It’s hard to believe that, outside of a student production of Henry V some 50 years ago, this is the first time the pair have shared boards. But in Vicious the binary Sirs of McKellen & Jacobi shine as the short-tempered long-term couple Freddie and Stuart; trading barbs as though this were the final act of Hamlet, but instead of swords they’re wielding poison-tipped words, trying to inflict maximum laughter.

It’s a rule of comedy that old men saying outrageous things is funny. Not as funny as old women saying outrageous things, but still…funny. Perhaps that’s why it’s Rising Damp‘s Frances de la Tour who snatches the biggest laughs as lewd Violet, especially when she’s doing a Rigsby and pursuing attractive young Ash – Misfits‘ star Iwan Rheon, wearing a leather jacket and a Yorkshire accent, only one of which truly fits him.

McKellen and Jacobi feel right at home. Perhaps because they’re enunciating and rolling their eyes on a set so theatrical in its blocking and dressing that all it’s lacking is a proscenium and someone in the front row rattling their Maltesers. The static one-room setting of the pair’s dingy home feels vaguely old-fashioned; a comedy wearing cosy 90s clothes to a 21st century cat-fight. There’s a whiff of greasepaint to every smile. Yet compared to BBC One’s newest throwback sitcom The Wright Way it’s a ray of sunlight.

‘I never know when I’m going too far,’ purrs McKellen after infuriating his partner for the humph-teenth time, ‘But I’m always so glad when I do.’ Vicious could actually benefit if it wasn’t afraid to go a bit further, living up to the show’s original title ‘Vicious Old Queens’.

Given the way audiences react to old-fashioned sitcoms these days you can forgive it for dipping its toe rather than putting its foot into it. But without a doubt this is a promising first step for a show that could well take centre stage in ITV’s comedy line-up.

Aired at 9pm on Monday 29 April 2013 on ITV.

> Order Series 1 on DVD on Amazon.

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