Andy Murray (I)

Limmy interview: daft punk

In Scotland he's a national hero up there with Andy Murray, and now he's the name on everyone's lips in London. Here are six things you need to know about Limmy, the man behind the comedy book of the year.

Radio Times review

When this show first aired ten years ago - back when Twitter didn't exist, David Cameron was Shadow Education Secretary and Andy Murray was outside the world's top 400 - it didn't look like much. Yet another panel show, and an unprepossessing mix of Have I Got News for You and Whose Line Is It Anyway? to boot - surely it wouldn't go on to be one of TV comedy's most reliable ratings bankers?

Well, it did - and now it's back for a triumphant 14th series, with Dara O Briain still in charge and a roster of strong comics, old and new: Katherine Ryan, James Acaster, Matt Forde and Josh Widdicombe join hoary regulars Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons.

Newzoids is, of course, a curate's egg. As was Spitting Image when it started, so put away those rosy rear-view spectacles. The CGI'd mouths are at the start disconcerting, but the obvious puppetry of the... arm-Zimmers?... reassuring, and the voices, from Jon Culshaw and Debra Stephenson, terrific. Things to love: Mrs Crown's Boys, which sees Queenie as a foul-mouthed matriarch; Chas and Camilla reimagined as the "posh" Gogglebox pair; the ghastlily "common" Prince George. In fact anything that rips the jack out of royalty and deference, and any sketch involving Jeremy Clarkson or Russell Brand, just because their time has belatedly come for a fine and decent kicking.

Things to hate: the cliches. Andy Murray has a boring voice. Dave Cameron is posh. The writers need to sharpen the political satire, but I'm lost for precisely how: it was either a masterstroke to launch this in an election runup or a catastrophic idea to think one could out-imagine politicians' own gift for self-parody. And we more than ever need the oinks of "Her Majesty's press". Give it time. We gave Spitting Image 18 series.

As is always the way with sketch shows like Newzoids there were some hits and misses but on the whole there were more of the former than the latter. The highlights of episode one were North Korean light entertainment vehicle 'The Un Show' and a very funny sketch involving Andy Murray's wedding night. One thing I appreciated about Newzoids was the fact that it was written quite close to transmission so that the majority of the skits felt topical. At the same time this sometimes felt like more than hindrance than a help with the writing team picking a story then trying to work a joke around it. A prime example of this was the use of Nigel Farage's controversial comments at the leaders' debate which the writers turned into a stand-up comedy routine. This felt like an incredibly ill-judged sketch that wasn't as cutting edge as the writers thought it would be and instead it just felt a bit crass. I don't think Newzoids will have the same impact as Spitting Image partly because of the fact that it's going out at 9pm on Wednesday night. Whilst Spitting Image had somewhat of a cult appeal, Newzoids appears to be going for a more mainstream audience which is exemplified by the focus on the Jeremy Clarkson firing from a couple of weeks' ago. The attacks on the three main party leaders also felt a little tame with Ed Milliband's failure to eat a bacon sandwich and Nick Clegg's claims of abuse being two more examples of weak sketches. But I'm going to give Newzoids the benefit of the doubt for now as it must be hard to write a show of this nature and there were some sketches that gave me hope that Newzoids could at least turn into something that would be worth checking out on a weekly basis.

Stars in Andy Murray sketch for Stand Up To Cancer

The former Wimbledon champion will show his funny side in a Stand Up To Cancer spoof where he oversees auditions for roles in the film of his life with Richard Ayoade, Gordon Ramsay, Michael Sheen, Rory McIlroy, Sir Terry Wogan, Pharrell Williams, Britney Spears and many more taking part.

Tim Key reads a poem about siblings at the Fringe

Tim Key is back at the Edinburgh festival, slipping on his denim onesie to perform Single White Slut at the Pleasance Grand. Tim popped by the Guardian's house to answer readers' questions about Gogol, Alan Partridge, his poetry, his beard and his dream dinner guests (that's Kriss Akabusi, Steffi Graf, Andre Agassi, Andy Murray, Hugh Laurie and Emma Bunton). While he was here, we asked him to read one of his poems...

After buying a house with a tennis court attached, Jonathan Ross developed a love of the game that finds him knocking up with a comedy coterie including Michael McIntyre, Jimmy Carr and David Baddiel. Tips from a Wimbledon champion are quite another thing, though, and having predicted that Andy Murray would triumph earlier this year, Ross welcomes him to the sofa to relive his glories.

They're joined by Celine Dion, whose new studio album Loved Me Back To Life is her first big English-language release since 2007. Perhaps unfairly, neither Murray nor Dion are known for their comedy punchlines, so Johnny Vegas and John Barrowman will be bringing the funny.

Heresy's simple format involves Victoria Coren and guests attempting to expose the wrong-headedness of received wisdom.

In the first programme, Coren was joined by comedians Lee Mack and David Schneider, and writer-broadcaster Germaine Greer. They argued about Andy Murray, whom Schneider described as "the Gordon Brown of tennis", and the merits of urban foxes.

The show's trump card involves members of the audience - not that their contributions raised the laughter bar much, but they at least provided some respite from the mostly predictable panel patter and comedic one-upmanship.

QI - We speak to an elf

Curious about how it all works behind the scenes, we've asked a few questions to QI elf Andy Murray, who quite interestingly, isn't a famous tennis player.

Video: Stephen Mangan on emotions and giving birth

Actor Stephen Mangan, who has portrayed Tony Blair and currently plays a pregnant man on the London stage, spoke of emotions in the week when David Cameron's temper and the the "feisty form" of Conservative MP Ann Marie Morris were in the news.

Michael Portillo recalled losing his seat at Westminster - and also claimed there were "extensive similarities" between Andy Murray and Gordon Brown - as he debated political image and emotions with Andrew Neil and Alan Johnson.

The interview ends with the actor talking of his hopes for a new series of Episodes - in which he stars with Matt LeBlanc and Tamsin Greig.