Carrie Fisher

The sadistic storytelling series returns with a new selection of fables for adults. Paul Whitehouse narrates the tale of a "fully immersive battle re-enactment" that inevitably gets out of hand. Next, Carrie Fisher's soothing presence contrasts with a story about a young couple who check into a mysterious B&B. Why is it the only place in the town with a vacancy? It's not just because of the three-minute shower rule. The twisted lovechild of Jackanory and Tales of the Unexpected delivers darkness and laughs.

In a week crammed with riches, we had the return of Catastrophe, rushed back for its second series this year without having apparently suffered for any undue haste. It's still glorious - gloriously profane, savagely observant, yet shot through with, at its heart, two characters so obviously in love they can be ripping the serious bejesus out of each other at full volume yet still turn away and snicker at something funny said. Which happens often.

The miracle of this programme is not just the two stars, Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, nor the fact that their very coupling - a car-crash between loopy Irishness and straight-jawed Yankhood - brings so much potential, but that the pair find so many new ways to say something delightful, believable, witty about the hoariest old sitcom cliches. Breast-feeding, childbirth, dire family gatherings: all are tackled with a freshness of thought that amazes, after decades in which I've gazed at similar setups with my pained curdling-milk face-ache on.

We also had Carrie Fisher as Rob's exuberantly unlikable mother, and the beginnings of dementia, and post-partum depression, and a dead dog: but all treated with humanity, not least when Sharon, serious for once and worried that she can't bond with her three-day-old daughter, frets over the fact the baby looks "manipulative, like it's plotting something". Hmm. We've all seen those kids.

No one wants a catastrophe, other than all of us who wanted a second series of Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney's comedy, which returns with catastrophic consequences.

Nothing too catastrophic is present, other than a party for Rob and Sharon's newborn that's been planned by a sadist, unwanted trouser incidents, and a party for Rob and Sharon's newborn that's been planned by perhaps two or three sadists, rather than the one.

The spiky and naturalistic sparring between Horgan and Delaney continues as if a breath hadn't been drawn between the end of the first and beginning of the second series, conversations splattered with a lush filthiness. Their writing sessions must end with them, their laptops, and all the walls needing a good bleaching to wash away the lines which are left smeared from the process. And you wonder what that might be, after Carrie Fisher delivers a line regarding Riverdance which will wreck Princess Leia in the gold bikini for blokes to a Ross-Geller level.

Pure, impure gold, this is a total opposite of a catastrophe. As long your name's not Mabel and you're a dog.

Radio Times review

Virtually every imaginable relationship pitfall has beset Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney's quirky odd couple since they decided to have a baby together after their brief affair. And in the fifth instalment of their comedy spectacular, this adorable pair continue to withstand everything that's thrown in their way.

Sharon cyber-stalks one of Rob's particularly beautiful exes after a cruel set-up by his mother (Carrie Fisher). And he is forced to face up to his exasperated US employers in an especially delicious (and foul-mouthed) Skype call. Carried along by the leads' superb chemistry and the power of love, it's as raw, dirty, quirky, tender, meaningful and touching as ever.

QI: meet the people who know it all - before Fry does

It's Christmas 2014. Stephen Fry, the host of QI, wears three tasteful poinsettia flowers on his lapel. On set, glittery snowmen flank the panel. Behind the scenes Carrie Fisher, a guest panelist, feeds her dog Gary a stuffing ball from the turkey buffet. Well, it's not actually Christmas -- it's summer 2014 and ice-cream weather outside.