The revival of “Old Dog, New Tricks” will return to Netflix on 1 January, with the second season of the comedy arriving on the streaming service at the start of the new year. The show picks up the story of Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft’s classic department-store comedy, transplanting its familiar shop-floor figures into 1988, where the staff of Grace Brothers are still trailing several decades behind the times.

The premise remains rooted in the collision between an old-fashioned workforce and a world that has moved on without them. Young Mr Grace is intent on pulling the store into the late 1980s, but finds his ambitions complicated by Mr Humphries, Captain Peacock, Mr Rumbold and Mrs Slocombe, all of whom appear wedded to earlier eras. Into that uneasy arrangement comes a new employee, Mr Conway, whose arrival raises the question of whether he will help modernise the operation or simply stir up further chaos among the established staff.

The comedy’s returning ensemble includes Jason Watkins as Mr Humphreys and Sherrie Hewson as Mrs Slocombe, with John Challis playing Captain Peacock and Roy Barraclough as Mr Grainger. Kayode Ewumi features as Mr Conway, the newcomer at the centre of the show’s generational friction, while Niky Wardley appears as Miss Brahms, Arthur Smith as Mr Harman and Mathew Horne as Mr Grace. Dewi Humphreys directs.

“Old Dog, New Tricks” is classified as a comedy and a TV movie, and runs 32 minutes in its English-language production. The title carries a release date of 28 August 2016 and holds a TMDb rating of 5.3 out of 10.

A familiar shop floor, a new decade

The show’s central joke is the distance between the Grace Brothers staff and the year in which they now find themselves. Setting the action in 1988 gives the comedy a specific cultural backdrop against which the habits of Mr Humphries, Captain Peacock, Mr Rumbold and Mrs Slocombe can be measured. Young Mr Grace’s determination to drag the business into the present provides the engine for the story, while the reluctance of his senior employees supplies the resistance.

That tension is sharpened by the introduction of Mr Conway, whose presence among the veterans tests whether fresh blood can change an institution or merely disrupt it. The synopsis frames his arrival as an open question, asking whether he will shake things up or put a cat among the pigeons, a phrasing that promises the kind of ensemble friction the original comedy built its reputation on.

A second outing for the revival

The new season follows the title’s earlier release as a TV movie in 2016, and its arrival on Netflix gives the revival a fresh platform and a new run of episodes. The format, a compact 32-minute comedy, places it alongside the traditional sitcom model rather than the longer running times common to feature films.

For viewers who grew up with the original series, the casting offers a strong thread of continuity. Watkins, Hewson, Challis and Barraclough step into roles made famous by the earlier production, while Ewumi’s Mr Conway provides the generational counterpoint the story requires. Wardley, Smith and Horne round out the ensemble.

The critical reception suggested by the 5.3 TMDb rating indicates a mixed response, though the title’s continued life on streaming suggests an audience remains curious about how the old shop floor fares in its new setting. The second season will test whether the revival can sustain its premise beyond the initial novelty of revisiting such well-known characters.

What to expect on 1 January

Netflix’s release date places the second season at the very start of the year, a slot that offers viewers a light comedic option amid the usual January rush of new titles. The show’s appeal rests on nostalgia for the original comedy and on the specific pleasure of watching seasoned performers inhabit characters that have become shorthand for a certain style of British sitcom humour.

The setup, with Young Mr Grace pushing for change and his staff resisting it, gives the season a clear comic conflict to work with. Whether Mr Conway proves an agent of reform or an accelerant for disorder is the question the new episodes are built around. For now, the confirmed details are the 1 January launch, the returning cast and the 1988 setting that frames the whole enterprise.

“Old Dog, New Tricks” will be available to stream on Netflix from 1 January.

Source: Netflix Newsroom