BCG Daily Wednesday 5th March 2014

Stephen Fry to narrate same-sex wedding for Channel 4

Stephen Fry is set to narrate a musical broadcast of one of the UK's first same-sex weddings since the equal marriage bill passed.

Should there be a quota for women on panel shows?

The BBC recently declared that all-male panel shows are a thing of the past, but when it comes to the casual misogyny of shows like 8 Out of 10 Cats, should we be happy about appearing on them at all?

Preview: Outnumbered finale

The kids are now capable of sorting things out even better than their parents.

Radio Times review

"I think we've finally got to a point where they're all, you know, OK," says a more-baffled-than-usual Pete - because something very odd has happened to the three Brockman teenagers.

Almost overnight they've turned into nice, sensible, reasonably mature human beings. Karen is politely offering to make tea and biscuits for everyone, Jake sensibly stands up to the neurotic Auntie Angela who's arrived with yet another toy boy in tow (she met this one at Sunday school, of all places), while Ben suddenly shows his hitherto undiscovered sensitive side.

"There's the answer to all our problems - just let the kids sort it out," says Sue in a real light-bulb moment as, after a watch-through-your-fingers finale involving the school's surreal production of Spartacus, the show comes to a very neat and tidy end.

Radio Times review

The biggest challenge Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have set themselves, with this anthology of one-off dark comedies, has been pouring a new story into the pint pot that is half an hour of TV. They manage it with panache here, in another fable of the unforeseeable that gallops unerringly to a horrible conclusion.

Pemberton is a boorish, bitter stage actor taking the lead in the Scottish Play. He's dismissive of his co-stars, the audience and particularly his meek understudy Jim (Shearsmith). But Jim's fiancée isn't willing to let her other half stay stuck in the wings...

It's a magnificent meta-Macbeth, full of daggers before and spots that damn. Knowing the text will take you only halfway and, in any case, the clever plot is really just a vehicle for characters sketched fully in only a few lines, and a torrent of fruity luvvie gags about jealousy, superstition and stage-hogging hams. Delicious.

Curtain up on The Oxford Comedy Festival

How many comedians does it take to hold a festival? We'll find out at the end of this month when Oxford holds its first such laughfest.

QI: some quite interesting facts about Neanderthals

A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week: QI hangs with the hominids.

Would the BBC be Cuckoo to say Nighty Night to BBC3?

When I heard the news that there was talk of BBC Three being axed to save the corporation £90 million per year my immediate thought was 'here we go again, more corporate codswallop like the thing about axing BBC 6Music'. BBC Three has given us some great comedy over the years, from Little Britain and The Mighty Boosh to Nighty Night, Pulling and, most recently, Uncle. How could the BBC possible entertain even the slightest thought of turning off the channel. But then I thought about it a bit more. BBC Three has also given us Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps and F*** Off, I'm A Hairy Woman. It is a channel with an identity crisis.

Frankie Boyle writing Radio 4 sitcom

Frankie Boyle is poised to return to the BBC, less than a year after its comedy chief claimed his controversial tweets would make a comeback difficult. Boyle has co-written the pilot of a 'depraved farce' for Radio 4 with fellow stand-up and long-time collaborator Steven Dick.

Fawlty Towers dining experience at Royal Albert Hall

Royal Albert Hall will play host to a pop-up interactive show based on the popular 1970s TV series.

Outnumbered: the last ever episode, BBC One, review

I have brought up my children in the time frame of Outnumbered and that is exactly what I hope for them. As it drew to a close, with Spartacus an eccentric and unlikely triumph, I had a tear in my eye as I said goodbye to one of the funniest and most truthful of family sagas.

Outnumbered finale, review

Strained relations provide more laughs as the Brockmans bow out.

Outnumbered series 5 finale review: The Musical

It was a lovely series about the ups and downs of family life that was always funny, inventive and, for those who live or have lived in a home akin to the Brockman's, very true. With star performances from all the regulars and laughs abound, there was rarely a dud episode. Frankly, there won't be a series quite like it.

Interview: Tom Wrigglesworth

Tom Wrigglesworth tells us about about his granddad and his experience of doing a personal comedy show.

Outnumbered: 16 of the best moments

As we prepare to say goodbye to the Brockman family, look back over five hilarious seasons of the BBC One improvised family comedy.

Heydon Prowse: Save BBC Three

BBC Three allowed Heydon Prowse to take his satirical collective Don't Panic from the internet to national TV - and win a Bafta in the process. He argues that the loss of the channel to cost-cutting would be a disaster for the youth of the UK.

Review: It's more like Top Gear with geeks

An audience of maths students looked on, scribbling on their notepads. It was like Top Gear with geeks. Dara O Briain had the advantage of a degree in maths and theoretical physics, but guests Peter Serafinowicz and Kevin Bridges looked completely bewildered.

Martin Mor interview

An accidental Manchester resident for more than 20 years, comedian Martin Mor says the best gags are told in the tiny clubs.