David Mitchell (I)

A topical news quiz on Friday night in which a witty panel are quizzed about the week's events. Hang on, haven't we seen this before? For the past 20 years?

Well, The Bubble has a twist. The guests are shut away from the world for a few days beforehand so they are oblivious to the stories, and then have to guess which one of a selection of them is true, and which are false.

Despite a few clunky elements, we enjoyed it. We're not sure we'll enjoy it every week, but in this opener the blend of guests and host was perfect.

Host David Mitchell's awkwardness in chairing proceedings amused through his discomfort in having to control and guide a show rather than the liberation of a panellist who can rant and rave without restriction. A weakness that Reginald D. Hunter took full advantage of, hilariously mocking the subdued Mitchell at every opportunity.

Victoria Coren's simmering disdain for the mothers of Mumsnet, whom she vilified for their shameless advertising of their fertility and deluded faith that they are in someway important, was a compelling advert for enforced national sterilisation in the belief that an extinct population is better than a conceited one. And she has a point.

While Frank Skinner picked out the idiosyncrasies in the stories, illuminating their absurdity. In the first round, he guessed that a report on Merseyside Police receiving a fine for using a mini-flying camera without permission because he thought an interview with a solicitor was too real: "No actor would play him that bleak."

We're not sure that the guests will be good enough to save it every week. If things get dour, we suppose Mitchell can always storm off on one of his tangential rants about the ridiculousness of the world. The opening news reports, however, were far too long and quite dull, while the show seemed to lack flow. You could see the join between each of the rounds as though the three rounds had been assembled from a much larger kit, most of which had been discarded because of obsolescence.

Although next week we'll be back. Tempted by the prospect of lines as good as: "The man who has celebrated Christmas every day for 14 years has been found crucified in his back garden."

The Bubble is yet another new topical panel show designed to capture the Have I Got News for You/QI audience. Its twist is to sequester participants away for three days without access to any media, and then show them a series of news and gossip stories. They must decide which are real and which are made-up. David Mitchell presents. Frank Skinner, Victoria Coren and comic Reginald D. Hunter are The Bubble's first victims.

This new comedy quiz show is based on the premise that some news stories are so preposterous that they might as well have been made up. A group of comedians and celebrities are locked away for four days in a media-free "bubble", without access to phones, TV, newspapers or the internet. Oddly enough, there was no shortage of volunteers. When they emerge, the host David Mitchell confronts them with reports, headlines and images, some real and some invented. They have to distinguish one from the other. Frank Skinner and Victoria Coren are the contestants tonight, while future guests include Marcus Brigstocke, Clive Anderson, Sue Perkins and Germaine Greer. Already a big success in Israel and Poland, the quiz looks likely be a lot of fun.

David Mitchell hosts a new comedy-news quiz. Now that's what we call a game-changer. No previews available, as it's going to be topical news from the week, but it sounds like Celebrity Big Brother meets Call My Bluff and Mr & Mrs: three slebs are locked in a "media-free zone" for three days and, on exiting, have to pick out the genuine news stories from the invented ones. Tonight, it's the turn of Frank Skinner, Reginald D. Hunter and some poker player to sort out the headlines from the head-lies.

This is an odd one, a current affairs panel show that sounds like a weird hybrid of Have I Got News for You, Would I Lie to You? and Big Brother. Each week, three celebrity contestants will be locked away in a "media-free zone" without access to phones, television and the internet. After four days they will emerge, blinking into the light, to take their places in a television studio where The Bubble's quizmaster, the frighteningly learned and erudite David Mitchell, will question them on the week's news. But not just any news. The Bubble aims to dig out bizarre news and magazine stories so improbable they sound made up, and put them alongside fake items. It's down to the contestants to guess which ones are true. The Bubble's first participants are Frank Skinner, Reginald D. Hunter and Victoria Coren. We are told the format has done well overseas - but will The Bubble burst over here?

A new topical news format sees celeb panelists locked away in a media-free zone for three days. So far so good. Anything that gets Frank Skinner off the streets, even briefly, gets my vote.

But then, worse luck, they're let out to answer questions from quiz-master David Mitchell. Can they spot real news stories from fakes and should we care?

Other guests this week include the very funny ­Reginald D Hunter and Victoria Coren. Fingers crossed that Katie Price and Peter Andre can both be enticed to enter this media-free bubble and that a junior researcher "accidentally" loses the key.

Do we need another comedy news quiz? Clearly, yes... In this one, three celebs are supposedly locked in a media-free zone for three days, then on release are asked to guess which are real out of the news stories they are subsequently presented with. The ubiquitous David Mitchell hosts, so you're in safe hands.

David Mitchell explains why he does so many panel shows

David Mitchell, 35, is best known for his comedy work with Robert Webb on Peep Show and their sketch show That Mitchell And Webb Look. His new topical panel show The Bubble starts tomorrow night on BBC2.

Fingers on the buzzers for The Bubble

A group of comedians are locked away in a house, deprived of outside information. This is not Celebrity Big Brother but a new panel game hosted by David Mitchell.

In Radio 2's Very Nearly an Armful - a quote from The Blood Donor, as any self-respecting baby boomer will know - the comedy writer Stephen Merchant analysed their lasting appeal, with the help of Denis Norden, Ben Elton, Beryl Vertue and David Mitchell.

It was to Norden and his writing partner Frank Muir that the two working-class lads, thrown together in a TB sanitorium in their late teens, sent their first efforts at comedy scriptwriting. Norden recognised their raw talent instantly and later put them "in a class of their own". They broke more new ground than any of their contemporaries, he said.

Apart from anything else, Galton and Simpson pioneered what Norden called "the jokeless radio comedy", by which he meant a series (Hancock) which relied on situation and character, rather than an endless stream of gags. It was the beginning of the sitcom.

Its apogee was Steptoe and Son, each half-hour episode a perfect little mini-drama of aspiration, conflict and disappointment, distinguished as much by the fine playing of Wilfrid Brambell and Harry H Corbett as it was by the masterly writing of Galton and Simpson.