TV

Gervais makes pop return

Gervais_pa_200_2 Posted by Stewart Turner

Good news for all you fans of Seona Dancing out there – yes, yes, both of you. It seems that comedian Ricky Gervais is finally set to sing again.

Just in case you’ve somehow managed to miss the several thousand or so re-runs, Ricky briefly tussled with the nether regions of the hit parade back in the 1980s, fronting a godawful New Romantic band. Now, some 25 years later, he’s singing a tune for new TV comedy Toyboize.

The show’s been penned by Jamie Deeks and Ewen McIntosh – perhaps better known in their Office guises of Jamie and scotch egg-munching Keith. The show is a Spinal Tap-esque spoof of boybands, and follows some former chart-toppers who decide to reform and go on tour 20-odd years later. Hmm, sound familiar?

Ricky won’t actually appear in the show, but said of his return to singing: “I thought the idea of the show was really funny and as a failed pop star myself, I jumped at the chance of writing a bad song.”

And just in case you need reminding of Ricky’s ability to write a bad song, here’s ‘Free Love Freeway' one more time.

Source: The Sun

Cheryl's X Factor clanger >>
Big Brother latest >>

TV home >>


Sex and the City, daily, 10pm, Paramount Comedy 1

Posted by Jane Murphy

Sex and the City

Want to get through this week without reading or hearing the words Sex and the City? If so, may I suggest you step away from your computer, unplug your TV, cancel the newspapers and spend the next seven days cowering in the corner of a darkened room.

Sarah Jessica Parker and the girls are in London for the world premiere of the SATC movie - which means various chat show appearances (The Graham Norton Show for Cynthia on Thursday; Friday Night With Jonathan Ross for SJP), a World Premiere Special on Channel 4 on Tuesday, and back-to-back repeats of the series every night on Paramount Comedy 1.

I'm not quite sure who'll be tuning in for the repeats, though. I was under the impression that every woman in the land already owned one of those pink SATC DVD complete series box sets. Back in 2004, it was mandatory to get one for Christmas - even if what you really wanted was a DVD of Pro-Celebrity Cage Fighting.

Still, despite its apparent shallowness - after all, what could be more throwaway than a show about shoes and sex? - it's hard to think of a TV series that's made more of an impact on its target audience over recent years. We may not share the SATC girls' glamorous lifestyles or questionable taste in clothes and men, but most women could relate to their relationship woes, moral dilemmas and health worries.

Of course, the downside of this was that some men began to labour under the misguided impression that all women were like Carrie, Samantha and co - particularly if there were four of them seated around a table.

In fact, my husband still refers to my evenings out with friends at Café Rouge as "Sex and the City nights". He thinks we order Cosmopolitans and swap tips about shoe-buying and bizarre sexual practices. But I can assure you these topics only account for 5% of the conversation. The other 95% is spent discussing cage-fighting - honest!

See the SATC red carpet video here >>

Picture: Rex Features

SEE ALSO:

Carrie's all-time most memorable outfits >>
Get the latest soap previews and gossip >>
Celebrity feuds: SJP v Jennifer Aniston >>
In pics: star fashion galleries & more >>


Peep Show, Friday 10.30pm, Channel 4

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating:Five star rating

Mark and Jeremy © Channel 4

"So unhappy. I wonder if anyone has ever been this unhappy while drinking champagne." Yes, Peep Show is back and happily, Mark Corrigan has returned to his default state: heavy pessimism mixed with a large dose of self-pity.

Following on from the wedding shenanigans of the fourth series, this opening episode is notably low-key, but nonetheless welcome, harking back to the no-frills mishappery of series one.

Continue reading "Peep Show, Friday 10.30pm, Channel 4" »


The Inbetweeners, Thursday 10pm, E4

Posted by Stewart Turner

Preview rating:Three star rating

Inbetween_30apr08_c4_200 The Inbetweeners, E4’s first ever UK-commissioned comedy, looks to the mundane experiences of growing up in middle-class suburbia for its inspiration. As the press blurb states, it’s “a place where teenage pregnancies, drugs, knife fights and guns are far less common than fancying your mate’s mum”.

It’s a fair point. These days, teenagers are almost exclusively painted as feral, crack-smoking, hoodie-wearing creatures of the night who’d sooner stab you in the eye with a rusty breadknife than pass the time of day with you. And that’s just on CBeebies.

The central character is Will, a posh public school kid who’s just been forced to start attending a typical-looking comprehensive after his parents divorce. The opening episode sees him undergo a mass of entertaining humiliation and initiation ceremonies. You know all that stuff that keeps you awake the night before starting a new school? Well, it all happens to Will.

Continue reading "The Inbetweeners, Thursday 10pm, E4" »


Headcases, Sunday 10pm, ITV1

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating:Three star rating

Headcases © ITV

Spitting Image is back! Okay, it's not, but ITV1's new Sunday night satire Headcases, which reflects the continuing technological advancement of mankind by using computer generated characters instead of big rubber puppets, is being touted as such.

So, there are sketches featuring Gordon Brown as a Scrooge-like scribe, Princes William and Harry attempting to emulate normal people "like in a pub, or labour exchange" by ordering a pizza, and a few rather strained attempts to ride the celebrity zeitgeist by including Posh 'n' Becks and Peter 'n' Jordan.

At first it's all a bit like watching a computer game with slightly dodgy lip-syncing, though once you're used to it, there are some good laughs. Disappointingly, the satire isn't particularly sharp – there aren't any Posh and Becks gags left to do, Peter and Jordan are effectively immune from parody and, what's this? Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse enjoy drinking? Who knew?

