Derek Acorah

TV review: Hypothetical, Dave

The scoring system here makes Mornington Crescent seem perfectly logical.

Review: Hypothetical

This probably won't be such a mega-hit as Taskmaster, but everything Acaster touches tends to turn to gold, so it's easy to see this becoming an audience favourite.

You really need your fingers on the pause button for this show to fully appreciate all the on-screen statistics. And our two favourite commentators, Colin King and Terry McIlroy, play an absolute blinder tonight with, among other things, a pie chart breaking down the reasons why Pete normally visits his parents. "He's never been one to pass up the chance of some
free electricity," ­deadpans Terry.

This week, Pete (Rafe Spall), who's on his most prattish best behaviour, manages to put Anna's father in hospital and agrees to marry his Zimbabwean flatmate's girlfriend so she can stay in the country.

There's even a guest spot from Derek Acorah. What more could you possibly ask of a Friday night sitcom?

If you are a fan of Ricky Gervais then you're probably also a fan of his podcasts. They became the most downloaded podcasts of all time, with something ridiculous like eight million downloads.

Technology has yet to come up with a word for what we should call it when old podcasts are turned into cartoons and then shown on TV.

If you watched Channel 4's Comedy Gala on Easter Monday - when Ricky, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington contributed their thoughts on swimming with dolphins - you'll have seen how they, and their pointless ramblings, have been turned into Hanna-Barbera style animation. In short, it's genius.

The double bill of episodes shown tonight to kick off the series was recorded back in 2005 but given a new lease of life with the addition of pictures - and with Ricky Gervais drawn as a modern-day Fred Flintstone, they couldn't be fresher or funnier.

If this is all new to you, you'll find out tonight why Pilkington - the pair's former producer at radio station Xfm with the alleged perfectly round head - has been described by Gervais as the funniest man on the planet.

His deadpan musings on dinosaurs, monkeys in space, haunted houses and sexy metal pants are the backbone to these chats, while the other two laugh hysterically and shout him down as a gullible buffoon.

And now, for the first time, you can actually see what Karl's fantasies might actually look like. His mad theory on why air travel is intrinsically wrong, may also be of some comfort now to the millions who were affected by the volcano cloud.

The series started in the US a couple of months ago. What the Americans will have made to references to Derek Acorah, heaven only knows. Still, who cares? These three belong to us - a trio of national treasures. Fact.