Chris Addison

Addison and Armstrong's Direct Line ads most effective

Comics Chris Addison and Alexander Armstrong's Direct Line adverts were the most effective on TV this year, experts say.

Though its fourth season has been its least impressive, Armando Iannucci's political satire will none the less go down as one of the best ever British comedies: sharp and cynical. Tonight, after last Saturday's excellent Leveson and Chilcot-inspired special, it finally bows out, with an instalment overflowing with delicious duplicity and inventive insults - not least from Malcom Tucker (the ever-wonderful Peter Capaldi) who gives Ollie Reader (Chris Addison) a hilarious dressing down.

The episode picks up with the Home Office having cut police numbers, which in turn has created a huge backlog of arrest paperwork. Cleverly, however, they've managed to shift the blame onto the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship for the burgeoning queues at police stations. "I doubt there are any major criminals on the loose," says Phil Smith (Will Smith). "This is about paperwork; it's not Con Air." Elsewhere, Dan Miller (Tony Gardner), at Malcolm's suggestion, is sent on a fact-finding mission to a police station in an attempt to make the Government look unresponsive. To say any more about the plot would give too much away, but viewers can expect a climax that is as poignant as it is amusing.

Chris Addison: Fuckety-Bye To All That

And so at last we come to the end of The Thick of It. The very end.

Hats off to the BBC for broadcasting it [Episode 6] even though it centred on an inquiry into a national scandal and contained Nicola Murray's embarrassingly timely line, 'I think it's good to have an inquiry every now and then. It livens things up a bit.'

The writing was top-class from the minute spin doctor Stewart Pearson attempted to avoid any blame for the damage parliamentary leaks can cause by arguing, 'If someone chokes on a crisp, do you issue an arrest warrant for Gary Lineker?'

Even part-time insurance salesman Chris Addison got in on the act with Ollie Reeder's 'Knowledge is power, but that doesn't mean Carol Vorderman should be prime minister'.

Tucker stole the show, though. His protestation 'Je ne remember rien' was brilliantly withering, while his climactic rant about privacy really should mark an end to that particular debate.

In fact, I'd love to reprint it here in full. Mainly because I'm sure it's the longest he's ever gone without saying '****'.

The excellent political satire continues with Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) ramping up his stealth campaign to oust the Leader of the Opposition, Nicola Murray (Rebecca Front). He packs Murray off to canvas at a party event in Bradford, leaving him free to move his political pawns into place. This means forcing policy advisor Ollie Reeder (Chris Addison) to coerce shadow ministers into joining the coup from a hospital bed, where he's recovering from an appendectomy.

On balance the BBC probably picked the worst week to launch the new series of The Thick Of It. Because no matter how funny the opener was it could never have been as amusing as the fallout from David Cameron's Cabinet reshuffle.

Of course, you may question how anything in life could possibly be funnier than Peter Capaldi's potty-mouthed spin doctor Malcolm Tucker - and you'd be right. But Tucker wasn't in it. And neither was Rebecca Front's Nicola Murray, his most recent sparring partner.

Still, as a scene-setter for the new Coalition era it did manage some laugh-out-loud moments. And the return of Roger Allam's gloriously withering Minister Peter Mannion was most welcome.

Although, not as welcome as the trailer for next Saturday's episode. Because Tucker is back. Murray is back. And the hair of Chris Addison's oily Ollie is insipidly slicked back. Happy (expletive deleted) days, as Tucker might say.

The topical comedy panel quiz returns after its summer break. Joining host Dara O Briain and regulars Hugh Dennis, Andy Parsons and Chris Addison are guests Greg Davies, Andi Osho and Stewart Francis - the laconic Canadian one-liner specialist who won the award for best joke at this year'' Edinburgh Fringe Festival with his gag about Posh and Becks giving children a bad name.

Chris Addison will be pleased with this picture - there is very little bare flesh on show and certainly nothing suggestive of his nether regions. In a terribly British section of his interview by friend and fellow comic thespian Rebecca Front, they discover a shared aversion to nudity, especially their own, in performances.

As Addison remarks, his modesty is based upon his body resembling a stick man made out of Twiglets. Their similarities do not end here, however: both confess to having been goody-two-shoes at school and how many other modern comedians can claim to have been part of madrigal groups? Middle-class and brainy does not have to mean smug, though, and so this interview rubs along nicely. I look forward to Addison asking the questions of Derren Brown next week.

Now one of TV's more enduring topical comedy shows - thanks to its high turnover of original comedy voices and a keen eye for spotting upcoming talent - the satirical news quiz returns for an eleventh season. As always, Dara O'Briain keeps a loose grip on the organised chaos as, tonight, team captains Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons are joined by Nathan Caton, Chris Addison, Micky Flanagan and Greg Davies.

Omens look bad for second Show & Tell season

Chris Addison's E4 series Show & Tell is probably not returning to our screens, according to a report in Broadcast.