Sky One has invested heavily in introducing new original comedies recently and Spy has to be one of their best attempts. Cleverly written by Simon Goulden (Secret Diary of a Call Girl), this six-part series is a likeable show which manages to avoid the usual clichés and stupid parodies most espionage-comedies have been subjected to.

It follows the story of a dysfunctional family headed by a lovable-loser Tim ( Darren Boyd) and his obnoxious son Marcus (Jude Wright) and how he stumbles from his dead-end job into spying for Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Tim is a 30-something data analyst working at a computer firm with no future aspirations while dealing with a divorce from a vindictive wife and Marcus, a son who loathes him. In a whimsical attempt to win back the affections of his son, Tim quits his old job and obliviously ends up being recruited as a trainee spy by MI5.

Boyd is tailor-made for this role; likable and adept at generating pathos, especially in the scenes with Jude Wright's character, playing a son who constantly nags his father about his lax attitude, providing us with a funny but annoyingly acidic character, an integral part of the show.

But the show stealer has to be Robert Lindsay. Even though he had only a limited appearance in the first episode as the MI5 supervisor and recruiting officer, known as The Examiner, he delivers the most memorable moments in the show.

His character is an unorthodox establishment figure comparable to James Bond’s ‘M’ who sneaks scotch into exam halls and indiscriminately throws ninja stars at everything (cheekily including Judi Dench’s portrait). Just released from My Family, Lindsay seems to be having a great time playing the character, delivering ridiculous punch lines with a cynical smile, “I like awkward positions, awkward (wink).”

Spy's humour is not particularly laugh-out-loud funny or memorable, but it can be slyly clever – which seems to fit the theme – and, fulfilling Sky's aim, it constitutes something reasonably original.