Entertaining and irritating in almost equal measure, Eric Chappell’s Wife After Death bears little similarity to life as most of us know it. Its concern is the funeral of a major comedy star, who is discovered to have been a serial philanderer. Repeated confessions by, or exposure of, women involved with him occur throughout the play. Fury? Not for more than a second or two. A resigned smile. The world goes on . . .

This is because the world is that of the sitcom, in the production of which Mr Chappell – writer, among much else, of the classic TV series Rising Damp – is so adept a practitioner. His central character here is dead Dave’s scriptwriter Harvey, a droll northerner expertly played by Tom Conti, despite an accent that occasionally strays from Yorkshire into Scotland. You would not be straining the imagination to see something of his creator in the character. This is especially the case when Harvey is told by his missus, Vi: “You write comedy. You have trouble with reality.”

This rather cantankerous woman is played, with all the skill for which she is known, by Diane Fletcher. Here that skill is largely expended on looking perplexed and curmudgeonly. I thought more than once that Corrie’s casting director need not hunt long should Granada be considering a miraculous return for Ena Sharples.

Certain other members of the cast, meanwhile, are about the business of looking drop-dead gorgeous. Dave clearly had good taste in birds, even if most seem a little – ahem – common. These include his curvaceous young bride Laura (Nina Young) – of whom Harvey observes: “You don’t expect to see contours on a widow, not on the day of the funeral.” – and a mysterious mourner Kay (Elizabeth Payne) who likewise appears to have bought her outfit from Frolicky Funerals.

Rather more upper-crust is the whippet-thin Jane (Diana Marchment), whose legs had been compared by Dave, during intimate moments in an office store cupboard, to a pair of pipe cleaners.

News of this hanky-panky does not go down well with Jane’s husband, Dave’s agent Kevin. But this fastidious gentleman, who is portrayed by the ever-reliable Royce Mills in the comic performance of the evening, is prepared to forgive and forget. As is always the case in sitcom land . . .

Wife After Death is, of course, very funny and for this reason highly recommended. Just don’t expect, despite references to the likes of Oscar Wilde and G.K. Chesterton, anything to stretch the mind.

Until Saturday. Box office: 01865 305305 (www.oxfordplayhouse.com).