BCG Daily Friday 28th February 2014

Bluestone 42 jokes worthy of Carry On Up The Khyber

Bluestone 42 is a funny beast in that it's a comedy that doesn't make me laugh but I still enjoy it and find funny it in a Carry On kind of way.

Debut stand-up tour puts Miranda Hart on the spot

Nation's pratfaller-in-chief gambles on shift from eponymous sitcom and Call the Midwife to live show in UK's largest arenas.

Passengers enjoy comedy on the train

Weary train passengers had their spirits lifted when a group of comics boarded a London to Glasgow service.

Paul Sinha - how I write comedy

Paul Sinha reveals that he never actually writes anything down. Sound ridiculous? Read on ...

Why we love Jonathan Creek

After waiting nearly a year Jonathan Creek is set to return to our screens tonight with a brand new series. And I couldn't be happier.

Radio Times review

David Renwick beckons us back into the world of his reluctant detective for the first new series in a decade. And what a horribly strange world it is, full of knowing puzzles and macabre games.

Creek's new wife Polly (Sarah Alexander) is less than keen: "I sometimes wonder, Jonathan, exactly what I married! Free admission for life to the twilight zone?"

This first instalment is typically high black comedy. The main story revolves around an actress in a West End musical (listen out for some fine pastiche Lloyd Webber) who is stabbed in her dressing room, while locked inside - the victim of a seemingly impossible crime.

But that case is just a frame on which to hang all sorts of other treats and tricks, including a lovely bit with a young would-be detective who makes a string of Sherlock-style deductions... that are completely wrong.

It's great fun, and the story becomes like an ingenious music box packed with little clockwork mechanisms. There's a grinning corpse, a mystery letter, a demonic child and a nasty moment with a tuba that is pure, horrible Renwick.

Radio Times review

Too often panellists on this show are allowed to cite bugbears that seem a bit bland. Here the pet hates, for instance, include online passwords and acceptance speeches at awards ceremonies. Fine, yeah, but a bit obvious, surely? It's much better when they choose everyday irritations that you hadn't quite consciously realised annoyed you, but do.

For instance, when former Spice Girl Mel C bemoans the profusion of different types of toothpaste - not too many brands, but too many varieties within each brand, called things like Whitening, Cavity Protection, Freshening, Sensitive, Gum Health and so on. It's a pressing issue, I'm sure you'll agree, now Mel has pointed it out.

As is Adam Hills' pet hate: abs. Yes, he's calling time on the cult of the six pack, and we can all thank him for that.

Radio Times review

Not as many funny lines as usual in this episode, although Yasmine Akram is overplaying it nicely as Parvadi, the dangerously bored and randy assistant in her uncle's convenience store. Oh, and the rivalry between business partners Aunty Brenda and Dai Davies is becoming obsessively bitter, to the point where only murder or fiery sex can resolve the tension. Either would be scary.

Mainly, though, we're tracking the twin romances of Emma and Marcus, an unlikely workplace fling that's moving too quickly, and Stella and Michael. A lovely set piece sees her save him from embarrassment at a corporate do. The chemistry between Ruth Jones and Patrick Baladi, both unshowily nailing the subtleties of their characters, is a joy.

Alan Davies interview

Jonathan Creek returns - and when he isn't solving fiendish crimes, Alan Davies is relaunching his stand-up career.

Richard Herring: I'm putting my comedy online

Having struggled over the years to get my ideas accepted by radio and TV commissioners and, even when successful, then failing to get the best jokes past the cat-anus, penile-meatus, rock-sucking censors, I've enjoyed the autonomy and freedom of web-based comedy.

Dara O Briain defends panel show comments

Dara O Briain has set the record straight on his recent comments concerning the BBC's ban on all-male panel shows.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Austentatious, Bobby Mair and Brett Goldstein.

The 5 best episodes from Alan Davies's detective

Jonathan Creek is back and this time he's sticking around for a little while.

Lack of women on panel shows not terrible, but matters

Being the only woman on a seven-strong panel on a TV show is importantly similar to being the one woman in seven in the House of Commons - and if we can't fix the trivial issues, the important ones will be even harder.

