BCG Daily Friday 31st January 2014

Mark Steel's in Town - radio review

Few comedians could get away with swipes at London's mini India in front of the people who live there - but then Mark Steel does do it with real affection and self-deprecating charm.

Review: Aisling Bea, Soho Theatre

Young Irish actress and comic Aisling Bea made a tremendous debut with C'est la Bea at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, where she was deservedly nominated for best newcomer in the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Awards. Now she is performing a short run at the Soho Theatre in London and, on second view, it's still a joyously funny show.

John Cleese interview

Why the latest Monty Python show will be a new experience for John Cleese.

Radio Times review

Caroline Quentin doesn't like control pants and wants them dumped in Room 101 as her most hated aspect of the Modern World. You can tell by the reaction of the women in the audience that they feel the same way about being "crammed into Lycra... I've been subjected to these for years."

Meanwhile the tiresomely provocative German comedian Henning Wehn, who has bafflingly been taken to the bosom of Radio Four and both BBC One and BBC Two, judging by the number of times he appears on panel shows, hates anything to do with fundraising. And Michael Ball is fed up with being sent teddy bears by fans: "I've got enough now, I don't need any more."

Radio Times review

After some necessary spadework last week to set up the new series, now creator/star Ruth Jones pens one of the show's funniest ever episodes. Every scene brims with jokes, malapropisms ("Your dad is as strong as an egg!"), hilarious images and fruity phrasing. Aunty Brenda is in particularly searing form, struggling with her hippy daughter ("Me and 'er father split up when she was ten - she's been a road accident ever since"), questioning the integrity of the scales at Blubber Busters, and holding tense, tough negotiations with Dai about the launch of their new coach-hire company. Dai Davies, not Dai Cosh.

There's new blood, too: Sherlock star Yasmine Akram joins the cast as Jagadeesh and Tanisha's plain-speaking niece, while Jonathan Ross appears as himself in one of Stella's HRT-fuelled sex dreams.

Radio Times review

It's not long ago that Matthew McConaughey had become a byword for lightweight romantic comedies and going shirtless at every opportunity. But the role that recently won him a Golden Globe was lightweight in the literal sense: McConaughey shed three stone to play a rodeo cowboy dying of AIDS in The Dallas Buyer's Club.

The award put the icing on a remarkable return to the Hollywood A-list and tonight he discusses his comeback with Graham Norton while Alan Davies provides comedy cover and Sheryl Crow provides music.

Birds of a Feather down but still top on Thursday

Birds of a Feather stayed on top of the ratings outside of soaps on Thursday, according to overnight data.

Babylon: Danny Boyle returns to TV to mock the police

What happens when the makers of Trainspotting and Four Lions train their sights on the Met for a Channel 4 comedy drama?

MTV UK eyes Brian Belo reality TV dramedy Team Panache

Brian Belo's latest TV effort is close to landing with a UK broadcaster. I've learned that Team Panache, a dramedy series set in the world of reality television - an arena where Belo has experience, being a former Big Brother winner and having just recently settled a lawsuit over The Only Way Is Essex with Lime Pictures and ITV - is close to being laid off at MTV UK.

How long can Jim Davidson stay out of trouble?

He has been written off as racist, sexist and a homophobe but the unrepentant old-school comic will now be offered a return to peak-time television by his new benefactors at Channel 5.

Frank Skinner: My comedy hero... Lenny Bruce

Frank Skinner has spoken to Digital Spy about the impact his comedy hero, the American Lenny Bruce, has had on his life.

Russell Brand suing The Sun on Sunday

Russell Brand is suing The Sun on Sunday for printing allegations that he cheated on girlfriend Jemima Khan.

How Sharon Rooney transformed teen TV

How My Mad Fat Diary, E4's hit show chronicling the life of a teenage girl with mental health issues, struck a chord with viewers.

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton interview

"When Gemma Arterton said yes, we were quite surprised, because she's a big movie star. She just said, 'Well I don't read scripts like this' and that made us feel very excited."