Ben Miller (I)

The second series of The Armstrong & Miller Show was made a year ago and shelved by the brainiacs in the BBC for 12 months to see if it would mature like a fine cheese. Perhaps because we know that, it seems just a little bit dated. Maybe that's us projecting though. It's still funny, containing all your old favourites - the RAF chav talkers etc. The best new sketch is the Blue Peter presenters and their drunken scandals. Traditional stuff but quality nonetheless. (Ben Miller is better).

A decade after a BBC producer told them they were too posh to have their own television show, Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller return with another series and a handful of favourite characters from series one. Coming back are the RAF airmen who use the language of modern-day teenagers in upper-class accents; this week they're up against a firing squad and seemingly incapable of seeing the gravity of their situation. New to the scene are three presenters of a Blue Peter-style programme apologising to their audience of children for drunken scandals. It makes for fairly traditional, but very funny, sketch show material.

Radio 2 Comedy Greats tackled Benny Hill. Comedian Ben Miller talked up Hill's claims to be a "comedy innovator and TV pioneer" and promised, "if you think you know the Benny Hill story, it's time to think again". This sounded intriguing but the show did little to back up these assertions. There were plenty of clips of Hill, sounding very dated and unfunny ("There's the wife, feeding the pigs. She's the one with the hat on") with people like Tony Blackburn insisting, "it's just seaside-postcard fun, really . . . nothing wrong with that". As comedy tastes changed and his ratings fell, Hill's TV show was cancelled. "Benny never really became the comedy pariah that some have painted him as," Miller said. It felt like faint praise.

Armstrong and Miller: interview

As a clip of re-formed duo Armstrong and Miller goes nuclear on YouTube, the pair discuss their return to their BBC comedy sketch show.

"Innovative" and "ground-breaking" may not be adjectives you'd usually attribute to Benny Hill, the risqué comedian. In this documentary, however, Ben Miller, an actor, makes the case for Hill's legacy to be reassessed. Following the success of The Benny Hill Show in 1965, he became the first British comedian to establish his reputation on television, rather than radio. It's no surprise to hear that Hill was obsessed with the craft of visual comedy. More unexpected is that he also played "straight" roles in a number of popular films, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Never Mind The Buzzcocks - Series 23, Episode 1 Preview

The line-up seems to change as often as the cast of your average soap but somehow this comedy music panel game has endured. Since the show's inception in 1996, Mark Lamarr and Simon Amstell have had spells as presenter, and Sean Hughes and Bill Bailey have both taken the role of regular team captain. Only Phill Jupitus has lasted the distance. Even the tone of the show has changed over the years - particularly after Amstell took over presenting duties. He put his own quirky, irreverent and somewhat juvenile mark on the programme and when team captain Bailey quit last year he referred to the guests as "gormless indie twerps". Now Noel Fielding (of The Mighty Boosh fame) will take the captain's seat opposite Jupitus, and Amstell will be replaced by guest presenters (beginning tonight with Gavin & Stacey's James Corden). Whether the show will survive after such a flurry of changes remains to be seen. Although Buzzcocks has long since left the illusion of improvisation behind, it has certainly become much "trendier" in recent years and, thanks mostly to the wit of Amstell and Jupitus, it has remained entertaining. Now one must hope that Jupitus can carry on that tradition alone. Joining the teams this week are the potentially dull Tom Clarke of indie band The Enemy and singer Paloma Faith but fortunately actor/comedians Ben Miller and Janeane Garofalo should help keep the proceedings lively.

BBC lines up spoof web review

Comedians Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller have revived their cultural critic characters Craig and Martin for a spoof online review show for the BBC.

BBC vetoes Armstrong and Miller's 'gipsy' joke

Armstrong and Miller have agreed to cut the word 'gipsy' from a sketch in their forthcoming series after "debate" with BBC executives.

Is using the word Gypsy racist or suitable material?

Comedian Ben Miller wanted to use the term in a comedy show but the BBC stopped him.

Armstrong and Miller get third series

BBC1 has ordered a third run of sketch series The Armstrong and Miller Show before the second has even aired.