Season 9 onward.

I can't believe that they not only replaced a major and established character with a new actor and crowbarred in a new pub without reason but they tried to use completely different exterior shots for the locations and pass them off as the same places after 8 seasons!

The exterior of Rab's house in Restitution street surely must be one of the most famous and they have enough stock footage of it so why did they use what is obviously a completely different house and keep the interior identical?

Rab's sobriety and Christianity were bad moves too. I understand that changes have to happen but these were bad changes although the idea of Ella and Mary having their own business was a terrific one.

I think it went the way of a lot of sitcoms in that it became too big for it's boots and tried to become a drama first and a comedy second and it's not that it isn't funny because it has it's moments and all the cast are still great and always look enthusiastic plus 'Bottle' was a great episode but it's just lost something in the scripts and the loss of Rab's philosophical monologues to the camera when out and about are sorely missed and were the essence of the show.

I think it comes down to the fact that Ian Pattison's writing was great for the early 90's and that era is still fun to watch as it has some nostalgia value as well but I just don't think he has the right edge for today's comedy, especially if he has to resort to using the bad swear words and the production are going to treat the viewers as mugs with all these changes that are't even given an explanation in the story. It's just bad continuity!

I'd really love to see a new series of Rab C. Nesbitt but written by Greg Hemphill & Ford Keirnan instead as I think they could do wonders with the character and give it a modern edge that's needed instead of this pandering to the mainstream pish.