BCG Daily Wednesday 19th February 2014

A subtle treat with a deliciously sour edge

Do we really hate it when our friends become successful? I'd taken Morrissey's anthem as a given but then along come Doll & Em (Sky Living) playing all sorts of smart comedy games with the gives and takes that make up any relationship.

Doll & Em, Sky Living - TV review

This best-friends-in-Hollywood comedy needs to cut closer to the bone.

Are the BBC about to axe House of Fools?

Rumours are abound that the duo's first ever studio sitcom will come to an end after just one series following a rapid decline in ratings.

Radio Times review

The No 9 we visit this week is the flat of Tom (Reece Shearsmith), a primary school teacher whose disdain for hard work contrasts with his sunny, beautiful girlfriend Gerri (Gemma Arterton) and her efforts to make it as an actress. Tom keeps peeking scornfully out of the window at a homeless man in the street, until circumstance brings the vagrant, Migg (Steve Pemberton), into the flat while Gerri's away on a job. The gimmick of the show is that we never leave No 9, and maybe the persuasive Migg won't, either.

By halfway you'll have confidently announced where it's going, but Shearsmith and Pemberton give their story of how we're all one slip away from the gutter a chilling sense of rising dread. Nobody plays wicked games with the audience more skilfully.

Radio Times review

Given the choice between going camping with Ben (it's on Pete's "50 things to do with your kids before they become teenagers" list) and almost anything else, you'd think the latter would be the preferable option. But although Ben catches some unfortunate doggers in the traps he's set, he does manage to bond with his dad while they're being Bear Grylls in the woods.

Sue has no such luck. She's alarmed that Karen has body issues fuelled by the skinny Stacey, who is happily oblivious to the effect rhapsodising about diets and plastic surgery has on a young girl. Makes a night in a tent with Ben seem downright attractive.

Radio Times review

A new series from Johnny Vegas's Woolyback Productions is always something to look forward to, and this neat little delight from podcast comics Tim Barnes and Simon Berry fulfils that promise.

It looks at how momentous events in history would have been reported through the prism of social media, starting with the Moon landing. Though it captures with a sly wink the vacuity and self-promotion inherent in any timeline, almost the first hashtag used, for a picture of a cat with its head stuck in an upturned fishbowl, had me grinning like an idiot.

The general population of tweeters might get it in the neck, but so do monolithic corporations trying to take advantage of the social media audience - the embedded BBC vox pop video is a perfect pastiche of the punning, plummy-voiced reporters of the 1960s venturing out among the masses.

Obviously with such a global event on social media, there is only way for the programme to end - with the aural equivalent of a whale on your screen. Typical.

Radio Times review

The English language receives a shakedown as Milton Jones exercises his word play to left-field extremes that make Lewis Carroll seem tame. Sometimes it is a simple description - like calling a church "a huge stone refrigerator" - that sets his mind wandering. But when he starts playing with the sound and meaning of words, the fun really starts.

In this opening episode he decides to launch a wedding business, but for Jones a groom is someone who works with horses, not a husband-to-be. The comic and dramatic support from Tom Goodman-Hill, as Milton's long-suffering flatmate, is invaluable and there are some particularly fine moments in a running theme about the bride looking like Robert De Niro. Their attempts to work De Niro film titles into every conversation with her are superb.

Radio Times review

An unusual venture from Paul Whitehouse, who co-wrote and co-stars in this new series about a community psychiatric nurse's working day and the clients she visits in their homes. I struggled with Whitehouse's voice as the first client, which sounds like he is pinching his nostrils together as he talks, but the character he is playing soon shifts from being a silly voice to a heartfelt examination of loneliness. I think this series is a slow burner that will warm us with familiarity.

My Family will never return, says Robert Lindsay

Robert Lindsay has ruled out the possibility of a My Family comeback.

Women on panel shows - have I got views for you

After noticing Jimmy Carr seemed to be on more panel shows than all Britain's women comics put together, I wondered who was to blame.

Are some comedians not worth seeing again?

I went to see a show in recent months that I was disappointed by. Before I went, I was told by the act's reps that it was a surprise that I had picked the show for review as I had not responded well to previous work by them.

Academics making us laugh? You're joking!

It is not only professional comedians making people laugh at this year's Leicester Comedy Festival - academics are having a go, too.

Review: The Comedy of Errors, Theatre Royal

It's very pantomimic. Actors relate to, without picking on, individuals in the stalls; and in an evening of high slapstick, there's that frying-pan sound every time someone gets hit, which is often.

UK Women in Comedy Festival to return

Organiser Hazel O'Keefe today confirmed that the festival will be back for two weeks this October at comedy venues across the North West.

Video - Andrew Sachs: Brand & Ross stunt 'disgusting'

Andrew Sachs has been speaking about the so-called Sachsgate affair, in which Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand left lewd messages on his answer machine in 2008.

American version of Getting On given a 2nd series

HBO has renewed the comedy Getting On for a second season.

Girls for the 40-something generation?

Two best friends find their relationship tested when Emily, a successful British actress in Hollywood, employs Dolly as her personal assistant in the first of the six-part series Doll & Em.

Ant & Dec vs Celebrity Juice: What happened?

So what's Celebrity Juice like behind the scenes? In all honesty, it's totally chaotic.

Outnumbered series 5 episode 4 review: The Gap Year

The Gap Year was a bit of a missed opportunity in some ways but it was still funny. Inferior to The Goddaughter last week, maybe, but it was good, packed with tongue-in-cheek humour (when is Outnumbered ever not?), some memorable scenes and stronger (yes, I'll be banging on about this for a while yet) characterisation.

Horrible Histories cast film Bill on Teesside beach

Marske beach will play a starring role in Bill, a new film based on the playwriter's life.

Outnumbered review: The older kids just aren't as funny

It's right that the once brilliant BBC1 comedy about hapless parents and their naughty children is bidding farewell, says Ben Dowell.

Alexei Sayle on 35 years in the business

Today's stand-up scene has lost almost all links to the revolutionary spirit that first launched alternative comedy, Alexei Sayle has claimed.

Ben Van der Velde fights election on pro-busking ticket

Comedian Ben Van Der Velde is to fight in May's local election for the Green Party.

Daily Mail confuses Bridget Christie with King Charles

Can you spot the difference between Charles II and a stand-up comedian? Because the Daily Mail can't!

What qualifies us to be script readers?

People are often asking what qualifies us to read their scripts.

Inside No. 9 Episode 3: 'Tom and Gerri' review

With sterling support from Gemma Arterton and Conleth Hill as the most important people in Tom's life, this is a tightly scripted half hour that has much in common with a stage play.

Matt Hollins review

While Matt Hollins' 2014 set is not quite a barrel of laughs, it's not to say a tweak here or there wouldn't considerably change matters.