Dominic Littlewood

Disaster strikes this week as a geriatric rat steals Bob's wig on the morning of the Toupee Wearer Of The Year Awards. Don't you hate it when that happens? Vic is on the case, though seeing as he's hopped up on Bosh's (Dan Skinner) home-made energy drink, that might not necessarily be a good thing. Other details poking out from the shattered remnants of a plot include Beef (Matt Berry) complaining about a frying pan through the medium of song, and a guest appearance from TV's resident scam-foiler, Dominic Littlewood.

The latest offering by Dave is the new quiz hosted by The Pub Landlord, Al Murray, in which contestants fight it out to win the grand prize of a frozen chicken. The big question is, is this show a turkey?

It started off well enough, with Murray interacting with his audience like he does in his normal stand-up act, picking on individual people. However, it went a bit downhill when he introduced the "Celebrity" Top Table, which consisted of comedian Olivia Lee, footballer Peter Shilton, and Dominic Littlewood who... does whatever he does.

Also there are Murray's assistants. One is Mr. Giblets, who is a man dressed up as a frozen chicken, who is no doubt glad his face is covered to save him the humiliation of people recognising him in the street. There is also Zoe Salmon, who I have never heard of before and I will probably never hear of again outside of the context of this programme.

With regards to the quiz itself, there were some fun categories (e.g., "Salt", "Body Matters", "Moustaches") and featured questions like "which of three members of the audience carried the most change", and "how many pickled eggs were there in a jar that Frank Skinner was holding". There was also the physical "Last Chance Saloon" challenge which featured contestants playing shuffleboard using various items of pub grub.

While there are good moments this show is mostly just OK. What we want from a show with Al Murray is him to do his stand-up in character. While we get some of that, it isn't enough. Why does there have to be a quiz? Can we not just have a show in which Al Murray just does his stand-up please?

On one final note, a bit of advice for Murray - don't end the show by singing "Eye of the Tiger", it just sounds naff.

Al Murray has managed to spin an entire career out of a single character by engaging his audience with his Pub Landlord's familiar prejudices and weaknesses. Now the Landlord is back with a quiz show perfectly tailored to his needs - it's a rumbustious pub quiz, with additional physical challenges, that doesn't so much entertain the studio audience as soften them up. And with this hour-long show, there's plenty of opportunity for banter and no rush to get down to the quiz. In fact, although some of the questions are fair enough, this is not a show for quiz buffs. The clue is in the categories, which include animal noises and moustaches and in the grand prize, a frozen chicken. To be honest, we're in post-pub TV land (so why the 9pm timeslot?), and this is after hours with a vengeance. Did the guests on the celebrity top table - TV car dealer Dominic Littlewood, comedian Olivia Lee and ex-footballer Peter Shilton - have any idea what they were in for?

Al Murray returns in his Pub Landlord guise for this pub quiz-themed comedy gameshow in which contestants compete to win a frozen chicken. He's assisted by former Blue Peter presenter Zoe Salmon and a man in a giant frozen chicken costume called Mr Giblets. Those who score the fewest points in a round are branded "thick and slow" and sent to the "sin bin". Having an hour to fill, Murray spends ages bantering with Salmon, the crowd, the contestants and the celebrities at the "top table" (ex-footballer Peter Shilton, and TV stars Olivia Lee and Dominic Littlewood) before actually asking any quiz questions. It's all very silly and not remotely challenging but will no doubt entertain pub quiz fans after a couple of pints.