The political sketches are funnier, though the jokes are never dead-on topical, à la Have I Got News For You, presumably because it actually takes quite a while to render all that CGI. One of the best jokes shows the ruination of Gordon Brown's attempted celebrity party because the invites were given to an Inland Revenue junior officer, although even that feels a bit four months ago.

Actually, those Spitting Image comparisons aren't going to help it – perhaps Headcases will work better if we think of it just as a sketch show. Skit of the night wasn't a biting satire on modern day politics at all. It featured Dames Judi Dench and Helen Mirren who, for no reason whatsoever, speak in Lauren Cooper-style teenage girl voices and spend their time bullying Kate Winslet. Which was both arbitrary and bloody hilarious.


Dirty Sexy Money, Friday 9pm, Channel 4

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Donald Sutherland as Donald Tripp © Channel 4 Our rating:Four star rating
If there’s one thing more annoying than Jim Davidson, it’s the way otherwise great US TV shows so consistently foul up their good work with mawkish finales. Scrubs, Lost, even the mighty West Wing – they’ve all done it.

So, you’ll have 27 or 42 minutes of amazing television, then suddenly, the whiny music will strike up, the protagonist will soliloquise (“You know what? That’s the thing about relationships…”) and the camera will track between the show’s characters, who have suddenly stopped being selfish, overwrought blubbers and are now cuddling Andrex puppies and laughing with joy.

Although Dirty Sexy Money’s ending is sadly no exception, it’s good enough for us to let it off the hook. Peter Krause plays lawyer and nice enough everyman Nick George, who we first meet on his way to his father’s funeral, an activity the Six Feet Under actor is getting rather good at.

Also in attendance are the filthy rich Darling family, his dad’s former clients, who include white-haired patriarch Tripp (Donald Sutherland) and Patrick Darling IV (William Baldwin) who’s trying not to let his fondness for sleeping with transsexual hookers get in the way of his pitch for the Senate. Despite an acute awareness of how it screwed up his father, after massive financial persuasion Nick takes the job of representing this family of maniacs. And so his troubles begin…

Imagine Brothers & Sisters with a wicked sense of humour, or a starrier Arrested Development. And for now, let’s ignore that ending.

SEE ALSO
Meet Dirty Sexy Money's characters >>
What to watch this Easter >>


Mighty Boosh vs the Honey Monster

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Knowing the high levels of surrealism Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt often deal with, The Mighty Boosh vs the Honey Monster sounds like a predictably unlikely showdown.

Why? Apparently the boys have been put right off their Sugar Puffs after the brand nicked their “crimping” style of singing for an advert. Those not familiar with Booshery will probably be wondering what the hell crimping is. It’s nigh-on impossible to explain, so it’s probably best if you just watch the vid below. Oh, and don’t press play if you don’t like rude words.


And here’s the Honey Monster’s attempt.


“They haven’t been asked permission to use the style and are speaking to lawyers about getting the Honey Monster’s crimp removed from the airwaves,” a source told The Sun.

And fans are laying into Sugar Puffs on YouTube. “I'm so bloody outraged,” wrote one. “I will not 'calm down' or 'get a life', because it's not fair. If it was anything but crimping, I wouldn't care so much, but crimping is the one thing that is totally original to the Boosh.”

It’s going to be hard to prove in court – but we can’t help thinking it’d be entertaining watching them try...

SEE ALSO
The Mighty Boosh reviewed >>
Ozzy Osbourne's Sugar Puff cravings >>


Keith Lemon's Very Brilliant World Tour, Tuesday 10pm, ITV2

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Preview rating:Three star rating

Keith Lemon © ITVSpeaking in the babyish Mancunian quack of a Mark Owen impersonator and rocking the kind of blonde hair and cheesy moustache usually only available to pornographic actors of the most Scandinavian variety, Keith Lemon is the latest Leigh Francis character to get a spin-off show.

Lemon is a failed businessman who embarrasses celebrities and members of the public with his outrageous comments and wacky behaviour. Sound familiar? Yes, he’s a bit like Borat and a bit like Bo Selecta!'s Avid Merrion – except not quite as good as either.

However, there should be a few laughs along the way as the 1993 Businessman of the Year embarks on a world tour, taking in Egypt, Australia, Mexico, Japan and Iceland in an attempt to "fatten his horizons". In tonight’s episode he visits America, finding himself joining the Chippendales on stage while a genuinely flabbergasted Mel B looks on, before he heads off to the Montana Testicle Festival, which will surely provide plenty of opportunities for the kind of jokes that’ll have you soiling yourself with delight – if you’re a 14-year-old boy.


That Mitchell & Webb Look, Wednesday 9pm, BBC2

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating:Three star rating
Pointing out that sketch shows are notoriously hit-and-miss is the bread and butter of any TV reviewer – and I’m hungry... So here goes: sketch shows, they’re notoriously hit-and-miss, you know.

Robert Webb and David Mitchell © BBCThe first series of That Mitchell & Webb Look helped popularise the view that David Mitchell and Robert Webb, hitherto stars of the staggeringly brilliant Peep Show, were not in fact the saviours of comedy. Despite that, Auntie Beeb decided the pair were still good enough to be invited back – actually, you can just imagine David Mitchell lapsing into an Alan Partridge-style “smell my cheese, you mother” bid for a second series in the BBC canteen.

Anyway, here we are. Thankfully the duo haven’t gone all Little Britain and we get an honest peppering of Proper New Characters and ideas – though sadly the massively unfunny drunken tramp detectives from series one remain. Robert Webb's “Numberwang”, however, has had an inventive revamp.

Some of the new stuff, though, is cracking. A particular highlight is the OTT Sky Sports presenter whose fervent advert attempts to whip up his audience are scuppered by his script, which features lines like “On Sunday, it’s the battle for the North West, when Shrewsbury meet Macclesfield in a match already being described as ‘on this Sunday’”.

