David Tennant

Another wonderful fantasy from Aardman Animations, in which the Hugh Grant-voiced Pirate Captain sets sail to beat rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the pirate of the year award. When he happens on Charles Darwin (David Tennant), all sorts of landlubberly machinations threaten to sink his plan. A witty stop-motion adventure.

With the Big Yin set to hit 75 later this year, and a career taking in work as a welder, folk singer, actor and comic, an hour-long special barely seems adequate to cover Connolly's life. Nonetheless, this interview promises to reveal the comedian's thoughts on the art of swearing and the power of laughter, offer some brand new performance footage and feature famous fans including compatriots David Tennant and Andy Murray.

"I think a little bit of humour does the world a lot of good," says Billy Connolly in this hour-long tribute to his 50 years in comedy. Quite right too, and ITV has found many people who would suggest that a little bit of Billy does them a lot of good. Alongside a new interview, in which the Big Yin reminisces about his career, are video diary extracts from fans all over the world, from Lesley in Glasgow and Stewart in Bognor Regis, to Judi Dench, Eric Idle and David Tennant (or that should be: Jdui, Surrey; Eric, Los Angeles; David, London).

The boys are back - namely Josh Widdicombe, Alex Brooker and esteemed host Adam Hills - for a new series of The Last Leg, following their sterling work covering the 2016 Paralympic Games from Rio. For this inaugural episode of 2017, the team are joined by the Broadchurch and former Doctor Who star David Tennant, who is on hand to assist in their comic summation of the week's news, plus handling some of the standard #isitok tweets from viewers.

Very British Problems - very funny!

This summer I am on the lookout for funny shows to help balance the rest of my responsibilities. At the same time, I have expanding my viewing options by looking into programs from abroad. I have recently run across the perfect mix of the two in Very British Problems.

The new series of Very British Problems began this week but seems to have lost its purpose. The show began life as a very witty, observant Twitter account which would blurt out panicked and appalled little tweets about the difficulties of being a repressed British person who's trying frantically to avoid embarrassment in a world full of boors and idiots.

The humour lay in not knowing who was sending the tweets and so we could imagine it was an uptight Englishman in a suit and bowler hat, catching the 8.09 to Waterloo, perhaps resembling a stern-faced John Cleese. Or maybe it's a kindly old lady who makes jam for the Women's Institute and crochets bootees for the church jumble sale, and is quietly horrified at the manners of today's young people. We could imagine what we liked, or slot ourselves into the situations described. But transferring the concept from Twitter to TV has ruined that. Our imaginary and oh-so-typical Brit has been replaced by celebrities. James Corden, Catherine Tate and David Tennant now share their awkward moments and social embarrassments, and there is no longer room for us. We've become observers not awkward, agonised participants.

We all love Christmas but wouldn't like it every day - contrary to what the song says. The luxury of all that food, wine and excitement would soon wear off and leave us longing for an uneventful day at work or a quiet potter around the supermarket. We can only take so much wonder and joy - and that must be the reason why Charlie Brooker is relatively rare on TV.

If I was in charge, he'd be on TV constantly. BBC News 24 would be Brooker 24 and watching would be mandatory. But, as with too much turkey and Prosecco, maybe we'd soon start to groan and wilt: no more, please. I'm full! I can't take another joke. I'm woozy with these witty observations. Another gag will make me gag.

David Tennant auditioned to play David Brent's boss

Never mind David Brent, another famous David was very nearly in The Office - David Tennant.

David Tennant wants to put sushi into the titular dungeon. "It doesn't even come with chips!" "To be fair," says Frank Skinner, "you come from a place where they won't even eat raw Mars bars." Elsewhere, comedian Aisling Bea has it in for pigeons, along with adults on scooters ("like getting breastfed at 40"). But what are we to make of the rapturous applause that greets Sir Trevor McDonald's request for less queuing? Truly, the UK is going to hell in a handcart.