Felix Dexter

Gary Bellamy takes the nation's spiritual pulse at a festival, in an episode that may revive memories of 1970s new-age expos such as the Mind, Body and Spirit exhibition. Great to see the wonderful Felix Dexter again in various roles, while highlights include Robert Popper repping for the "Tarvu" faith ("SO easy to join"); Rosie Cavaliero as a Bellamy's Babe; and Lucy Montgomery as a Doctor of Dreams: "A lot of the other stalls are twaddle. I've got a BSc." Brilliantly funny.

Thank goodness for Bellamy's People and its 8-episode-instead-of-6-episode season! Pure character comedy, nothing on telly makes me giggle quite so much as this at the moment, and I'm not sure it's getting the recognition it deserves. A conversation about the show recently had me fighting with myself over which is my favourite character (white van man? old Humphrey Milner who's right about everything? the "reformed" criminal? every one Felix Dexter plays?) and which is my favourite performer (Lucy Montgomery is rather special, it has to be said). It's nothing ground-breaking, and not everything works, but it's impeccably performed, and it has a lovely tone about it.

Just how many characters do Whitehouse, Higson and co have up their sleeves? Last week saw this BBC2 comedy really hit its groove, with a theme of what makes Britain "great" bringing shape to largely improvised comedy. Whitehouse channelled Jon Gaunt for his rent-a-gob DJ and Higson introduced his testy history professor, both playing brilliant off Rhys Thomas' straight man. But the underrated Felix Dexter and Simon Day are this show's unsung heroes - the latter's Alan Bennettpesque poet's verse on "ethnic" cuisine was both laugh-out-loud funny and oddly poignant.

Bellamy's people aren't on fabulous form tonight. There are still lovely moments, many of them revolving around forgetful pensioner Humphrey Milner (Charlie Higson), but most of the sketches never quite achieve lift-off. When, for instance, Gary gets out of his depth with lairy good-time girl Tulsa Kensgrove and her gang of mates out clubbing in Watford, you keep waiting for the flash of satire to break through the squealing, but it never does. It's well performed, but shows like BBC3's Pulling have made women's drunken banter funnier. Paul Whitehouse is still on good form: his "sixties bad boy" Ian Craig Oldman tells a story of youthful debauchery that sounds like a racier, younger Rowley Birkin QC from The Fast Show. Then his patriotic plasterer Martin Hole gets into an argument with a parking warden (Felix Dexter) and the show breaks off in a whole new direction.

Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson's spoof phone-in Down the Line is easily one of the funniest Radio 4 shows since On the Hour, and the former Fast Showees bring its inane host Gary Bellamy (Rhys Thomas) to life as he travels around the country meeting ordinary Britons. Rather than the satire of its Radio 4-bear, the set-up is essentially an excuse for Fast Show-like sketches as Bellamy meets assorted listeners/weirdos played by Paul, Charlie, Simon Day, Felix Dexter and co. It's almost very good, but not yet as sharp as the original show.

In 2006 a new late-night phone-in on Radio 4 prompted a slew of complaints from listeners. It emerged that Down the Line, hosted by the bland yet "award winning" Gary Bellamy, was no dumbed-down phone-in, but a loving spoof engineered by Fast Show creators Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse, who voiced many of the show's bizarrely believable callers. Three series later they've found a way to bring their caricatures to TV, while at the same time gently mocking those celebrity-travels-around Britain series.

Bellamy (Rhys Thomas) sets off around the country to meet his public, from Higson's senior citizen Humphrey Milner ("Oh, I've brought you into the wrong room!") and boisterous "Lion of Harlesden" Early D (a lovely turn from Felix Dexter) to ageing "60s bad boy" Ian Craig-Oldman (classic Whitehouse). The comedy lies in the sweetly pitched mannerisms and absurdities: not a lot happens, but it happens hilariously. Credit to Thomas, too: a straight man of the old school, he manages to make everyone around him funnier.

It's not The Fast Show and nor does it try to be, but this new series, a spin-off from Radio 4's award-winning spoof phone-in Down The Line, finds Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson back together on TV for the first time in a decade, with their old mucker Simon Day also popping up in some of the sketches.

The Bellamy of the title is radio host Gary (Rhys Thomas), who sets off on a trip around the UK, encountering all kinds of bizarre, eccentric characters - many of whom, of course, look naggingly familiar.

They include a celebrity criminal, a 23-stone bed-ridden man, and a pair of posh sisters with decidedly dubious political views. Other top comic talents putting in an appearance include Lucy Montgomery, Rosie Cavaliero and Felix Dexter.

Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson have reunited for a new comedy about life in modern Britain - and this is one TV comeback I'm delighted to see.

Self-regarding Gary Bellamy (Star Stories' Rhys Thomas) is an award-winning journalist with an award-winning radio show. Now he's been released from his cosy studio and given a TV series in which he'll travel across the country to meet his listeners and find out what makes them tick.

Although headed by stalwarts of The Fast Show, the humour is more in the vein of People Like Us, that genius series featuring the now disgraced Chris Langham. It spoofs genuine "celebrity meets the public" shows brilliantly, using ridiculous links such as: "Cirencester in Gloucestershire couldn't be more different from Harlesden".

The characters Gary meets are wonderfully eccentric, with some lovely performances by the likes of Simon Day, Lucy Montgomery and Felix Dexter. And, of course Charlie and Paul - although I can't help but watch Paul's performances and be reminded of his recent spate of insurance ads.

Characters range from a 23-stone man who lives in his bed to a deluded community leader who can't quite tell Gary what a community leader does. There's the screechy Trisha Webb, who runs Gary's 'Bellamy's Babes' fan club, and lovely old boy Humphrey Milner, a self-confessed silver surfer. But my favourites are a pair of posh old biddies, who made me laugh so suddenly and hard I almost snorted tea out of my nose.

Talented comedian Shappi Khorsandi has been about quite a bit recently - whether appearing on Have I Got News for You or giving interviews about her satirist father's longtime exile from Iran and her upbringing in the UK from the age of six (a rich source for her stand-up material). So I was a bit bemused by the first of her four shows - this one's about racism. Initially sounding like a traditional stand-up with an audience, her routine is then punctuated by an interview with Meera Syal, a short set by Felix Dexter and a comedy song from Hils Barker. There are some funny observations from Shappi about the "rainbow of thuggery" in today's multicultural gangs and what being of mixed race really means. Perhaps she should do more of the talking and less of the interviewing/introducing.

New comedy series from Shappi Khorsandi, whose lilting voice and ingenue manner have brought lots of bookings on chat and panel shows, whose Anglo-Iranian background comes in handy for longer interviews (on a recent Front Row, for instance). Here she will explore four themes, talking to people whose views compare, compliment, maybe contradict her experience of being from a non-British family. Today it's racism. Khorsandi's guests are Meera Syal, writer, actress, comedian (whose early big breaks came on Radio 4) and St Kitts-born comedian Felix Dexter.