Chris Addison

You're going to need a lot of patience with this new sitcom, starring Chris Addison. Either that or copious supplies of the laughing gas that the hysterical studio audience seem to be on as the first episode unfolds.

That's a shame because potentially it's good, with shades of The IT Crowd, Father Ted and The Mighty Boosh. This is skewed comedy, where nothing is quite as it seems, the main protagonists are all well the other side of barking and the plot has plenty of unexpected twists and turns.

If the feedback I get is anything to go by, there are two things viewers dislike above all else. One is orchestral Muzak in wildlife programmes. The other is canned laughter in sitcoms. The latter is particularly bad because it sets up an old-fashioned style of comedy with one character dollying up a feed-line and someone else hitting it for six. Unfortunately this new sitcom, set in the laboratory of an English university, uses a laughter track. It is a pity, because the characters are an entertaining lot who would benefit from the chance to escape from this straitjacket of comic conformity, while Chris Addison - last seen on our screens in The Thick of It - has a wonderful line in engaging, deadpan delivery.

Eureka!: Lab Rats

Broadcast magazine asks Chris Addison how Lab Rats was created. Note: registration to Broadcast may be required to see the article.

The results of all this effort, are often, as Chris Addison describes - 'stupid' - but not often funny. Chris co-wrote the show with fellow radio scriptwriter Carl Cooper, so at least we know it wasn't all his fault.

Where science and silliness collide

A preview of Lab Rats, including interviews with writers Carl Cooper and Chris Addison, and executive producer Armando Iannucci.

If you seek intellectual nourishment then, at all costs, avoid The Ape That Got Lucky (11pm, Radio 4), a new comedy science series featuring Chris Addison (last seen on BBC4's superb The Thick of It). Tonight: why man developed language (answer: so cavewomen could moan at cavemen for not tidying up).

Monkey business

Chris Addison thinks that human evolution is a joke.