Meanwhile, the weak sketches – which appear in roughly equal number – often consist of fairly decent ideas which feel forced, or look patched up by exuberant costumes and the distractingly bad laughter track. Hit-and-miss, then. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.


Alan Carr's Celebrity Ding Dong, Friday 10pm, Channel 4

Posted by Alan Tyers

Preview rating:Three star rating

Alan Carr (C) Channel 4 This new six-part game show pits a team of five celebrities against five ordinary folks – known here as "civilians – in a series of amusingly daft, how-the-other- half-lives quizzes.

For instance: Paris Hilton's engagement ring or a tin of cheapo soup – which has more carats/carrots?

The opportunity for a joke about "Alan Carr wanting a carrot in the ring" was not passed up. But who cracked said witticism? Why, it's Duncan James what used to be in Blue.

Ladies and gentlemen: we are in the presence of greatness.

The other four celebrities were Chris Moyles, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Jamelia and Zoe Ball. Against them were five cheerful youths from Glasgow.

"They look like they should be in Steps," sniggered Duncan.

Yeah, what sort of talentless no-mark looks like they’re in a rubbish manufactured pop band?

Anyway, there was lots of mean-but-funnyish mockery of the "civilians", which sort of made me cringe on their behalf, but then, they did ask for it. It goes without saying which of the teams is really making a t** of itself.

The show is rescued by Carr himself, who is quite funny: presented with Glasgow's Stacey-Jo, he yells across at Palmer-Tomkinson: "'Ere, Tara! She's got a hyphen! She's one of your lot!"


Comedy Live Presents, Friday, Channel 4, 10pm

Posted by Alan Tyers

Our rating:Four star rating

Russell Brand (C) PA Russell Brand – bestselling author, hit stand-up comedian, newspaper columnist, tabloid hardy perennial, even part-time Big Brother – is hard to miss at the moment, and much of your enjoyment of this show will depend on your taste for the man.

An ambitious, one-off project, Comedy Live Presents bills itself as a "comedy variety extravaganza", which seems to mean Russ introducing a diverse range of comics from Roseanne Barr to Lee Mack.

Also on the show, sketches from the Star Stories team – who brought you the very excellent Simon Cowell: My Honesty, My Genius and the cruel but most amusing portrayal of a fat, needy Robbie Williams and a scheming Gary Barlow.

In fact, they even did a Russell Brand, shooting up drugs and trying to mount a chair while in The Priory – so that's something to talk about backstage.

Also appearing is Leigh Francis aka Bo Selecta’s Avid Merion, Fonejacker and sundry other funny types.

It should be a cracking show and, with so much on the bill, there’s no time to dwell on anything you don't like. Well worth a look.

SEE ALSO:
UK vs US sitcoms >>
Russell Brand's top shocks >>


30 Rock, Thursday 11.05pm, Five

Posted by Jane Murphy

Tina Fey

Tonight sees a double bill of award-winning US sitcom 30 Rock - starring Tina Fey as Liz Lemon, head writer on an oddball-filled TV sketch show.

And if you haven't tuned in already, it's well worth the effort - if only to witness Alec Baldwin's hilarious performance as Jack Donaghy - Liz's pompous, deluded boss, whose full job title is Executive Vice President for East Coast Television and Microwave Oven Programming.

Watching the slick, comic turns in this all-American show has actually made me think the unthinkable: the current crop of US sitcoms could be better, and funnier, than our latest home-grown ones.

Some examples? I've grown to care about the characters in The Office: An American Workplace (weeknights on Paramount Comedy 1) just as much as I did about David Brent and co in the UK original. The wonderfully post-modern Entourage - back on ITV2 next Thursday - pushes every "zeitgeisty" button you can think of (celebrities, sex, drugs, ambition) and still manages to be funny. And the new series of Curb Your Enthusiasm (Mondays on More4) is comic genius at its best.

Could the Americans really be funnier than us? I'm desperately trying to think of a current UK sitcom that makes me proud to be British - but nothing springs to mind... Quick! Bring back Only Fools and Horses before it's too late...

Picture: Wenn

SEE ALSO:
US v UK sitcoms - who's best?


Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach, Thursday, 9pm, ITV

Moving Wallpaper (C) ITV So, did you watch ITV's newest production, Moving Wallpaper and its 'sister show', Echo Beach? If so, we'd love to know what you thought of it.

Was it clever, innovative and funny? Or a shallow and shameless PR stunt by ITV, hidden behind thinly veiled self-mockery?  Did you think that those two interwined shows  worked well together or were the ties between both of them not strong enough?

Oh, and finally, Martine and Jason. Worth the fuss? Post your comments below.

More on Moving Wallpaper/Echo Beach:
Why the two titles >>
Echo Beach - who's who? >>
Moving Wallpaper - who's who? >>
Our verdict >>


Never Mind The Buzzcocks, Thursday, 9pm, BBC2

Posted by Alan Tyers

Our rating: Two star rating
In the interest of fairness, I should declare something at the start of this preview: I cannot bear the comedy of Phil Jupitus.

I really, really do not think he is funny. There. I've said it. But the fact remains that he is a team captain on knockabout pop quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which is currently entering its 21st season.

Never Mind The Buzzcocks team

On the other hand, his opposite number, Bill Bailey, is one of the funniest men around. As such, I would prefer as much of Bailey and as little of Jupitus as is possible. Sadly, this series never seems to deliver that.

In tonight's show, BB is silent for minutes at a time. Jupitus, not so much. The guests in this first edition are selected along the now-traditional lines: two musicians, Joel Pott of Athlete and the rapper, Lethal Bizzle; Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson) from Spaced is the guest comic and Kimberly Stewart is in the crumpet / cannon fodder for the host role.

