Danny Dyer

Agreeable standup and Fresh Meat star Jack Whitehall moves the Edinburgh fringe chat show he did with his dad (a former theatrical agent) to BBC Three. It's Adam Buxton and Bad Dad for the under-30s. And their first two guests are quite the mixed bag. Disdainful Newsnight prober Jeremy Paxman lines up next to right-barrel-o-monkeys paranormal investigator and actor Danny Dyer. No previews available, sadly, but Paxman with his tie off is always good fun.

Matt Lucas has had his mum on his show, so comedians bringing a parent on board to share the presenting load is not entirely unprecedented. And the son-and-father team of Jack and Michael Whitehall has already been successfully road-tested on Million Pound Drop and live comedy shows. But a chat show is a tough act to pull off, so it will be interesting to see if the pair's fractious but affectionate relationship works its magic and gets their guests to open up. First to submit to a Whitehall grilling are Jeremy Paxman - on the receiving end for once - and new EastEnder Danny Dyer.

It's already been proven that father and son are a winning team: they earned £300,000 for charity on Channel 4's Million Pound Drop, sold out comedy shows together and even written a book.

So the portents are good for this new chat show, especially as their on-screen partnership usually comes over as natural, unforced and, yes, funny.

The impudence that some equate with posh young pup Jack in both sitcom and stand-up should be kept in check by the superbly dry, David Starkey[/o]-alike Whitehall Sr. But how will they handle Paxo and new EastEnder Danny Dyer in this first outing?

Still Game star's fury BBC keeping money from Scotland

Still Game star Greg Hemphill vents fury over BBC shelling out cash for Danny Dyer to appear on EastEnders but keeping money from Scots programmes.

A playful disregard for historical accuracy and some strong comic turns, most notably from Ryan Sampson as dimwit slave Grumio, make Rome-com Plebs a more enjoyable watch than its ropey-looking trails suggest. Plus, Danny Dyer pops up in an episode. Get up to speed on the ITV Player.

Maybe it's the fact that togas are just so darn saucy but there's something irresistibly comical about Ancient Rome. In the noble tradition of Up Pompeii!, Plebs (ITV2) is the latest sitcom to play the old Empire for laughs. And titter I did.

It could afford to up the raunch factor, with opening episode The Orgy surprisingly shy of flesh. But Tom Rosenthal's central character, Marcus, makes a sweet prude amid a sea of debauchery and his servant Grumio (Ryan Sampson), surfing a wave of northern camp, is a guaranteed scene-stealer. 'You never see a dog with a towel,' he observed of his drip-dry post-shower regimen. Fair point.

The cultural connection between Ancient Rome and classic ska and reggae is lost on me, but oddly it's an inspired one, with tunes such as Double Barrel by Dave & Ansel Collins giving the action a sun-kissed spring. And any show that chops Danny Dyer's head off has to be worth a second look.

Plebs is a bit like the spawn of The Inbetweeners and Up Pompeii, but set in ancient Rome to a soundtrack of ska classics, presumably for added anachronism. Friday Night Dinner's Tom Rosenthal is neurotic, uptight Marcus, Trollied's Joel Fry plays dufus Stylax, and Ryan Sampson is their dull-witted Manc slave Grumio, while Doon Mackichan adds class as the boys' ruthless boss Flavia. The first instalment finds them trading their grocery budget for orgy tickets, while Danny Dyer, of all people, turns up as gladiator Cassius in episode two.

Danny Dyer on his guest role in Plebs

Danny Dyer took his latest TV role as a gladiator too far - by hitting his opponent in the head with a spear.

ITV2's first new sitcom in years, Plebs works on the basis that young single men have always been pathetic and feckless at every single point in history. To prove it, they've taken the dynamic of The Likely Lads and exported it to Ancient Rome, focusing on three men (two plebs and a slave, technically) desperate to get their ends away.

This should rightly set off alarm bells - 'Is ITV2 the kind of place to be attempting nuanced historical comedy?' you might ask. No, of course it's not. Thankfully, Plebs doesn't try. Instantly reminiscent of Mel Brooks's loose adherence to period and historical accuracy (a la Blazing Saddles), characters say words like 'coolio', 'legend' and 'literally' as though they've wandered in from a WKD advert set at a toga party.

Not that this is some kind of charmless lad-fest - this opening double-bill bursts with originality and thankfully doesn't feel the need to make cheap historical gags every ten seconds. Miraculously, it even makes great use of Danny Dyer, who dominates in the second episode as a gladiator.

Tom Rosenthal interview

Tom Rosenthal talks about his role in Plebs, Danny Dyer, and what it was like filming the show...