By Matthew Gormley @MatthewPGormley

Almost nine years after the final series of ChuckleVision, children’s comedy legends The Chuckle Brothers are back. In 2009, after a staggering 21 series and nearly 300 episodes, the hit series was quietly dropped by the BBC, despite being one of its most beloved and longest-running kids shows.

Although they’ve been touring with their own sell-out shows and appearing in Christmas pantomimes breaking box office records, there’s been a distinct lack of the Chuckles on the box ever since.

On Saturday evening, Paul, 70, and Barry, 73, made a sensational return to the small screen with a brand new show. Having spent their lives unashamedly falling over and making a fool of themselves in slapstick-filled shows, Chuckle Time turns the tables to the public and gives the brothers an opportunity to laugh at us.

It’s like You’ve Been Framed for 2018. But gone are the days of the unfunny, staged clips which have been carefully scripted by people desperate for the £250 pocket money. Instead, Chuckle Time is a leaf through the best flops, funnies and fails from the Internet; all those viral videos that you retweet and share with your colleagues over a brew, all weaved together with Paul and Barry’s hilarious commentary.

There were moments of exercise gone wrong, wedding day disasters, holiday mishaps and garden gaffes; so think people falling off tread mills, grooms dropping their brides and poolside belly flops. Refreshingly, most of the clips selected were genuinely laugh-out-loud. Generally, clip shows have a whiff of being thrown together as a cheap way to fill airtime. There are usually a couple of standout moments while the rest are awkward or simply not funny. This was a showcase of why we love online video sharing.

If you’re a fan of viral videos and spend hours scrolling through YouTube in search of tightrope walking cats and grandmas doing the splits, chances are you may have seen one or two of these clips before. Whilst they may not have quite the same impact the second time round, couple them with Paul and Barry’s witty commentary and it’s a whole different experience.

Interwoven between the clips are a few jokes and sketches from the brothers, giving them the opportunity to showcase their trademark humour which made them such a hit all those years ago. It’s old-fashioned, simple comedy which never fails to make you smile. Jokes which all the family can understand and enjoy are few and far between these days.

Kudos to Channel 5 for listening to the public and bringing the much-missed Chuckle Brothers back onto our screens and placing them firmly back where they belong, on terrestrial television at the weekend. Judging by the viewers who were tweeting along during Saturday’s opening episode, the reaction to this series is going to be overwhelmingly positive, proving that the appetite for the Chuckles is still as strong as it was 10 years ago, when the BBC let ChuckleVision quietly slip away without explanation. Let’s hope Channel 5 see the enormous popularity and use the opportunity to resurrect the iconic series.

Chuckle Time is an hour of escapism in an increasingly hostile world, not to mention a welcome alternative to the World Cup. Pure silliness at its best. Welcome back, Paul and Barry.

Chuckle Time continues on Saturday 23 June at 5:35pm on Channel 5.