While getting ready for work in the mornings, I used to enjoy watching Everybody Loves Raymond and Cheers on Channel 4. There's something magical about old sitcoms that just draws you in, and for some reason I find them much easier to watch than a lot of modern sitcoms.

Having seen every episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, and yes, there are a lot, and pretty much every episode of Cheers, I was on the hunt for something similar to watch.

Flicking through the channels one morning, I found the classic British sitcom The Upper Hand on Comedy Central, and by some miracle they'd only just started the first episode.

Perfecto!

Of course, I'd seen episodes over the years and sort of knew what it was about, but I'd never actually sat down and watched it properly from the start.

The Upper Hand stars Joe McGann as Charlie Burrows, a retired footballer turned housekeeper, Diana Weston as Caroline Wheatley, a divorced advertising executive, and the world-famous Bond girl Honor Blackman as Caroline's mother, Laura.

For a show that first aired in 1990, it actually feels surprisingly ahead of its time. Of course, you can't escape the very 90s decor, clothes and attitudes, but that's also part of its charm. More than 35 years later, it's still an incredibly easy and enjoyable watch.

I also recently learnt that The Upper Hand is actually a British remake of the American sitcom Who's the Boss?, starring Tony Danza and Judith Light. They didn't just remake the basic idea either, many of the original stories and scripts were adapted for a British audience.

Watching Joe McGann also reminded me of a random encounter I had with him back in the mid-90s.

I was a young brash student at the time and spotted him at Leeds train station. In my typically subtle Yorkshire way, I walked over and said:

"Are you that bloke off the telly?"

He looked up from his newspaper and replied, "Yes, I am."

To which I responded, "Nice one," gave him a thumbs-up and walked away.

Years later, I read that being famous and constantly recognised wasn't always easy for him around that period, which made me think back to our incredibly intellectual conversation at Leeds station.

I'm sure some random student pointing at him and shouting, "You're that bloke off the telly!" really helped.

Sorry, Joe.

I'm now almost at the end of The Upper Hand, and I've reached that strange point you get with a long-running sitcom where I'm already starting to miss the characters before I've even finished it.

Part of me thinks they could easily do some sort of reunion special. I'd certainly watch it, but it really wouldn't be the same without Honor Blackman. For me, Laura is the glue that holds the whole thing together. She gets some of the best lines, causes half the trouble and regularly says exactly what everyone else is thinking.

It's strange how a sitcom from 1990 that I randomly stumbled across while getting ready for work has ended up becoming part of my morning routine.

Now I just need to decide what comes next.

Keeping Up Appearances or 2point4 Children?