Frasier returns: Kelsey Grammer's comeback is loaded with risk

Can Grammer successfully reprise his role in the classic comedy as fastidious radio psychiatrist Dr Frasier Crane?

• Kelsey Grammer to return as Frasier in reboot of hit comedy

Already standing high in the tiny line of spinoff shows that at least equal the longevity and legend of the parent, Frasier (NBC, 1993-2004) - born out of Cheers (NBC, 1982-93) - will aim for a place on an even emptier plinth: classic series successfully revived after a long gap.

Arrested Development in the US, and Birds of a Feather and Open All Hours in the UK, have managed such a comeback, but those shows did not have the status of Frasier. To dust off the fastidious Seattle-based radio psychiatrist played by Kelsey Grammer entails something like the degree of risk in going back to Fawlty Towers, which its creator, John Cleese, has perhaps wisely always refused to do.