Anna Lowman

TV Scoop Review

A lot of what Stewart Lee said irked me a little. In last night's episode, Lee turned his admittedly sharp mind to books, and in particular toilet books and celebrity hardbacks. Perhaps it is just me, but isn't it a little obvious to suggest that these genres are inherently crappy? Taking potshots at the likes of Jeremy Clarkson and Chris Moyles felt pedestrian, and to suggest that he shouldn't read Harry Potter because it's intended for kids seems close-minded.

It's not good. At all. They've tried to put a twist on the usual sketch show set-up by starting the programme with a piece to camera with a live audience - and a couple of sketches are performed there in the studio too - but this is not nearly enough to save the show. Corden joked on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross last week that Horne is his 'straight man' but in fact, in many of the sketches that is precisely what he's reduced to, while Corden gets to play the big character. This is far from an equal partnership, though it has to be said that the sketch in which Horne was the star - as a camp war correspondent from Leeds - was one of the few to raise a smile.

One other major problem with this show is that the sketches often simply went on for far too long. One of the live sketches saw teachers teaching a class of boys 'cock-drawing'. Now, while the concept is puerile, it is at least an original one (and little boys do seem to love drawing them...) but the punchline came within the first minute, and the rest of sketch was completely unnecessary and just embarrassing.

FM Review

I can't say I didn't laugh at all, but almost all of the good in this episode came from Chris O'Dowd's doomed attempts to impress his co-workers, and he shouldn't be having to carry the show alone.

Free Agents Review

Well, you've got to hand it to Channel 4. In the current climate, one assumes that the broadcast of every single word stronger than 'fiddlesticks' is hotly debated among producers and head honchos - and yet this opening episode of Free Agents featured the c-word not once, not twice, but three times.

Blog Review

Cowards is a new sketch show that doesn't completely suck. I mean it's still hit-and-miss, but the great thing about Cowards is that I don't mind watching the misses because they're still being performed by hugely watchable comedians.

Miranda Raison Interview

An interview with Miranda Raison, who plays Lindsay, Rob's ex.

Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2006 Review

Big personalities are given a really rather massive two-hour, prime-time slot to try and make people laugh - something which the contestants and host Jimmy Carr (would you believe it!) achieved with varying degrees of success.

More from the low-key sitcom that has me ignoring the jokes and simply trying to work out which character I hate the most. It's a tough call (even Rick's wife is annoyingly smug), but it has to be the odious co-writer Marty, who I get the feeling we're actually meant to side with.

The so-so comedy series starring Kevin Bishop returns for a third outing, lampooning the lives of Heather Mills and Peter and Jordan (the phrase 'shooting fish in a barrel' does come to mind).

Episode 3.1 Review

It was the thin writing that let this episode down. I'm more than happy to spend half an hour in the company of these talented comedy performers and their characters, but, on the evidence of this episode at least, they are not being particularly well-served by the script - and while I'm cautiously optimistic for the rest of the series, it's a rare show indeed that can survive on the charisma of its cast alone.