I personally thought that Stewart – introduced by host Simon Amstell with: "Not only Rod Stewart's daughter, she is a friend of Paris Hilton in her own right" – had one of the best lines of the evening when she joked that the great unwashed who appear on her reality show Living With Kimberly Stewart "are not allowed to look her in the face".

At least, I think it was a joke. But she was really there just to be ridiculed by Amstell, which is fine by me. So, yeah… Music quiz, "edgy" jokes at a number of fish-in-in-a-barrel targets including Westlife, Kate Nash and George Bush, some laughs and Phil Jupitus.

A two star for me, but that's including the minus one for Jupitus.


The Mighty Boosh, Thursday 10.30pm, BBC3

Posted by Helen Jennings

Our rating:Four star rating
Noel Fielding and Julian Barrett return for the third series of their surreal comedy vehicle The Mighty Boosh.

This time Vince (fashion victim, layabout) and Howard (esoteric jazz fan, rapist's eyes) work in Nabootique, an East End knick-knacks shop run by Naboo (shamanic powers, stoned).

The Mighty Boosh (c) BBCIn the first episode, called ‘Eels’, Naboo and Bollo the gorilla fly off on a magic carpet for a stag weekend with Tony the Tentacle leaving our unlikely heroes in charge. They compete to see whose latest inventions will prove most popular with customers. While nobody wants Howard’s chameleon elbow patches, Vince rakes it in with The Indie Celebrity Radar, a gadget which ascertains the exact whereabouts of “the Shoreditch elite”. Turns out the lead singer of Klaxons is in Marks & Spencer buying a jacket.

Disaster strikes when the evil cockney Hitcher pays a visit with Elsie Queen of Eels demanding protection money. Howard is forced into prostitution (long story) to raise the cash but in the end, well, that would be telling. Suffice it to say there’s a happy, song-filled encore.

Admittedly a few of the gags will be lost on anyone who doesn’t live within five miles of Old Street – London’s fashionista paradise – and new characters are thin on the ground. But the comic duo have avoided lazily resting on their award-winning laurels in the way Little Britain or Reeves & Mortimer did before them to ensure this new instalment remains the right side of genius. And yes, the Moon is back too.


Comedy Showcase: Free Agents, Friday 10.30pm, Channel 4

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating:Three star rating
In an age when really mediocre sitcoms are as common as stabbings and fat kids, a Friday night testing ground for new ideas has the potential to act like a big, brilliant televisual sieve. Thanks, then, Comedy Showcase, which features a weekly series of 30-minute one-offs.

Stephen Mangan (c) Rex 2007 Tonight’s edition, Free Agents, brings with it some impressive comedy talents. The ever-brilliant Stephen Mangan (Green Wing’s Dr Guy) and rising star Sharon Horgan (Rob Brydon’s assistant in Annually Retentive and various other bits and pieces) play two talent agents dealing with the aftermath of a one-night stand, at the same time nursing their own personal traumas: Alex is not allowed to see his children, while Helen is recovering from the death of her husband.

Despite the potentially weighty premise, there are some good lines and the characters are messed up enough to be interesting and goofy enough to be likeable. There’s also a show-stealing performance from Anthony Head as the pair’s filthy, swaggering boss Stephen. “I know you all think I’m a sex-crazed old pervert,” he tells Alex. “But, you know, I’m more than that: I’m a pervert and a father.”

While it would be wrong to say this is the side-splitting show your entire life has been a prelude to seeing, it's half an hour well spent – and in the right hands, you can see Free Agents being chiselled into a watchable series. Thanks again, Comedy Showcase.


The Green Green Grass, Friday 8.30pm, BBC1

Posted by Alan Tyers

Preview rating:Three star rating
The Only Fools And Horses spin-off returns for a third series and it’s “as you were”. The show’s creator, John Sullivan, is joined on writing duty by his son Jim for three episodes this season.

The Green Green Grass (c) BBC In terms of believability, character development and quality of acting from all but the two leads, it’s most reminiscent of the Extras sitcom-within-a-sitcom When The Whistle Blows. Minor characters on GGG include a thick one, a gossipy one, an old one and so on. In this first episode, Boycie's minions pay to have his portrait done, the portrait is ludicrously rubbish, Boycie must destroy the portrait but make it look like an accident. That probably makes the plot sound more multi-layered than it is.

And yet… it's got Boycie in it and, really, he is still the tops.

One of TV's great caricatures, it’s no exaggeration to say his braying delivery is the stuff of legend. John Challis is a terrific character actor, and Sue Holderness as Marlene is no slouch, either. Everything else, sadly, is C+ fare.

But will British audiences ever tire of the comedy of the nouveau riche oik rising above his station? The answer is no, and so on we go. Perhaps in a few years, Jim Sullivan will pass the baton on to a son of his own...

SEE ALSO:
Only Fools & Horses robbery


The Armstrong and Miller Show, Friday 9pm, BBC1

Posted by Helen Jennings

Preview rating:Three star rating
It’s been 10 years since Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller first brought their double act to TV. The Armstrong and Miller Show attracted a cult viewing audience to Channel 4 for several series but the comedians decided to part company in 2001.

Armstong and Miller (c) BBC Since then they’ve both been doing rather well for themselves, thank you very much.  Ben starred in Steve Coogan’s film The Parole Officer, TV hits Johnny English and The Worst Week of My Life and also provided the voice of Monkey, the ITV Digital primate resurrected in the recent PG Tips adverts. Meanwhile Alexander has busied himself with Have I Got News for You, Life Begins, the quiz show Don't Call Me Stupid and, of course, those Pimms commercials.

But now they’re back together again and have been rewarded with a prime-time Friday night slot on BBC1. It doesn’t get any more mainstream than this – so can they still pull it off?

