Hanna Barbera's classic characters form the basis of a superbly innovative spin on Saturday morning nostalgia...

It's a fact of life that you're never too old to watch a cartoon with swearing and boobs in it. But we all know that - it's like saying the sky is blue, the grass is green, or the new BSG really lost its shit when they got to the Final Four. Thank the Gods, then, for Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, which has provided affable stoners and stay-up-late pre-teens with their giggles since 2001. OK, so some of the stuff is hit and miss (I always hated Morel Orel) but Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law stands up as one of the network's stand-out comedies. It's anarchic, superbly witty and, for anyone who grew up on Hanna-Barbera, cosily nostalgic. But mostly anarchic.

For anyone who hasn't caught it so far, Harvey Birdman is the continuing adventures of Birdman, who's ditched his rather naff 60's superhero pedigree (Peregrine?) in order to fight crime from a different angle - he's now a lawyer working in the Sebben & Sebben law firm, assisted by the foxy Birdgirl, his eagle sidekick Avenger and Peanut, an unapologetic pervert. Each episode sees him taking on a case and representing various characters from Hanna-Barbera's back catalogue, often with a gloriously deranged spin - like when Magilla Gorilla is liberated by animal activists or (my particular favourite) when adorable duckling Yakky Doodle wants his name changed back after a court ordered him to switch it to "Chemical Castration".

"Hanna-Barbera seem more than happy for fondly-remembered characters to be mocked an subverted to an insane degree - you'd never see Disney pulling this kind of stunt"

And it's the rich strip-mining of Hanna-Barbera history that makes Harvey Birdman so watchable. Kudos and nuff respec' has to go to Hanna-Barbera, who seem more than happy for fondly-remembered characters to be mocked and subverted to an insane degree - you'd never see Disney pulling this kind of stunt. Peter Potumas becomes a lech and general office prick, Top Cat is a feckless mooch and Shaggy and Scooby appear briefly as - what else but? - totally stoned. Many of Birdman's former adversaries also join him in the courtroom, including the paranoid Myron Reducto (obsessed with anything smaller than he is) and Mentok the Mind-Taker (now a judge) who spends most of the time using his impressive mental powers to dick about and annoy the court bailiff.

The switch from Saturday-morning cartoon to courtroom works incredibly well, as there's still room for the superhero/supervillain dynamic to blossom in imaginative and smartly subversive ways. There's also a great attention to detail throughout, from the smooth animation to a bevy of running gags (such as Scrappy-Doo's discarded corpse regularly turning up in the background, to the delight of everyone, everywhere).

"It'd be a waste to leave this gem to the stoners and sneaky pre-teens of the world"

Harvey Birdman is a show that rewards the viewer if they pay attention. And whereas some Adult Swim cartoons can tend to rely on crass violence or toilet gags, Harvey Birdman instead relies on surrealism, quick wit, cartoon history and a set of great scripts performed by a great cast including Gary Cole, Maurice LaMarche and Stephen Colbert. That said, it works better when the episodes are stand-alone, as the last few tie into a longer story that doesn't seem to have the same energy. But that's a minor gripe. Pick it up. It'd be a waste to leave this gem to the stoners and sneaky pre-teens of the world.

( or if you're stoned)

Harvey Birdman - Volume 3 Box Set is released on April 12th

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