Don’t bring back Frasier

At the end of the Frasier theme song, its star Kelsey Grammer always sang the words: ‘Frasier has left the building!’ And when the show finished in 2004, it felt as if Frasier, Niles, Daphne, Martin, Roz and the rest had indeed left the building.

In truth, the popular programme did not end in glory. Ever since Niles and Daphne had become a couple, ending its greatest running joke, there was a sense of past glories being retrodden. By the time Daphne’s siblings appeared with the strangest ‘British’ accents ever known, it was hard to avoid the feeling that Frasier’s departure was past due.

It is therefore both surprising and alarming that rumours of its return on the Paramount+ screening service have not only been confirmed, but the first major piece of casting apart from Grammer himself has been announced. Nicholas Lyndhurst, best known for his performance as the hapless Rodney Trotter in the BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses, has been cast as Frasier’s sparring partner Alan Cornwall.