Run for Your Wife

Ray Cooney's "adult comedy" about a bigamous cabbie was a huge stage hit back in the 1980s. With options not taken up to adapt the play in the intervening years, Cooney has decided to co-direct a version himself. The obvious question to ask is why. Because, like the Carry Ons, this frantic farce is of its type and time. Unfortunately, there's no irony or retro self-awareness about this adaptation, which is played as if the last 30 years simply haven't happened. Danny Dyer stars as the two-timing taxi driver whose double life begins to unravel when he acts the hero one night, and Denise Van Outen and Sarah Harding play his oblivious wives. In support is a veritable who's-who (and often who's-that?) of ageing British stage and screen stars, from Rolf Harris and Judi Dench to Russ Abbot and June Whitfield. Dyer is a ball of energy in the lead and playing spot-the-celeb provides mild amusement. But, essentially, this is one for nostalgia lovers, who rue the passing of simpler, cornier and less-PC times.