Dawn French

It would take more than a waistcoat full of explosives to kill off Psychoville's cast of grotesques.

Series two opens with a funeral for a clown, but as we say RIP to Mr Jolly - the children's entertainer-turned-suicide bomber - a new mystery arises concerning a missing locket belonging to the Ravenhill Mental Hospital's sadistic Nurse Kenchington.

Fans of Psychoville will know better than to expect this plotline to be solved in any conventional sense.

Instead, just gorge on the details as Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith carry on twisting the horror genre into unexpected shapes like so many balloon animals.

So we welcome back serial killer David Sowerbutts, angry clown Mr Jelly, Dawn French's bonkers midwife and toy collector Mr Lomax.

Imelda Staunton's secret agent returns too, chanelling the spirit of Judi Dench in the Bond movies and there's a new character to populate your nightmares: The Silent Singer.

A reminder of the much-loved, quintessentially English sitcom is combined with the story of how it came together and what the series, which first aired in 1994, achieved, as it followed the cheering misadventures of Dawn French's passionate country vicar. Cast members, including French ("the heart and soul of the show"), and creator/writer Richard Curtis spill the beans.

Behind the Britcom - Dawn French on Richard Curtis

Over the next couple of weeks, leading up to the March 2011 PBS premiere of Behind the Britcom: From Script to Screen, our show on paying tribute to the writers of British situation comedy, will, hopefully, give you insight into those writers who's work has created friends and situations that have come in to your home for years.

It takes a special kind of love to move into the lodger's room in the attic while your wife makes hay with her fancy man in the master bedroom. But that was the peculiar domestic set-up at the conflicted heart of Hattie, the true - yes, true - story of Carry On comedy legend Hattie Jacques.

Ruth Jones certainly looked the part of Jacques, all twinkly eyes and comfortable cleavage, her sunny smile masking the frustration of a career cul-de-sac. 'I know my casting; I'm the frigid fat girl,' she complained, acknowledging her role as the nation's favourite chubby, a 1960s Dawn French, if you like.

But though she gave a good impression of warmth, Jones's Hattie strayed a touch too close to heartless bitch for this remarkable story to fully convince. The heart of the tale belonged to wronged husband John Le Mesurier, played by Robert Bathurst with just the right measure of unqualified love and ruffled dignity. 'He's too vague to be unhappy,' claimed Hattie, granting herself licence to cheat, but Bathurst's nuanced performance turned Le Mesurier's vagueness into a self-protective shield.

As a period piece Hattie worked superbly, its glimpses of Carry On film sets, with Marcia Warren scene-stealing as an embittered bit-parter ('I'm sick of this batty old lady s***') a diverting treat. But we didn't get enough of the self-esteem issues that bedevilled Jacques and led her to jeopardise a happy marriage by falling for a devilishly handsome wheeler dealer who made her squeal between the sheets. She fell rather too easily.

Desperate Romantic Aiden Turner certainly looked the part, all moody scowl and hairy chest, but his gor-blimey accent was comedy working class. 'I'm not a bit of rough!' he exploded but that's exactly how he came across, fine for a lusty leg-over but hardly a prospective long-term partner. Which was why Hattie kept her husband in the house to talk to, during the intervals between the sex olympics.

As I said, peculiar. It fell apart when Le Mesurier met a new love, though everyone remained remarkably civilised, and Hattie's bit of rough ultimately left her. It was all quietly sad and a noble attempt to tell a tricky tale. But I never quite fell for it.

Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are Radio 2's red hot (now that they've stopped doing TV) signings. The big coup is having Miranda Hart among the special guests. As she is undoubtedly the best new TV comedian in ages, sharper than Donal McIntyre, wittier than John Bishop, infinitely funnier than Alan Carr, more likeable than all three, this should be fun, especially as she'll bring her real-life mother for the Me and My Mum segment.

Radio Times review

Half an hour in real time, in the house of a middle-aged couple (Alfred Molina and Dawn French) who have Just Got In from work. No scenes outside. No other characters. Few traditional "jokes". Is that the recipe for the year's best sitcom? Yes, because comedy is character and these characters were exquisite.

With writers Emma and Beth Kilcoyne having nailed the peculiar rhythms and catchphrases of long-term cohabitants, almost everything this melancholy but sweetly supportive pair said could raise a low-key, warm titter.

But the series wasn't content with being a perfectly observed micro-comedy about marriage. As that melancholy took over, and Val and Roger's charming vulnerability assumed a darker, more dramatic hue, we learnt that they were bound together not just by domestic convenience, but by grief. The searingly sad fourth episode, where the nature of that loss was revealed, was the best half-hour of telly of 2010 in any genre.

Running nightly this week are this year's seasonal shorts little crackers from Sky One, which annually tries to make up for the dearth of decent original drama and comedy from January-November by gorging us with a festive selection box featuring some of the best-known names in the business.

This time they've got the likes of Victoria Wood, Catherine Tate, Stephen Fry, Kathy Burke, Julian Barratt, Jo Brand, Bill Bailey - oh, the list goes on, basically anyone who's ever appeared on a panel game is either appearing in, writing or directing one of these 12-minute films, mostly based on autobiographical stories about their childhoods.

And like a selection box, there are a few yucky praline noisette ones. David Baddiel's film is as annoying as he is, though it does feature a good impersonation of Record Breakers star Norris McWhirter by Alastair McGowan, who must have been delighted to get a chance to do an impression he probably last did as a child. Chris O'Dowd has a dull grumpy Santa story and Dawn French oddly casts herself as the late Queen Mother.

But there are some nice strawberry cream ones too: Victoria Wood's is a sweet, nostalgic tale, Julian Barratt's teenaged heavy metallers are quirky and Kathy Burke's memory of meeting Joe Strummer is endearing. Anyway, they're all over so quickly that even the ho-hum ones are watchable enough - shame though that for Sky, decent original programmes come barely more than once a year.

A nightly season of short autobiographical films featuring some of Britain's best comic talent opens tonight with stories by Victoria Wood and Chris O'Dowd. Dawn French, Stephen Fry, Bill Bailey, Kathy Burke, Jo Brand and Catherine Tate are among those writing, narrating and starring in these seasonal dramatisations of their lives, often with stories recalled from their childhood. It's a bit hit-and-miss. Wood's is on first, though hers is the only story not to feature a younger version of herself. The IT Crowd's O'Dowd follows with an amusing story of why as a boy he thought Santa was a "big weirdo".

Video: Comedian Dawn French on her new passion

Actress and comedian Dawn French has just written her first novel, A Tiny Bit Marvellous.

She spoke to BBC Breakfast about how much she enjoyed writing it and what her plans are for Christmas.

Dawn French in new relationship

Comic Dawn French has revealed she is in her first steady relationship since divorcing Lenny Henry.