David Mitchell (I)

Ed Reardon - celebrated creator of an episode of Tenko, ghostwriter for z-list celebrities and, sometimes, their pets - is back, and this time he's happy. So happy, in fact, that his facial muscles have difficulty in adjusting to this new emotional experience.

Reardon fans, who include RT's very own Alison Graham and Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman, need not fear that his inner rage at the injustices of modern life or, more specifically, his life has been dampened. He begins by railing against the happy young women they place on the front of broadsheet newspapers who have just passed their GCSEs with flying colours. Why can't they show abject failures, he wants to know? And why does even the sport section of said papers have to contain a wry look at the world by David Mitchell? Why not just give him his own damn section and have done with it?

Life has certainly improved for Ed since he took up with 1960s model Fiona (played by Jenny Agutter) - she's going to fly him on an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris - but can this spate of happiness last? No, of course not. An attempt to get his passport renewed ends in the squalid disaster we have come to expect from genius writers Andrew Nickolds and Christopher Middleton. Who'd have thought a company called Merkury Kouriers could invoke such disdain?

David Mitchell and Victoria Coren announce engagement

David Mitchell has announced he's engaged to his TV presenter and poker-playing girlfriend Victoria Coren today.

This is Sarah Millican's first steps into a television series of her own, after appearing on nearly every panel show under the sun!

There have been complaints from some quarters that Sarah Millican's possibly the most overexposed comedian currently around. I personally don't think that's the case. Yes, she appears on a lot of panel shows, but she always the guest - she doesn't host any or appear as a team captain, unlike David Mitchell for example.

The Sarah Millican Television Programme is part stand-up, part talk show. Each show covers two different television genres, this week being "animals" and "dating", with the guidance of a guest expert (Chris Packham and Tracey Cox respectively). It has to be said that she seemed to look a bit uncomfortable dealing with this format and perhaps the given material, but I don't doubt she'll soon cope with it as the series goes along.

Millican is certainly funny and the show is very good, but it does have one or two problems, namely with video cameras. There's annoying gimmickry with the "Millicam" in which a video camera is sent into the studio audience and certain people answer Millican's questions. The main problem, though, is that they also filmed the audience members holding the Millicam, so the Millicam instantly becomes redundant...

Then there was Sarah's guest interview with her own father Phillip, during which she wore a silly headcam, which gets one laugh at the beginning but then of course just becomes rather tiresome.

However, other than those minor issues, I'd recommend you giving The Sarah Millican Television Programme a viewing.

Is Alexander Armstrong the poshest man in comedy?

More so than Miranda Hart, Stephen Fry and David Mitchell, Alexander Armstrong seems to be the acceptable face of posh comedy.

David Mitchell on internet trolls

The web is full of opinions, but without knowing the authors' motives for posting them why should we pay them any attention?

Channel 4 must have faith in 10 O'Clock Live, considering that it got quite a bashing during the first series.

It suffered from many problems; chief amongst them was the hype surrounding the first series with people comparing it to The Daily Show, which was suicidal given how hugely successful and respected The Daily Show is.

However, the second series has come around with almost no fan fair at all. The regulars are still the same. Jimmy Carr's still filling the role of gag-man newsreader; Charlie Brooker's still filling the role of grumpy man who looks at the TV; David Mitchell's still filling the role of grumpy man who interviews people; and Lauren Laverne's still filling the role of the sensible token northern woman that leaves people asking, "Couldn't they find a female comedian instead?"

While there were some laughs, much of the show was still below par. One routine, which featured Jimmy Carr as Vladimir Putin wearing a fake padded muscle suit and wrestling a man in a bear costume, just didn't grab me at all.

It's nice to see that the channel still has some faith in the programme, but I just don't think it is going to work.

The nervy satire show that looked set for a quiet demise after ratings halved in the course of the first series is back.

Despite the odd misfire, the show often sparked into something a bit special. David Mitchell proved a sharp interviewer; Jimmy Carr's news monologues were genuinely funny; and if you enjoy Charlie Brooker in rant mode, this was the place for you.

For the second series, we're promised a tweak to the format and a shorter running time.

A second series for the live comedy and current affairs show hosted by David Mitchell, Charlie Brooker, Lauren Laverne and Jimmy Carr. The recommission must have been touch and go, but the strand just about warrants persevering with. The first run was inevitably patchy and Laverne seemed underemployed in comparison to her male counterparts. But it got enough right in a lively enough style to merit another go. Weirdly, it managed a few scoops too; 10 O'Clock Live was the first show to announce both Alan Johnson's resignation and the UN's commitment to a No Fly Zone in Libya. By its very nature, live satire is probably doomed to miss as many targets as it hits. But, given the current volatility of world events, this might be a show in the right place at the right time.

This patchily brilliant news satire show returns for its second series, still live and still at 10 o'clock - even though these are two factors that might have contributed to the disappointing ratings for series one.

Surely, there's a fair chance that anyone who's genuinely interested in current affairs might be watching the real news over on ITV or the BBC in the same time slot?

Other than a slightly pruned running time and a move to Wednesdays, it'll be interesting to see what other tweaks have been made. A much clearer role for Lauren Laverne would be nice, for instance. But we look forward to seeing who out of funnymen Charlie Brooker and David Mitchell will win the battle of the erudite, ­eye-bulging rant, plus Jimmy Carr sails ever closer to the wind during another of his ­fancy dress news monologues. "Too late. It's live, what can you do?" he shrugged innocently after one gasp-inducing joke about Saudi Arabia.

Despite ratings plummeting during the first series, this satirical show has been given a second go. It's a talented team - including Jimmy Carr riffing on news, Charlie Brooker ranting on hypocrisy and David Mitchell ruminating on the personalities within. Lessons have evidently been learnt from the less than overwhelming feedback from series one - hopefully the shorter running time will create a snappier format - but it could be some time yet before this hits the US heights of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.