Alison Graham

Radio Times review

Rumbling Russell Crowe joins Jonathan Ross to talk about his directorial debut, The Water Diviner, about an Australian farmer setting out to find the bodies of his three sons who died at Gallipoli. No one will put him off (of course), not even snooty Brits.

Also on the sofa is Elizabeth Hurley, talking about her new US drama The Royals, which looks absolutely hilarious, though I'm not sure it's meant to be funny; and Downton Abbey's Lady Rose, Lily James twinkles by to talk about playing Cinderella in a new Disney film. Don't stay after midnight, Lily!

Best of all, the comedy corner is occupied by David Mitchell, and music comes from brilliant disco funksters Chic.

Radio Times review

Miles Jupp's comedy In and Out of the Kitchen is an occasional pleasure on Radio 4, where it works perfectly; it's a small, quiet, irresistibly intimate bourgeois sitcom centred on writer/creator Jupp's precious food writer Damien Trench and his easy-going boyfriend Anthony (Justin Edwards).

The translation to television in this brief (three-episode) series isn't particularly comfortable, maybe because the alchemy of some shows just works better on radio.

But never mind, it's always a pleasure to meet Trench, a self-absorbed foodie snob who's appalled by supermarkets, trendy restaurants and overly familiar waiters. As we join the Trench household, Damien is agonising about baking a cake for his builders and re-adjusting his principles to write a column for a "Waitburys" magazine. "I write it, they print it, no funny business," he instructs his agent.

Radio Times review

In the publicity blurb, guest Stephen Fry is described as "the nation's favourite polymath" (because our nation has so many polymaths). But we should add the words "newly married" after Fry wed his partner Elliott Spencer.

In his first television appearance since the wedding, Fry will doubtless give us all the details of a very low-key ceremony at a Norfolk register office. The occasion was marked by Fry on Twitter as "Gosh. Elliott Spencer and I go into a room as two people, sign a book and leave as one."

Also on the sofa are Andrew Flintoff, star of Sky 1's Lord of the Fries (oh dear) where the cricketer takes a chip van around the country, and comedian Kevin Hart.

Radio Times review

It's Gillian's wedding day as the series ends, and she won't leave the bathroom. It could be a last-minute fluttering of bride-to-be panic or it could be something deeper.

Of course, this is Last Tango, written by Sally Wainwright, so it's something much deeper than whether that charmless oaf Robbie is really the man for Gillian. And don't go expecting one of those soapy, pragmatic bits of plotting where we are left wondering will she?/won't she? just for the sake of it. Gillian (brilliant Nicola Walker) has much she needs to get off her chest and she offloads on a woman who's become a good friend, Caroline (Sarah Lancashire, also brilliant).

I love the conversations between these two - sometimes hesitant, always revealing, as they share the stuff of their souls. Gillian is weary of being dumped on by her family, while Caroline carefully puts her grief to one side to offer wise counsel.

Radio Times review

The tiny band of women who make up the Banbury Intricate Craft Circle Politely Request Women's Suffrage group think it's time to increase their number.

Gung-ho leader Margaret (Jessica Hynes, who created and co-writes Up the Women) has planned a rousing speech aimed at the village's downtrodden women workers. But none of them turns up to hear her rallying cry.

I can see that Up the Women's heart is in the right place, and it means well, but its few laughs are superficial and it feels underpowered. Still, the cast, notably the ever-splendid Judy Parfitt, a star of the memorable 1974 Suffragette drama Shoulder to Shoulder, here playing a mischievously lascivious aristo, has a high old time.

Radio Times review

I suppose this suffragette sitcom should be described as "gentle", meaning "it's not very funny but watching it won't kill you". It started life on BBC Four back in 2013 and now comes to BBC Two, where it remains a solid, old-fashioned, one-set, studio-bound comedy centred upon the 1910 Banbury Intricate Craft Circle Politely Request Women's Suffrage group.

Their well-meaning leader Margaret (Jessica Hynes, also co-writer) urges her little band of friends to go on hunger strike in sympathy with their imprisoned sisters. But Margaret becomes obsessed by the very thought of "buns", while Gwen (Vicki Pepperdine, unrecognisable with a set of rabbity teeth) brings industrial quantities of cheese to the village hall.

Radio Times review

Caroline has to adapt to her dramatic new family circumstances and she's finding it hard, but for once her mum Celia is kind and sympathetic. Of course, Celia refused to attend her daughter's wedding to Kate, but life ebbs and flows, and grievances can't be nursed for long.

Writer Sally Wainwright is so gifted and assured when it comes to calling out to our emotions: no one is more precise at picking apart the mechanics of relationships, particularly relationships between women. She's blessed with a great cast and there are some scenes tonight between Anne Reid and Sarah Lancashire (Celia and Caroline) that will take away pieces of your heart.

But Last Tango isn't just about a mother and daughter; it's about the trials of a big extended family, including Gillian (Nicola Walker), who's about to take a big leap.

Radio Times review

Newlyweds Caroline and Kate are so happy together, even Celia's small-mindedness can't dent their celebrations.

But of course, life has a nasty way of upsetting everyone's plans; Celia is increasingly stubborn while Alan, the old softie, is caught between mother and daughter, and just can't get it right. Besides, he has problems enough of his own with his unforgiving wife.

Sally Wainwright's drama treads into some dark territory as both families struggle to deal with the unwelcome and the unexpected. But there are shocks around the corner that will test everyone. It's one of Wainwright's great talents, making sure we are comfortable thinking we know how it's all going to work out, then she throws a bucket of cold water at us, leaving us shivering and wailing, "Why did she do that?"

Radio Times review

Writer Roy Clarke's revisiting of the beloved Ronnie Barker vehicle is completely timeless, which is doubtless part of its appeal. There are no crude 21st-century technological innovations in that little corner shop in Yorkshire, it could be set in any year from the 1930s.

There's also a pervading feeling of a cosy community of the type that probably either doesn't exist or never did exist, as a series of oddballs passes through the doors of Arkwright's stores. Mrs Dawlish (Vicki Pepperdine) is the comedy nuisance here, a snobby local who's taken aback that such an old-fashioned corner shop is still flourishing.

But there are signs that Granville (David Jason) is modernising - he wants to open a coffee shop!

Radio Times review

Spirited buffoon Count Arthur Strong returns to wade through more malapropisms with his pals from the scruffy café. Arthur, a former actor long past his glory days, carries on like an actor playing himself in a film of his life. He's an acquired taste, a Radio 4 staple where he was adored and derided equally, and now a television presence, whose first series two years ago didn't trouble a mass audience.

This is all irrelevant, of course, if you find Arthur (created and played by Steve Delaney) a joyously funny poltroon very much in the vein of Harry Worth. As we return, Arthur's friend Michael (smashing Rory Kinnear) arrives after six months in Yorkshire, suffering from writer's block. And he finds that Arthur has written a "racist" novel, a "Fifty Crates of Plates for the over-70s".