If their rehearsals are anything to go by, yes they can. New sketches include spoofs of Who Do You Think You Are? and Hell’s Kitchen, a dentist who tells inappropriate stories while attending to his patients and a pair of WWII pilots who talk like teenagers, thus:

Nazi officer: “I can and will use force to extract information from you.”
Pilot: “You actually can’t because that’s against the Geneva Convention, and s***.”

Together, their humour pokes fun at British society – and you’ll be relieved to hear they’re still fond of a swear word or two. The question is, after all these years, are they still prepared to strip off and bring back the infamous naked vets of Nude Practice? Watch and see.

SEE ALSO:
Russell Brand's top shocks


Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Wednesday 11.45pm, Channel 4

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating: Four star rating
If you think you're experiencing a feeling of déjà vu, well, that's exactly what it is. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has its Channel 4 debut tonight, almost three months after it first graced our screens on 4's sister channel, More4.

Perry and Whitford (c) Channel 4 2007Cards on table: I loved The West Wing so much I still have a framed picture of the cast hanging in my house. I’m not even joking. So it’s no surprise that I think Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the work of West Wing writer and creator Aaron Sorkin, is quality stuff. To be honest, he could hold a bogey in front of a camera for an hour and it would still be brilliant television.

As live show ‘Studio 60’ gets underway, executive producer Wes Mendell has a barney with some tight-ass network mogul who wants to ditch one of the show’s sketches. Mendell barges onto the set and embarks on a dialogue about how satire has been castrated by a cowardly network.

Inevitably, he gets fired and new company president Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet) drafts in a pair of hotshot gunslingers, Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, who instantly start rattling out brilliant lines. But it’s Peet who’s the big surprise. Reduced for years to playing bimbos in Hollywood crud like The Whole Nine Yards, she’s luminous as the sass-tastic company president who smiles at her quarry like she’s in love with them.

You can see why the Americans didn’t take to it - Sorkin’s trademark smart-talking script tries to convince you that media folk are articulate, likeable and funny, when everyone knows we’re all arrogant misanthropic scumbags. But as with The West Wing itself (what, you think the people who run the White House are all that brainy?), suspend your disbelief and you’re well away.

SEE ALSO:
Wogan defends "trouser bulge"
Top 10 most embarrassing chat show moments


Louis Theroux – Under the Knife, Sunday 9pm, BBC2

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating:Three star rating
Michael Moore may go after the pharmaceutical companies and the President himself, but Britain’s very own king of the documentarians is still best suited to tackling crazy Americans. Riddled as they often are with delusion and insecurity, Californian plastic surgeons and their patients are perfect material for Louis Theroux.

Louis Theroux (c) BBC 2007 There were some good moments in Under the Knife – the best, perhaps, being Louis’s encounter with Dr Nikolas Chugay and one of his “creations”, Steve. Chugay is a Russian in a pinstriped suit blessed with BobMonkhousian charm, not dissimilar to The Simpsons’ resident quack Dr Nick (“Heyllo everybaddy!”). And although Steve did appear younger than his 50 years, unfortunately he’d had so much plastic surgery, he also looked like a cross between Hugo Weaving and an alien.

Despite clearly feeling the need to tackle the question of whether cosmetic surgery is responsible for promoting vanity and a chase for unattainable perfection, Louis made no attempt to placate this possibly troubled individual, pointing to Steve’s overly round pectorals (okay, man-boobs) and asking, “Does the slightly feminine cast of that bother you?”

With such ripe subject matter, Louis didn’t always have to work very hard, but the programme’s climax saw that change as he underwent liposuction on his stomach. It was a bold move and paid off in two ways: firstly, the programme’s funniest moments took place mid-operation, and secondly Louis went home with, like, totally buff abs. Suck on that, Moore!


Ugly Betty, Friday 10pm, Channel 4

Posted by Alan Tyers

Our rating:Four star rating
Season two of Ugly Betty kicks off on Channel 4 tonight – just a week after the series resumed in the US, making a nice change from having to wait for months, desperately trying to avoid internet spoilers, as with other favourite American shows.

Ugly Betty (c) Channel 4 2007 The formula of the ugly duckling makin' it in the shallow, bitchy world of fashion magazines has been a winner, with star America Ferrera picking up the Best Comic Actress gong at the Emmys last month.

And Betty fans will be happy to know that show bosses have not meddled with the product: series two picks up, both in plot and in tone, exactly where season one ended.

Cliff-hangers including Daniel and Alexis's car crash, the shooting of Santos, Wilhelmina's scheming and others are dealt with in a fast-paced hour that's high on laughs.

Needless to say, no actor is ever knowingly undercamped and zingers fly, my favourite being Amanda's horrified realisation that her lover Daniel may be her brother:  "And that's the kind of dirty that don't wash clean."

Some of the cheese – Daniel's coma-side vigil over Alexis and Betty symbolically burying keepsakes from her relationship with Henry – might be a bit ripe for some tastes, but otherwise it's as you were, and fans will have no complaints.

One note of caution is sounded by the news that Victoria Beckham has been booked for a guest slot, to which I say: “Dahlings – sooo last year.”


Who's who in Ugly Betty >>

Ugly Betty's best bits >>


The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle, Thursday, 9pm, BBC2

Posted by Alan Tyers

Our rating:Three star rating
Jennifer Saunders' new show about a daytime TV talk-show host breaks a pretty solid comedy rule of thumb right from the off: the rule that if characters are given a funny name that describes their major personality trait, that character will not be funny.

Jennifer Saunders as Vivienne Vyle (c) BBC 2007But Vivienne is indeed vile, so whaddya gonna do? She is a calculating, cynical rotter whose show preys on society's weak-willed and mentally feeble and sprays their problems over the TV in the name of entertainment.

