Barunka O'Shaughnessy

Timewasters is no waste of time

Daniel Lawrence Taylor's sitcom about a time-travelling jazz band is well worth your time.

The deliciousness of a bubbly milk, however bubbly, cannot match that of the script and performances in this subversion of period dramas, set on a country estate in 1831 and home to housekeeper Dorothy, who Norman Bates would admire.

Hunderby is a wolf in a stiff corset, its teeth exquisite blades of language which shred characters' dignity and rip into Sunday night bonnet dramas, writers Julia Davis and Barunka O'Shaughnessy crafting sentences which glory in lampooning the literature of that time. A delirious and hysterical work of Gothic imagination to rival Wednesday Addams' diary - I had tears running down both sets of cheeks.

The first of this two part special assembles the scheming of Dorothy, the doomed love affair of Dr Foggerty (Rufus Jones) and Helene (Alexandra Roach), the simpering Hester (Rosie Cavaliero, more on her later), and a violent monkey. A monkey, Rufus Jones tells me, that between takes would wear a smoking jacket and a fez. That's normal by this show's standards.

Last in the exquisitely funny series. Helene is confined to the attic until her pelvic explosion cometh, while Doctor Foggarty, wretched with drink, tries to make another go of it with Crippled Hester. Julia Davis and co-writer Barunka O'Shaughnessy must take several bows to deafening applause for this comic masterpiece. The hoot-per-minute rate has remained high throughout and among an exemplary cast, Alex MacQueen (as Edmund) did a full Sheryl Crow, moving from comedy backing singer to lead vocals with aplomb.

In this sixth series Ed has fallen so far as to be living in sheltered housing, courtesy of a charity for the financially distressed, having forsaken what he describes as "the life of unmitigated misery, disappointment, abuse and sheer grinding poverty" that is hack writing. Meanwhile, his arch rival Jas Milvain is having the last ever South Bank Show devoted to him, for which resentful Ed will be interviewed as the "grit in the oyster". It's hard to enthuse about this series without sounding like one of those people who bang on about Gavin and Stacey until you are absolutely determined never to watch it, but suffice to say the writing is at the highest end of radio comedy. Christopher Douglas is perfectly incarnated as his creation and Barunka O'Shaughnessy brilliant as Ping, the sloaney assistant. The allusions to George Gissing's 1891 novel New Grub Street, with its tragic writer hero Edwin Reardon, and ambitious cynic, Jasper Milvain, reassures hack writers everywhere that things never really change. And at a time of relentless change, a bit of permanence has to be a good thing.

The comedian: Barunka O'Shaughnessy

Barunka O'Shaughnessy once worked in a jam factory in order to make ends meet. Now she is one of four performers in E4's new all-female sketch show, Beehive, which has been compared to both Smack the Pony and French and Saunders.

The ladies behind this new all-girl sketch show - Alice Lowe, Sarah Kendall, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Clare Thomson - have earned their stripes around some of the best: their comedy CVs include shows with Mitchell and Webb, Steve Coogan and the Little Britain boys. Here they extrapolate events from pop culture - the girls scallywag about as four Russell Brands and there's a what-they'd-really-say take on Sex and the City. They then add in everyday moments with a surreal veneer - should you go on a date dressed as a duck?, etc. A few bits of nostalgia and poignancy may raise smiles, but Beehive is otherwise a punchline-free zone.

Stinging Criticism

Sarah Kendall, Alice Lowe, Barunka O'Shaughnessy and Clare Thomson are decent performers, but the writing lacks the subtlety and ­characterisation necessary to draw in the audience.

Such is the hackneyed feel of this witless sketch show - skits include a parody of This Morning presented by Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana - you may feel as if you've been transported back at least a decade. Amazingly, it takes not just writer-performers Tom Meeten and Barunka O'Shaughnessy to produce this twaddle but at least six others and a performance consultant. Makes The Kevin Bishop Show] look like Morecambe & Wise.