David Mitchell (I)

I'd been looking forward to this new series. It's a sitcom about Shakespeare, written by Ben Elton and starring David Mitchell and so, naturally, anyone with half a brain would be anticipating it. But perhaps I set my expectations too high as it was a disappointment.

Mitchell plays Shakespeare, trying to keep his temper as he composes Romeo and Juliet in his messy kitchen while his family deride his work. He asks his teenage daughter to recite Juliet's words and she responds like every modern teenager when faced with Shakespeare's ornate language: "I don't say stuff like this, Dad. I'd sound like a complete turnip!" Yet he can hardly made it sound like authentic teenspeak: "Ugh. Shut up, Romeo. You're so weird. I hate you."

Things perk up when Elton makes some digs at privilege and the upper classes, mocking "the English posh boy" and their membership of Oxbridge clubs like The Fisted Peasant. It's funny in places but not quite big enough for its boots.

Preview: Upstart Crow

Never mind Leicester winning the league, what odds would you have got on Ben Elton being funny again? But hold the front page: Elton has got his mojo back. Well, everything is relative. After his appalling The Wright Way it looked like the acclaimed comic might never make us laugh again. But he has done it with Upstart Crow, which, let's not mince words, is Blackadder Does The Bard.

David Mitchell interview

The actor and comedian chats to Gerard Gilbert about starring in Ben Elton's Blackadder-esque new comedy.

New Ben Elton comedy takes a pop at Ricky Gervais

"Affectionate" lampooning has the Bard's cocky actor colleague speaking exactly like The Office star.

Is Upstart Crow as good as Blackadder?

Ben Elton - the writer of both shows, who has been pilloried for a lot of his recent work including the fairly dire The Wright Way - is clearly returning to his strengths. And I would say this does indeed deserve comparisons with Blackadder, the brilliant comedy he co-wrote with Richard Curtis, because it is very good.

David Mitchell on playing William Shakespeare

"He's arguably the globally most significant artistic figure - and he's just some bloke from the Midlands. That's an amazing story."

David Mitchell and Liza Tarbuck interview

Upstart Crow stars David Mitchell as a nerdy William Shakespeare, and Liza Tarbuck as his wife Anne. They chatted to us about 'bard behaviour' and more...

This topical comedy show brings together young British comics, including Dane Baptiste, Ivo Graham, Rhys James, Ellie White and Jamie Demetriou. It feels like a scattershot ensemble, but makes slightly more sense when you learn this is being positioned as a reboot of The 11 O'Clock Show, the late-90s format that helped to shape the current comedy mainstream by employing everyone from Ricky Gervais to Sacha Baron Cohen, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Charlie Brooker and Robert Popper.