David Brown (I)

Radio Times review

If you were wondering what kind of wisecracks a funeral director would come up with, then here's your answer. Yes, it's a seemingly unstoppable flow of jokes involving hearses, churches and St Peter at the Pearly Gates.

It's a hit-and-miss affair, with the best cracks coming from Paul (who wears a leather jerkin as befits his role as an organiser of motorcycle funerals) and Mark (who does the classic amateur gag-teller's thing of laughing uproariously at his own punchlines).

But the most successful one-liner concerns the difference between the English cricket team and an undertaker. I won't spoil the ending for you.

Like The Royle Family before it, Trollied has lost some of its naturalistic wit and become slightly caricatured. But there are still proper belly laughs in this hour-long episode, most - it has to be said - thanks to the subversive Colin, who gets to wear an elf costume, wage war against some boy scouts and do a frantic interpretation of Gangnam Style. It comes close to topping the karaoke performance of Last Christmas that wowed Lisa in the 2012 special.

Speaking of Lisa, she's looking similarly flabbergasted tonight - but this is down to the fact that Geri Halliwell has turned up at Valco, waxing lyrical about her carb-free diet. Although, she's plainly tempted by Lisa's chips.

However ridiculous it gets, Greg Davies's sitcom keeps a foothold in reality. I love the way Dan's mother laughs to herself at the very idea they might let Dan (Davies's blundering clot of a hero) come anywhere near his niece's birthday party. "Oh no dear, we want it to be a safe party!" she chuckles, much to his chagrin. Naturally, when Dan sets out to prove his trustworthiness, it backfires beautifully. Look out for good work from Dan's friends this week, too: off-with-the-fairies Jo and brilliantly square Brian. The scene where Brian sponges his car to the strains of 80s slowdance classic Move Closer is a bonus.

"If you don't like me, don't watch telly in September," Samantha Womack said to RT recently, referencing the fact that she's in both EastEnders and the third series of Sky Living's amiable but oddly aimless comedy drama. But she and screen husband Nigel Harman (who 'Enders fans will no doubt remember as Den Watts's son Mini Den) actually make a good impression in this opening episode by bringing some off-kilter laughs to the table. Otherwise, Mount Pleasant does just seem to be a parade of massive hairdos, loosely connected scenes and larger-than-life performances from the likes of Paula Wilcox and James Dreyfus.

The lack of any real action for the mighty Colin (he gets just one paltry line!) means that this can never be a truly vintage Trollied, but Richard's plans to re-energise the store provide some decent laughs. OK, so he's a bit caricatured and painted in broader brush strokes than some of our favourite characters, but without Richard's bonkers management style we wouldn't get the sight of Andy butchering a whole pig during a demo for Valco customers. I say butchering, it's actually more like destroying. As for Andy's partner-in-crime Kieran, well, he's thinking of moving on and away from Warrington. Hence lovelorn Katie's pained expression.

"You can get away with a low percentage of excellence and still be thought of as excellent," says Richard Curtis of the TV sketch show. As an example, he cites Not the Nine O'Clock News, a typical episode of which he remembers as being "17 dodgy minutes and maybe ten good minutes".

It's a nice shot of acid in what is otherwise a largely reverential look at the genre that takes in all the old favourites - the "class sketch" from The Frost Report, "Fork Handles" from The Two Ronnies, even Gerald the gorilla from the aforementioned NTNOCN. It's only really in the final 15 minutes that we get to explore the issue of why there's been a dearth of such comedies since the end of Little Britain and The Catherine Tate Show. It seems it's all down to expense and an audience's preference for stand-up over snappy, three-minute vignettes.

Life's daily dilemmas are in the spotlight in a new panel show presented by Radio 1's Nick Grimshaw. "We discuss little worries that take over your life," he explains. "Like whether to accept your mother on Facebook, or can I be drunk at a family function, or go to a Justin Bieber concert as an adult male and legitimately enjoy it?" Episodes are being recorded close to transmission, but we're promised quick-witted silliness from Grimshaw and his team captains Rickie and Melvin from Kiss FM and Rochelle Humes of the Saturdays.

Penelope Keith remembers her co-star Richard Briers

"We were very close... He was kind, generous, a real gentleman and also someone to look up to as an actor"

The panel show that's like a postprandial version of QI returns with Stephen Mangan, Jo Brand and Tim Vine doing the job of quiz-show researchers and coming up with the questions themselves. This time, Dave Lamb's role as fact-checker has been done away with, leaving Alexander Armstrong in sole charge. Everything else remains the same. There are laughs to be had, especially when the guests stray from the topic at hand - a discussion about Mangan's role in Postman Pat: the Movie being particularly rewarding.

Those disappointed that a 2011 Royle Family special failed to materialise will be heartened to learn that Barbara (Sue Johnston) has gone overboard with all the presents for 2012. "If you can't spoil your family at Christmas, when can you?" she asks, having spent a whole hour in Poundland. But not everyone is cosy and content: neighbour Joe has placed a lonely-hearts ad. It reads: "Vacant Lady Wanted." Who could resist such a charm offensive?