And as such, isn’t it marvellous timing that The Jeremy Kyle Show has been so in the news of late?

Saunders co-wrote the series with clinical psychologist Dr Tanya Byron (of Little Angels and House of Tiny Tearaways fame), and their combined experiences of the worlds of TV production and shrinkery make for a spot-on satire. Miranda Richardson is excellent as Vyle's flamboyant producer and there's a funny cameo from Fern Britton as herself.

The first couple of episodes skewer their twin targets – poor man's Oprah talk-shows, pop psychology – so effectively that it's almost too much. Which isn't to say that this is not a good programme: it’s a welcome return to form for Ms Saunders. It's just the thought of Jeremy Kyle jotting down ideas for his next show that makes the laughter catch in the throat…


See a clip of The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle below >>

Add video to your blog with Video uploader


Screen Wipe, Tuesday 10pm, BBC Four

Posted by Helen Jennings

Preview rating: Five star rating
The telly gods finally answered my prayers last night and returned Screen Wipe to BBC4. For the first in Charlie Brooker’s new series, the TV critic and all round misanthrope took recent media scandals – the BBC apologising for editing footage of the Queen to make it look like she stormed out of a photo shoot with Annie Leibovitz, various TV phone-in competitions that have defrauded viewers – as a spring board to expose the production trickery and outright lies that go into today’s TV. Exhibit A - Big Brother’s cleverly cut diary room confessionals. 

Smashtv_26sep07_rex_200And once he was done revealing the emperor’s lack of clothes, he took his own off, too, by admitting that footage from the last series of Screen Wipe that was supposedly shot in Los Angeles was actually mocked up in London. Naughty old Charlie.

He then actually dropped his trousers during a skit mocking the hit series Heroes and generally got stuck into the business of shouting, screaming and stomping his feet about Newsnight, Richard & Judy, The X Factor, road safety infomercials and, erm, squirrels.

Brooker’s venomous, sarcastic humour is so puerile I can’t read his Guardian column on public transport any more because I begin to weep and snort with laughter and people look at me funny. Yet he avoids coming across like Points of View-with-swear-words because of his disarming derision of himself along with the programmes he loves to hate.

He needs them as much as they don’t need him. And I need Charlie Brooker to continue to viciously bite the hand that feeds him like a grumpy dog left out in the rain.


Don’t Call Me Stupid, Tuesday 10pm, ITV

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating:Two star rating
Try and think of the most ridiculous celebrity pairing you can. And remember, you can’t have John McCririck and Edwina Currie. Or Janet Street-Porter and Paul Burrell. They’ve been done.

Shane Lynch and Germaine Greer (c) ITV 2007 Those in charge of casting for ITV’s Don’t Call Me Stupid, now four episodes in, have obviously had superfun dreaming up mindbending duos. The idea is that each takes turns to teach the other about their specialist subject before host Alexander Armstrong, in full ultra jovial Pimms o’clock mode, puts their newfound knowledge to the test.

Tonight it’s Celebrity Big Brother star, sorry, “revered feminist” Germaine Greer taking on former Boyzone singer Shane Lynch, aka “one of the ones who wasn’t Ronan Keating”. However, instead of taking the boring old topics of pop music and feminism, Lynch gets to teach Greer the nuts and bolts of car mechanics and Greer educates Lynch about, er, flowers. See what they did there? They reinforced gender stereotypes in the name of comedy! Unless it was supposed to be ironic, in which case, it’s probably fine.

While Shane and Germaine get on really well (who’da thought it, etc etc) the whole jolly caper is marred by the fact that, unlike your Wife Swaps or I’m a Celebritys, it’s hard to believe the pair really spent much time together. As for them both, by chance, getting identical scores on their respective quizzes, get me Ofcom on the phone.

Seriously, if you want funny pairings, switch over to BBC2 and watch Gavin and Stacey instead.


Flight of the Conchords Special, Tuesday 9.30pm, BBC4

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Preview rating: Five star rating
Comedy songs: good or bad? If this is a question that troubles you, as it does me, Flight of the Conchords should shove you into the “good” camp pretty violently.

Flight of the Conchords Describing themselves as “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk parody duo”, Jemaine and Bret started their career performing a range of very silly but very funny songs, none of which seem to be linked to each other in any way (they range from surreal fables about racist dragons to ditties written from the point of view of robots), except by being very funny.

The pair have since been given their own 12-part series, which has just finished airing in the US, a (scripted) musical comedy about their attempts to break America. It’s Peep Show meets Curb Your Enthusiasm – with songs! – and starts on BBC4 next week.

Before it does, though, tonight, we get this excellent live set. It features FotC’s Barry White-style seduction song, ‘Business Time’, which includes lines like, “Next thing you know we’re in the bathroom, brushing our teeth - that’s all part of it, that’s foreplay. Then you go sort out the recycling - that’s not part of it, but it’s still very important.” There’s also some surprisingly proficient but utterly ridiculous rapping in ‘Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros’ - “Other rappers dis’ me / Say my rhymes are sissy / Wh-wh-wh-why? Why? / Be more constructive with your feedback.”

Prepare to laugh, hard.


Saxondale, Thursday 9.30pm, BBC2

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Preview rating: Five star rating
Let’s just try to get through this without mentioning Alan Partridge, yeah? Whoops, too late. The second series of Steve Coogan’s latest comic creation is in full swing and Tommy Saxondale is proving to be just as entertaining as Radio Norwich’s third most popular DJ – and arguably more complex.

