Darren Boyd

Darren Boyd is a slightly more effective undercover in Spy, a new Sky1 sitcom whose premise seems lifted from the American series Chuck: they're both about hapless, put-upon guys who work in computer stores and are accidentally recruited by the secret services, thenceforth having to maintain their geeky cover while juggling espionage adventures. Chuck, though, is a glossy action show and Spy is, unfortunately, just the usual underachieving British sitcom which somehow manages to take a talented enough cast and a promising enough premise and yet not deliver any real laughs at all.

Boyd's longsuffering Tim looks slightly irritated throughout, though it doesn't stop several women (including the wasted Rebekah Staton) falling for him, while it's interesting that instead of the usual cute, supportive kid, his nine-year-old son is a horrible little monster out to undermine his dad at any opportunity - interesting, but not actually funny. Still, the show has Robert Lindsay, liberated at last from the shackles of being the one to play the longsuffering dad in My Family, now as a demented, grizzled spy boss and clearly enjoying himself hugely. At least someone is.

Darren Boyd & Jude Wright interview

Darren Boyd plays feckless father Tim, who is accidentally recruited to MI5, and his co-star is newcomer Jude Wright, whose part as Tim's nine-year-old son Marcus is his first TV role... TV Choice Magazine caught up with Darren and Jude during filming to find out more...

Darren Boyd reluctant to play John Cleese

Darren Boyd talks to Metro about playing the 'iconic' John Cleese in comedy drama Holy Flying Circus.

This Olympic-themed mockumentary's screening in the stadium of BBC Two as opposed to the school athletics track of BBC Four, where it was first shown, magnifies its flaws. John Morton's script isn't ambitious enough to go for the laughs it could wring from the subject matter, despite the actors' best efforts. Tonight, the Olympic Deliverance Team, run by Ian Fletcher (Hugh Bonneville), recruits ex-athlete Dave Wellbeck (Darren Boyd) to tour schools inspiring youngsters, but it turns out he has all the dazzle of a frayed jock strap.

Alan Davies' Whites. Hulu. Now.

Should you find yourself in need of a new British comedy fix, hope over to Hulu and check out Whites, starring Alan Davies, Darren Boyd and Katherine Parkinson.

Meddling with the novels of such a geek luminary as Douglas Adams is a precarious business, so it's no surprise that this reworking of his Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - first shown on BBC4 last December - had ardent fans up in arms over the deviation from its source novel. But a series has been commissioned, so all their favourite bits of the books have a chance to make it to the screen. For the rest of us there is enough to appreciate in a plot that expands from a case of a missing cat to some surreal flights of fancy. Stephen Mangan is great as the chaotic, evasive Gently, while Darren Boyd does a great line in bewilderment as an unwitting sidekick.

Darren Boyd says there is no mystery in role switch

Darren Boyd is used to deadpan more than dead bodies.

The 2012 team engages ex-athlete Dave Wellbeck (Darren Boyd) to front their Raising the Bar scheme to inspire young people. Unfortunately, his school assembly presentations in Basingstoke and Warwick soon establish the silver medallist now only bores for Britain. If you're a connoisseur of that tranche of comedy that deals in excruciating embarrassment, you may lap this up. Otherwise, I fear you'll find this week's Olympian effort limp hobbling towards lame. Hugh Bonneville remains peerless as a sort of modern-day Ronnie Barker, and we could do with a bit more screen time for Olivia Colman as Sally, Ian's scuttling, "not a problem" PA.

Siobhan and Ian have another pointless meeting. Jessica Hynes really nails dead-eyed ennui as the half-wit PR consultant and Hugh Bonneville is perfectly pitched as the pleasant but ineffectual executive. And tonight, the superb Darren Boyd plays ex-athlete Dave Wellbeck, now an "Official 2012 Hero" charged with inspiring the nation's youth about sport. Olivia Colman continues to be consummately understated as Ian's PA, Sally. The writing is up there with Morton's other wondrous work, People Like Us, and wholly deserves primetime BBC2, not this hidden nook on digital. Perfection.