House of lies

Dawn French and Mark Heap star in a comedy about a retired couple with something to hide

- CAREN CLARK, SIMON TIMBLICK

Dawn French's new TV character couldn't be more different from The Vicar of Dibley's jolly cleric Geraldine Granger. In her latest sitcom Can You Keep a Secret?, the comedy legend plays a 'widowed' grandmother embroiled in an outrageous fraud.

French stars as indomitable Debbie Fendon, whose eccentric husband William (Friday Night Dinner's Mark Heap) is very much alive, and has only been declared dead due to a mix-up involving their flaky GP, in the six-part series.

But Debbie realises that if William, who is living with Parkinson's disease, remains officially deceased and stays hidden in their loft, they can claim the insurance money. However, their nervy son Harry (Red Oaks' Craig Roberts) soon discovers the truth. But will his police-officer wife Neha (