because I liked country dancing," he says, as the footballers of Northampton Town share cigarettes in the communal bath.