Bill Dare

Turn to Brian Gulliver's Travels (Radio 4, Wednesdays) for wit, invention and much laughter. This is the second series of satires on the way we live now, written by Bill Dare, presented as the memoirs of a libertine travel writer. Neil Pearson plays him, holed up in a mental hospital, telling his (initially) sceptical daughter about where he's been. Last week we heard his adventures in Lessington, where reading is forbidden and everything is instant (food, films, drink) and nearby Furington where the use of perfect grammar is mandatory and everything (food, films, beer) takes so much time that Gulliver and his latest female travelling companion flee back to Lessington, gratefully bolting down chicken nuggets and freely splitting infinitives. There are four more episodes to come. It is marvellous.

This is a great series, conceived and written by Bill Dare, a name more usually associated with comedy production. Brian Gulliver (Neil Pearson) is in a mental hospital, recounting memories to his disenchanted daughter. He's been far away, caught up in strange lands among peoples with outlandish ways. The more he talks the more we begin to see what he's on about, grasping the point of Dare's truly Swiftian satire on modern life. This time, among the people of Chamanoa, our Gulliver is swept into the war between its Naturites and Nurturites.

Watching television that makes you cringe can be inspirational - if you work as a comedian that is. Kevin Bishop was sat at home one weekend and caught Noel's HQ on Sky1.

This series was full of stories about people who'd been ripped off or mutilated or were desperately ill. Edmonds and the team would sort their lives out and, in publicising the show, noble Noel called upon the public to take matters into their own hands and help fix broken Britain.

Bishop felt a stirring in his funny bones. What if he were to meld Mr Edmonds with another TV host who was there to right the wrongs of "ordinary people" - by which, of course, he meant Jeremy Kyle. Working with comedy producer extraordinaire Bill Dare - the man behind such successes as Dead Ringers, The Now Show and Spitting Image - they created Les Kelly.

"He's a complete idiot," explains Bishop of his creation. "He's very right-wing, has lived an entirely sheltered lifestyle and he really wants to put right everything that he sees as being wrong in Britain."

The result is this superbly observed comedy, driven by strong character performances, at the centre of which is the utterly flawed Les Kelly. To say there is something of Alan Partridge about Les is a heartfelt compliment.

This series deserves to be huge. Don't miss it.

This is a comedy about a local radio station in Birmingham. It aims to promote fellow feeling and harmony between Pakistanis, Indians, Somalis, Polish builders and every other next-door neighbour. The show is written by Adil Ray and Anil Gupta, is produced by Bill Dare (whose comedy credits are a mile long) and stars such fine performers as Felix Dexter (from Down the Line as well as this week's daily Woman's Hour drama Ancient Mysteries). But, as the BBC still dithers over the fate of its own Asian radio network, it's an interesting time to broadcast it.

Visions were interpreted as mental illness in Brian Gulliver's Travels but the point of Bill Dare's highly original format was to both satirise and issue a warning about the nanny state.

Gulliver, played with his customary playfulness by Neil Pearson, insisted he had visited a country called Gelbetia. The country was run by doctors, lifestyle was no longer a choice but a matter of law, and every character flaw was part of a condition. So laziness was excused as "effort deficit syndrome", and impatience became "queue frustration disorder". The series began on an amusing and thought-provoking note.

Brian Gulliver's Travels is a new comedy, written by Bill Dare, produced by Steven Canny and starring Neil Pearson. He plays a maker of travel programmes, in hospital, claiming to have had strange encounters in an unknown continent. He's been away six years. His estranged daughter Rachel (Mariah Gale) visits him, hears his story, the first of (you've guessed it) six adventures. He was flying over the Amazon when his plane crashed, he landed in water (to his surprise, it was warm) and was picked up by a ship.

This ship was crewed by friendly people without any hair, speaking English. He is taken to the ship's doctor, given a welcome pill, a scan. Soon he discovers he is meeting people who live in a Medocracy. Not only do doctors rule, their deity is medical too. In this country, Gelbetia, people are not unfit. They have symptoms which are treated. The captain of the ship suffers from Incompetence Syndrome. Laziness is Effort Deficit Syndrome. Diet is prescribed, exercise is compulsory. Naturally there is a rebel movement. They raid gyms, destroy the running machines, burn leotards, throw the lentil smoothies down the drain, eat chocolate gateau. Brian takes up with them. When they're caught and jailed the worst punishment is six months' hard yoga. At the very end, Rachel is given reason to believe that Brian may not, after all, just be fabricating again. She says she'll be back for next week's adventure, in Harbentha. So will I. A nimbler reflection on achieving a national state of health is hard to imagine.

Following Ed Reardon into this programme slot is a big challenge. But Brian Gulliver (played by Neil Pearson) is another marvellous character. The creation of Bill Dare, Brian is a man who finds himself in hospital, telling his daughter about the strange adventures that have landed him there. He's been to a land, Gelbetia, where no one has "bad" behaviour because everything can be diagnosed as a symptom or syndrome by the ruling medical industry. It's allusive, relevant, full of surprises, satirical in the true spirit of Swift. And very funny.

Comedian Ava Vidal looks at how devolution has changed the way we laugh at our politicians. Now that power has moved from Westminster to Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, she explores whether comedy has followed it and whether politicians are viewed in any way differently in each place. And as Westminster adapts to a new government, is the content of political comedy there due for a change too? Is there such a thing as national political satire anymore? Including contributions from political comedian Jeremy Hardy, producer Bill Dare and comedy club manager Tommy Sheppard.

You'll recognise the name of Bill Dare as creator/producer of such programmes as Dead Ringers, The Now Show and I've Never Seen Star Wars. Here's a new series of a more recent invention, intertwining fantasy with the familiar. Lionel Blair, for instance, is mistaken for Tony Blair and has to go to the Middle East to get the leaders "dancing to the same tune", Al Pacino stalks John Humphrys. William Hague talks to the Ambassador of Kyrkistan having been mistakenly briefed on Uzbekistan. Jon Culshaw and Lewis MacLeod are among the skilled vocal parodists.

Bill Dare wins with I've Never Seen Star Wars

Marcus Brigstocke's new show was proof of the richness of the English language, particularly in euphemism.