Fans of the TV show Outnumbered will know what to expect from this appealing family comedy. Warm on the inside, sharp around the edges and with enough improv to keep things fresh.

Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin reprise their winning formula in an expanded setting (family goes on holiday) while adding a little more to the mix (notably the tension and pathos of family tragedy). Most pleasing of all, What We Did On Our Holiday manages to avoid the usual pitfalls of a big screen transfer.

Gordy McLeod (Billy Connolly - Quartet) has cancer, and is about to turn 75. His combative son (Ben Miller) is hosting birthday celebrations in Scotland while his other son (David Tennant - Dr. Who / Broadchurch) is en-route from London with a secret - divorce. A tense weekend of playing happy-families lies ahead and inevitably, their kids are caught in the cross-fire. While the grown ups slug it out, Gordy takes the children to the beach.

Although What We Did On Our Holiday is not much of a stretch for actors nor creators, it is a perfect match of concept and talent. Here is a quintessential British experience – consider the accusation that a southern Scot is 'so English he may as well be French'. Hamilton and Jenkin have a wry sense of humour that keeps the arguments of a warring couple grounded while pitching them against the more caricatured, occasionally surreal, backdrops they create.

Making it work is the thoroughly enjoyable cast led by Connolly as the waggish grandfather we all wish we had. Tennant, Miller and Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl / Made In Dagenham) are equally entertaining yet all are upstaged by the kids who improvise their way to the best lines and the best moments. “Tell that to your poxy, f-ing c-word of a solicitor,” says a young boy, parroting his mother. It's funny, honestly.

Despite a couple of grating gear changes in the second act game-changer, What We Did On Our Holiday is an upbeat, cheery experience that even absorbs an unnecessary, last act plunge into an ocean of sentimentality. Given what came before, it's all quite forgivable.

// Colin Fraser

Previewed at Paramount Theatre, Sydney, on 3 December 2014