Chris O'Dowd

A trio of Guillemots banging away on the piano is not the only reason FM gave me hope for the future of the British sitcom, though they undoubtedly helped. This radio station romp, with Chris O'Dowd and Kevin Bishop as Smashey & Nicey for the noughties, oscillated so wildly between cool and naff it was as weird as watching Morrissey chitchat with Adrian Chiles on The One Show.

Though it's certainly the greatest radio-based sitcom since Frasier, FM can't decide whether it wants to be down with the kids of give 'em a kick up the skinny jeans. It tries too hard and not hard enough, throwing in rubbish jokes and sharp one-liners with scant regard for quality control, yet somehow - unlike the over-praised No Heroics, its closest cousin - it's actually funny.

That's largely down to the sheer likeability O'Dowd and Bishop bring to the pair of ludicrous out-of-touch muppets they are playing. The kind of DJs who got into it because they like the sound of their own voices not because of anything as daft as the music, they're past their shelf life and they know it. But that doesn't mean they're going to let any young'uns muscle in on the act.

It's no instant classic and there's nothing much in the way of a plot but FM has its finger sharply on the ageism dial like no other sitcom. Drag yourself away from the comedy genius of Robert Webb doing a Jennifer Beals impression and give it a go.

Chris O'Dowd, Kevin Bishop and Nina Sosanya star in what's touted as a cross between The Office and Peep Show. Set in indie station Skin FM, it's painfully funny - but not necessarily in a good way. O'Dowd's horribly tight skinny jeans made me laugh though.

Any new sitcom pairing C4 wonderkid Kevin Bishop and Chris O'Dowd from The IT Crowd has got to be worth checking out. It's set in a small radio station where the pair host an indie show (produced by Nina Sosanya from Teachers).

And what rock 'n' roll credentials this has got! It was co-written by Ian Curtis! Although obviously, and very disappointingly, not the late Joy Division singer - who wasn't exactly known for his screwball humour while he was alive.

Each week FM will feature real bands and tonight's talking guest is The Darkness's Justin Hawkins with a live performance from The Guillemots and a cameo from Marianne Faithfull.

But it'll need to crank up the gag volume in coming weeks if it's going to be a hit.

When Harry and Paul took DJs apart in the 1990s with Smashie and Nicey, the controller of Radio 1 sacked long-established names to lose the station's clichéd image. Now, we're not saying that this new comedy starring Chris O'Dowd and Kevin Bishop, which spoofs the current crop of DJs, will do the same, but it can't hurt to pray very hard.

For its new sitcom about indie radio DJs, ITV2 has poached some top C4 talent: Chris O'Dowd from The IT Crowd, Star Stories' Kevin Bishop and, er, Nathan Barley's Nina Sosanya. There's an enormous amount of self-conscious special guestery - first scene includes Justin Hawkins (from The Darkness) and suddenly it's 'The Guillemots are ready to record'. There are a some good moments - Chris O'Dowd comfortably slips into playing the same hapless role as The IT Crowd's Roy and Kevin Bishop's former boyband 2s Up is well observed. As a first episode they're allowed some room to set up the characters but it will need more jokes in future. Also, the swearing is all wrong.

Question Time: Chris O'Dowd

FM star Chris O'Dowd talks to The Independent.

Returning for a third series, Graham Linehan's office-bound sitcom seems to have been given a much-needed reboot. The swipes of cruel humour have been toned down in favour of the flashes of absurdist comedy Linehan perfected in Father Ted and Black Books. It's a good move, enabling Linehan to make the most of his superb cast, including Chris O'Dowd, Katherine Parkinson, Matt Berry and Richard Ayoade.

Now into its third season, The IT Crowd is still flying a flag for the old-fashioned sitcom. Set in the basement of a company where the nerds (Chris O'Dowd and Richard Ayoade) reboot computers under a manager who knows nothing about them, it comes replete with punchlines, farce and raucous laughter. It also tends to be wildly erratic. It can be very funny when it works, but if the farce doesn't fly, there is not enough substance in the characters to make up the difference.

This episode - in which a line manager suspects a builder of peeing into her basin at home - is not a vintage one.