Peter Kay as Danny Baker’s dad?

Cradle To Grave started on BBC2 last night, a funny, sharply-written sitcom based on Danny Baker’s memoirs, starring Peter Kay as Fred, Danny’s dad. My wife was Danny Baker’s agent so I knew Danny and his family quite well. I met Fred many times and cannot stress enough how unlike Peter Kay he was. Fred was a lean old Londoner with a deep, gravelly voice. Not a chubby Lancastrian whose “cockney” accent frequently rises into a high-pitched Northern squawk. The boy who plays Danny is clearly Welsh, which meant the pair of them have spoiled what was otherwise a very authentic piece. So here’s a novel idea for the BBC: for a show set in London all about Londoners, why not cast some Londoners? Or for a more convincing Cockney to play Danny Baker’s dad, why not try Dick Van Dyke?