Jonathan Creek, series 5, episode 1, review

As a lateral-thinking solver of seemingly impossible crimes, Jonathan Creek has been eclipsed by Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock.

Daniel Kitson: Analog.Ue, National Theatre, review

Daniel Kitson uses old-fashioned recording technology to piece together a reflective, witty and wondrous performance all about making connections.

Review: Love letters, locked rooms and some lame gags

There were a few messy resolutions and a few more coincidences, still, I'm looking forward to episode two already.

Jonathan Creek return sparks wave of Twitter excitement

Excitement has reached fever pitch for the return of BBC One detective drama Jonathan Creek.

Opinion: In praise of The Office

I remember exactly where I was when I first saw The Office. In the office. Twelve years ago this spring, an advance VHS - remember those? - arrived. I'd like to boast that I immediately spotted a classic. What I actually spotted was a quite funny workplace-based sitcom starring the politically incorrect bloke from Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show.

Jonathan Creek series 5 episode 1 review

Unfortunately the main problem with The Letters of Septimus Noone is the writing itself.

Daniel Kitson - a legend in his own lifetime?

When I wrote about Bill Hicks last week, in advance of the 20th anniversary of his death, I indicated that he was probably the best comedian I had ever seen and that I wasn't sure if I would witness anyone better. Before I wrote that I did have to weigh up the experience of seeing Daniel Kitson.

Has Jonathan Creek lost its magic?

Is the BBC One mystery drama as good as ever? Or has it lost its spell over viewers? Critics Ben Dowell and David Brown have their say.

Omid Djalili interview

The saddest time that shook Omid Djalili's world? Watching 9/11. 'I noticed a change of attitude towards me because of my Middle-Eastern appearance' says comedian.

Ricky Gervais: Satire, Celebrity and the Muppets

Comedian and writer Ricky Gervais likes to make fun of celebrities-and, sipping a latte during a recent interview, he is true to form.

Ivo Graham, Soho Theatre - comedy review

In his debut show, Binoculars, the posh, boyish 23-year-old extracts plenty of humour, albeit sometimes clichéd, out of his youth.

Andrew Lawrence: I lost control just before big TV gig

Andrew Lawrence says there is no escape from his latest show. He talks about broken hearts and broken computers.

Jonathan Creek: The Letters of Septimus Noone - review

Alan Davies slips back into the title role more easily than he sits on a pony. As his wife Polly, Sarah Alexander brings a sprightly canter to an old dobbin of a show. If anything it's the audience - especially those who weren't wearing their rose-tinted glasses - who'll have felt the most out of place.

Jonathan Creek loses some of its original magic

Ultimately I feel that the once great Jonathan Creek has lost its way and the latest incarnation of the character is a step in the wrong direction.

Jonathan Creek review

Not bad for the first episode back for Creek although the forced jokes were too much like disguised exposition.

Further previews of I Can't Sing! cancelled

Further previews of X Factor musical I Can't Sing! have been cancelled, with producers blaming an "integral" part of the set that is not currently working properly.

Inside No. 9 review

It helps that Pemberton and Shearsmith are such accomplished actors (so complete are their performances, they seem hardly to be acting at all) and that they've signed up so many excellent actors to co-star. Yet it's the writing that's most amazing: the sheer mechanics of the thing.

Return of Jonathan Creek: why do we love it so much?

Nearly seventeen years after the first episode aired, Alan Davies' duffel-coated sleuth is shuffling back onto our screens.

Daniel Kitson - a legend in his own lifetime?

He's managed his own fame and cultivated his audience with carefully-chosen venues, avoidance of TV and cross-fertilisation into theatre with his storytelling. But why exactly do his faithful followers keep coming back for more?

Tim Key interview: A slut in the bedroom

We get into bed with the Edinburgh Comedy Award award-winning poet ahead of his new show, Single White Slut.

Tim Key introduces a poem you can personalise

The multi award-winner pens a poem exclusively for Time Out.

Tim Key's poems in pictures

A gallery of Tim Key's poems, written on the back of (often filthy) playing cards.

Carly Smallman: How to cope with hecklers

Carly Smallman discusses dealing with unwanted attention on stage.

James Mullinger: How to do stand-up (with a day job)

James Mullinger explains how he got his start as a stand-up, even though he had another full time job...