Saxondale (c) Wenn 2007Where Partridge was acutely about Coogan’s delivery, Saxondale’s a dialogue thing. The script’s so full of gems - “You’re a bit of a d*** sometimes, aren’t you?” “We’re all a bit of a d***. It’s the human condition” -  you can feel them passing you by, waving at you for being a slow-witted idiot. But in a good way, if that makes any sense.

Tonight’s episode sees pest controller Tommy returning to his old school. You may remember Alan Partridge also did this in series 2 of I’m Alan Partridge. But having seen the inventiveness on display so far, I’m guessing all similarities will end there.


Scrubs, Thursday 9pm, E4

Posted by Helen Jennings

Our rating: Four star rating
“If you are so stupid as to confront the Chief of Medicine over some quasi-offensive term, then you've just got to go ahead and replace the captain of your brain ship, because he's drunk at the wheel.”

This quotation is a perfect example of why I love Dr Cox. He’s the best thing about Scrubs by a country mile. Why? I’ll tell you why. He’s sarcastic and bitter. He rants and he raves. He’s incapable of emotional intimacy. He shoots hoops. He drinks heavily. Basically, he’s my kinda guy.

ScrubsAlthough technically the US medical comedy, now in its sixth season on E4, is focused on Zach Braff’s good-natured character JD, quite frankly his big, hapless face can be annoying sometimes, as can his moralising message at the end of each episode. Conversely, Dr Cox, played by seasoned actor John C McGinley (Platoon, Point Break, Se7en), is on a one-man mission to keep his feminine side and good nature well and truly buried where they belong – while he gets on with the business of being right all the time.

When he’s not calling JD girl and pet names (Bambi, Britney, Scooby etc.), he’s coming out with tirades like this, to his nemesis Dr Kelso: “They hate you, Bob. They hate you from the bottom of your hooves to the top of your pitchfork. They hate you, dear God, they hate you good.”

Or this, to JD: “Do you at least remember what you were doing the day they were passing out common sense? Oh gosh, maybe you were running late that day ‘cause you just couldn't find the right thong for those low-rider jeans that you just love so much, or maybe you were busy bopping along to whatever boy band really makes your heart race nowadays and you just drove on by.”

If only real life afforded such opportunities to be maniacally mean to your co-workers and get away with it. But real life isn’t like Sacred Heart hospital, where daydreams get acted out in absurd vignettes. So I’ll have to stick to getting my thrills through watching Dr Cox on Scrubs instead.


Gavin and Stacey, Tuesday 10pm, BBC2

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating: Four star rating
It really is a cracking little show, this. It’s hard to single out the best performance – as soon as you start with the “Rob Brydon’s brilliant…” stuff, you think, “Damn, what about Alison Steadman?” And then there’s Joanna Page and Mathew Horne as the sweet and sane central couple, James Corden as the jovial calamity-magnet best mate, Ruth Jones as the cynical sidekick. We could go on.

Gavin and Stacey (c) BBC 2007If that wasn’t enough, last night’s show – which involved the gang heading off to a wedding fair in preparation for the big day – had some memorable guest appearances. There was Matt Lucas’s stag weekend planner (the only words in his hilariously simple Powerpoint presentation were “Prague”, “p***-up” and “t**s”) and Brendan Patricks’ magician, whose extraordinary lack of enthusiasm was a sight to behold. Perhaps best of all was William Thomas, looking eerily like Gordon Brown, as a vicar, whose “God is like sandwiches” sermon was a great parody of those priests who’ve gone one trendy analogy too far.

“The point is,” he screamed, as Gavin refused to name his favourite sandwich filling, “That the bread is the Holy Spirit, the mayonnaise slash butter is the Father and the filling is the Son. We all like different fillings, but ultimately the bread remains a constant – just like God. But forget it, you’ve ruined it. NOW SIT DOWN!”

Apparently the BBC has commissioned a second series. I should think so too.


The IT Crowd, Friday 9.30pm, Channel 4

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating:Three star rating
Any IT Crowd newcomers who saw last week's series opener might have been a bit bemused, and understandably so. Why? For a start, it wasn't set in the office - instead the geeky computer department trio went on a farcical trip to the theatre. Oh, also: there weren't any laughs.

Denholm (c) Channel 4 2007 Luckily tonight's episode takes things back to base, as well as bringing a decent amount of funny. This has a lot to do with a pantomime-like turn from satire king Chris Morris as company boss Denholm, who starts the episode by proclaiming, brilliantly: "When I first started Reynholm Industries I had just two things: a dream, and six million pounds. Today I have a business empire the like of which the world has never seen the like of which."

Sadly, Morris's character dies shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, Moss works out Roy's"deathdate", using a website. Roy's not too happy about this - see the clip below.

Add video to your blog with Video uploader





Mayhem ensues, natch. It's an odd show - as if everyone involved has been told to exaggerate everything they do until it all becomes confusingly surreal. I still can't decide whether Richard Ayoade as Moss is absolutely dire or completely brilliant - his performance is so utterly wooden, it's like he's parodying acting itself. Ah well, Friday night - perhaps it's best just to get drunk and let it wash over you like a weird dream.


Star Stories, Friday 9.30pm, Channel 4

Posted by Brian Charles

Our rating: Four star rating
The third in the Star Stories series of celebrity spoofs is 'Syco Productions Present: Simon Cowell: My Honesty, My Genius' – and the ridiculous title is entirely in keeping with the immense ego of Simon Cowell, as portrayed by Kevin Bishop.

Kevin Bishop as Simon CowellLike the previous stabs at Tom Cruise and Take That, this episode absolutely rattles along through its half-hour slot, and it's very funny. The few jokes that do fall flat pass so quickly that it hardly matters, and there are lots of nice little sight gags using mocked-up magazine covers detailing Simon's triumphs.

