BCG Daily Friday 29th August 2014

Mat Ricardo: Showman review

This gloriously old-fashioned celebration of the juggler harks back to the golden age of variety and vaudeville.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Tig Notaro, Neil Hamburger and Milton Jones.

Radio Times review

The first series of David Walliams's classroom sitcom launched to high hopes and high ratings. That might be because so many of us still have our fingers crossed that either Walliams or Matt Lucas will at some point recall, in a small way, the comic heights they reached in Little Britain.

Ratings slipped as people realised Big School wasn't the moment we could uncross our fingers, but is instead an old-fashioned, likeable enough, broadish sort of comedy full of familiar joke-teacher figures (the macho gym master, the intimidating head) and the odd good gag.

As a new term starts, Mr Church (Walliams) still holds a candle for Miss Postern (Catherine Tate) and at assembly, Frances de la Tour delivers a welcome speech: "As your headmistress, I offer you one word of friendly advice: cross me and I will destroy you."

Radio Times review

It's Thurnemouth Day, when the Norfolk seaside home of our 60-somethings celebrates its history. That means stolid Trevor (James Smith) donning a Nelson outfit to cut a ribbon and busybody Joyce (Alison Steadman) marshalling her choral society. "I think her goal is to take over every society in Thurnemouth," groans husband Alan. "And then invade Poland."

There are some easy-to-see-coming jokes and creaky bits of comedy based on awkwardness - wry smiles rather than laughs-out-loud - but when the likes of Smith and Philip Jackson as Alan get to underplay things, there's also the sense of a group of people who know themselves and each other almost too well, which could get interesting.

Peter Kay to switch on Blackpool illuminations tonight

Bolton comedy legend Peter Kay will be switching on the "big light" in Blackpool tonight.

Bridget Christie interview with Mark Lawson

Two years ago she delivered her standup routine to 10 people in a strip club. Now she's a star of the Edinburgh Fringe and touring the country. She talks biros, big families and why the new pope is 'bloody marvellous'.

The rise of the funny girls

More women stand-ups are making us laugh - and in many different ways says Sarah Crompton.

TV review: Big School

Comedy relies upon jokes, character, timing, misunderstandings, the suspension of disbelief - even banana skins. There is a huge bag of tricks in which the skilled comedy writer can rummage. Not on BBC1, though. A BBC1 comedy requires nothing more than familiar faces: just get a bunch of famous people on board and job's a good 'un.

David Walliams reveals his childhood heroes

The Little Britain star plays a hapless teacher now, but who influenced him when he was at school?

Big School Series 2 review - must try harder

Big School seems to trying to be too many different things and the comedy suffers as a consequence. It was more like a set of sketches badly stitched together.

Tom Stade interview

Decisions, Decisions - which comes to The Lowry for two nights from September 6 - is based around half a dozen key moments in Tom Stade's past that illustrate his lack of influence on life choices, and how decisions can be neither good or bad.

Cuckoo - Funeral episode review

The jokes that were decipherable you could see coming a mile off, like Dale's mistaken identity as Rafferty's lover, but others were either overly tired or totally confusing.

Burning questions for the stars

To celebrate the return of the show, we headed out to Elstree to hang out backstage with the boys - James Corden, Jack Whitehall, Jamie Redknapp and Freddie Flintoff - while they prepared for another show.