BCG Daily Saturday 15th March 2014

Olivia Colman and Tom Hollander on Rev.

With none of the otherworldly airs or whisky-soaked vices of stereotyped TV priests, this thoughtful comedy shows the day-to-day reality of a religious calling: 'It's f***ing hard!'

Q&A: Timothy Spall

The worst thing anyone's said to me? 'Sorry old boy, but you've got leukaemia'

What I see in the mirror: Stephanie Cole

'I don't have much vanity but, just occasionally, seeing yourself in a shop window can be debilitating'

Tim Key: living-room poetry jams to comedy ubiquity

Best known as Alan Partridge's Sidekick Simon, the self-proclaimed Single White Slut has found a keen audience for his weird, unsettling comedy.

Jonathan Creek, Ep. 5.3: Love, lamps and ladies' tights

Again Jonathan Creek starts the final episode, The Curse of the Bronze Lamp, out to dinner with more of their many village friends. This time they are an elderly trio with an interest in ornithology and gastronomy, or gastroenteritis for unfortunate Jonathan. Still it's not long before his belly has subsided and he's back on a case.

Billing is everything

A couple of stories from the world of comedy this week have attested to some of the do's and (mainly) don'ts of putting together a comedy bill. Promoters Mirth Control found themselves in hot water after they dumped comedian Jenny Collier from one of their nights. The reason, she was told, was that the venue thought there were too many female comics in the line-up.

Radio Times review

Another excellent cameo from Chris Morris as a ruthless inquisitor allows Stewart Lee to bask in his navel-gazing style from the get-go tonight. But satire is far from the "cry of the loser" in the first half of Lee's set. He's on top form with a biting take on Margaret Thatcher's death, tax and the current state of the political parties - garnering big laughs as well as the temporary mass liberal consensus he claims to strive for.

The standard slips a little in the second half, where he returns to hammer-it-home tactics to explain to us what satire is. Turns out it's the same as ordinary reality, "but with animals". It seems Lee has decided that animals are unequivocally funny, and so he's shoehorning them in at any opportunity. It works.

Seann Walsh interview

Seann Walsh prefers a lie-down to a stand-up.

Death Ship 666 interview

Gemma Hurley is behind Death Ship 666, which is being performed for the last time at the Leicester Square Theatre, in central London, on March 30.

Simon Munnery: Fylm - Review

There are wonderfully pithy one-liners, and every idea is so original that you can only stand in awe of the fertile comic brain that created it, even when scenes veer to the indulgent or the curiously precise.

Review: The final instalment of this lacklustre series

It's fair to say that this current run of Jonathan Creek hasn't delivered in terms of quality or consistency.

Opinion: How true does comedy have to be?

Miranda Hart has come in for criticism this week from reviewers who felt that some of her jokes in her arena show did not ring true.

Jonathan Creek once again tops Friday night ratings

Jonathan Creek was Friday's (March 14) highest-rated TV show outside of soaps for the third week running.

Jonathan Creek series 5 episode 3 review

Jonathan Creek concludes its fifth series with a satisfying, comic noodle-scratcher.

John Kearns explains his outrageous comedy

John Kearns doesn't over-analyse his act. Audiences enjoy the shrill Cockney whine he's adopted, so he keeps it, simple as that.

Forget Family Guy, save Bluestone 42 say BBC3 viewers

The homegrown bomb disposal comedy Bluestone 42 and zombie drama In The Flesh are the two shows viewers most want to avoid the axe in a poll of RadioTimes.com users.

Comedy review: Robin Cairns

This latest outing for poet and comedian Robin Cairns' prissy Edinburgh resident Morningside Malcolm, part of the Glagow Comedy Festival, is a rascally and undemanding bit of fun with Central Belt stereotypes.