The life history of the man who has given so much to music and television is all here, from the novelty records, through Sinitta, partnership with Simon Fuller and up to his merciless and seemingly never-ending succession of talent shows today.

And what a rap sheet it is. Records by The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and the stars of WWF, taking Robson and Jerome to the top of the charts, giving TV platforms to Sharon Osbourne and Piers Morgan…

These are serious crimes, and frankly it's fish-in-a-barrel time for writers as funny as these. A whole host of supporting characters in the Cowell life story, from a foul-mouthed Emu and Rod Hull to a viciously in-fighting Ant and Dec, as well as The Spice Girls, Take That and David Jason get the treatment. The Westlife parody is particularly funny.

Alex Woodhall plays Louis Walsh (Simon: "you're not a yes man, are you Louis?" Louis: "Yes." Simon: "Good.") as a simpering Leprechaun and that, along with the too-high trousers recurring joke, is perhaps not the most original comic stab.

No matter, it's a cracking show. But what good will it do, you wonder? Could even mockery as cruel as this ever hope to dent the titanium armour of Simon's self-regard or halt the juggernaut of his “talent” franchises? Of course not, but Star Stories has great fun trying.


Star Stories, Friday 9.30pm, Channel 4

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating: Three star rating
Or Take That: How our success was nothing to do with Robbie Williams, as it’s subtitled. Star Stories’ style of comedy will be nothing new if you’ve seen Lucas and Walliams’ excellent Rock Profiles or Avid Merrion’s slightly more annoying Bo’ Selecta! But despite that, it’s still got some funny moments.

Star Stories (c) Channel 4 2007Narrated by a Gary Barlow (Steve Edge) who bears little or no physical resemblance to the singer (as seems to be something of a Star Stories tradition), the story of the ultimate boyband’s rise, fall and re-rise is told with gleeful anti-Robbie Williams bias (“Angels was the breakthrough the little bastard needed”).

The jokes are a bit limited: Robbie Williams is fat. Gary Barlow is fat. Jason Orange is really posh. Mark Owen is a bit timid. Howard is only capable of Chewbacca noises. Actually, that last gag’s pretty funny. Basically, whether you find Star Stories amusing does depend a lot on whether you like laughing at people swearing in silly voices and the kind of dialogue that goes:

Robbie: “I just want longevity and respect.”
Gary: “Longevity and respect! Big words from a big fat bastard.”

Which personally, I do. Anyway, check out a recap of series 1 below and see what you think.

Add video to your blog with Video uploader


Little Britain Down Under, Friday 9pm, BBC1

Posted by Helen Jennings

Our rating: Two star rating
The last stand. The final curtain. So long, and thanks for all the memories. Matt Lucas and David Walliams tuck their Little Britain characters into bed with this fly-on-the-wall documentary about their sell-out tour of Australia. Well, at least I hope that’s the idea anyway. With another series of Little Britain looking unlikely as the pair get busy making a US version of the show for HBO instead, this programme gives the franchise one final squeeze.

Little Britain (c) BBC So they travel Down Under with a camera crew in tow to document all the action. Bawdy clips from their Melbourne gig pale in comparison to such off-stage magic moments as meeting Kath & Kim, Lou and Andy’s cameo in Neighbours and a perilous encounter with Dame Edna Everage.

It all makes jolly viewing for fans, as well as a fitting end to a tired TV concept. Like Reeves & Mortimer, The Office and Ali G before them, they captured the hearts of students across the land with their motley assortment of characters and catchphrases. But shouting “No but yeah but no”, “Computer says no” and “What a kerfuffle” at your mates only remains funny ha ha for so long – and as this documentary illustrates, they’ve been rolling out the same gags for a very long time. It’s time to stop. As Andy would say, I don't like it.


Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Thursday 10pm, More4

Posted by Will Parkhouse

Our rating: Four star rating
Cards on table: I loved The West Wing so much I still have a framed picture of the cast hanging in my house. I’m not even joking. So it’s no surprise that I think Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, the work of West Wing writer and creator Aaron Sorkin, is quality stuff. To be honest, he could hold a bogey in front of a camera for an hour and it would still be brilliant television.

Perry and Whitford (c) Channel 4 2007

As live show ‘Studio 60’ gets underway, executive producer Wes Mendell has a barney with some tight-ass network mogul who wants to ditch one of the show’s sketches. Mendell barges onto the set and embarks on a dialogue about how satire has been castrated by a cowardly network.

Inevitably, he gets fired and new company president Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet) drafts in a pair of hotshot gunslingers, Matthew Perry and Bradley Whitford, who instantly start rattling out brilliant lines. But it’s Peet who’s the big surprise. Reduced for years to playing bimbos in Hollywood crud like The Whole Nine Yards, she’s luminous as the sass-tastic company president who smiles at her quarry like she’s in love with them.

You can see why the Americans didn’t take to it - Sorkin’s trademark smart-talking script tries to convince you that media folk are articulate, likeable and funny, when everyone knows we’re all arrogant misanthropic scumbags. But as with The West Wing itself (what, you think the people who run the White House are all that brainy?), suspend your disbelief and you’re well away.


TV Heaven, Telly Hell, Monday 11.05pm, Channel 4

By Will Parkhouse

Our rating: Two star rating
Why do we need Sean Lock, exactly? The funniest thing about him is his face (those glasses are more amusing than ten of his gags) and even then, I’m not sure funny would be the word I’d use to describe it. Dickensian, maybe. Why isn’t he called Samuel Scritchenchild or Bernard Grimlyteeth or something?

Sean Lock and Jack Dee (c) Channel 4 2007Here, the serial panellist hosts a second series of Channel 4’s TV-only version of Room 101, in which guests pick their best and worst television shows and moan about them. Tonight ultra-dry stand-up, comic actor and Celebrity