Frank Skinner

The ranty comedy show returns with a new look, a new presenter (Frank Skinner) and a new format: three guests have to compete to get their pet hates consigned to the sin bin. It all works rather well, with Robert Webb, Danny Baker and Fern Britton's banter with Skinner making this first episode feel like you're eavesdropping on a lively discussion down the pub. It's worth viewing alone for the moment the three fellas round on Fern - for slagging off Star Wars.

There's a moment when guest Danny Baker suggests that TV panel shows - "those with bottom-of-the bill comedians" - should be banished to Room 101 oblivion. It causes more than a ripple of concern. "If I put panel shows in, I'm going to be out of work, plus I don't know what'll happen to this show. We'll just have to close down," argues host Frank Skinner. And that would be a shame because the show's revamp has given it a new lease of life.

The main change is that there are three celebrity guests (Fern Britton and the wonderful Robert Webb joining Baker this time) all vying to get their pet peeves consigned to the Orwellian dumpster. So discussions are livelier and - inevitably - funnier as they squabble over each submission and spark off each other. However, you may be baffled by how many Action Man and Barbie dolls pop up as props because Skinner successfully binned them when he appeared on the show in 1995.

Kenneth Branagh turns up to talk about his latest role as Laurence Olivier in the film My Week with Marilyn - an intriguing prospect, considering how, early in his career, Branagh was often referred to as a "young Olivier". Zach Braff (from the now defunct, underestimated US comedy series Scrubs) has a play, All New People, opening in London's West End next month. And Frank Skinner, now master of ceremonies in the revamped Room 101, is on the comedy end of the Norton sofa.

The format has been revamped. Frank Skinner is in the chair and, rather than chance the quality of an edition on a single guest, they've spread their bets across a panel of three, with Skinner determining which of their peeves - growing up, film and TV, etc - will descend into Room 101. There's a less whimsical, slightly harder edge to the guests' critiques; Danny Baker rails against "cool" with a written, prepared text dripping with bile, Robert Webb lays into Jeremy Kyle with undisguised scorn and even Fern Britton has a go at the homework heaped on today's kids.

This seemingly moribund series is rebooted with a new format and host, and, on tonight's evidence, it's got fresh legs. Frank Skinner takes over as presenter; and now, instead of one celebrity naming his or her bugbears, three panellists vie for their pet peeves to be banished to oblivion. The eight-part series kicks off with Fern Britton, Danny Baker and Robert Webb naming their bêtes noires, and Skinner deciding after each round which one deserves entry into Room 101. In the past, the series sank or swam according to how entertaining the guest was - here, the banter creates sparks, as Skinner deftly orchestrates the conversation with the same verve he displays in Opinionated. Refreshingly, the panellists aren't the same old faces on the circuit, and each gets a chance to shine: Britton raises the men's ire by criticising sci-fi, and Baker provokes the others by nominating TV panel shows. Future episodes are likely to prove edgy, too, with John Prescott and Germaine Greer lined up. The schedules groan with panel shows, as Baker rightly notes, but there's room for this light-hearted offering celebrating the joy of a good old rant.

Madonna's much-trumpeted appearance last week may prove a hard act to follow, but tonight's line-up looks more down to earth at least. Frank Skinner makes his second appearance on our screens this evening, after his debut turn as host of Room 101, and Kenneth Branagh turns up after pulling out of a guest spot last month. Scrubs star Zach Braff, who's about to take his first bow on the West End stage in a play he's written, completes the line-up.

One of the small pleasures of Room 101.1 was that you learned a lot about the people who were submitting things. It was an interview by proxy. No more, though. The BBC have decided to turn it into a panel show. Why not, eh? Well, despite that annoyance, this is actually a pretty good start. Three likeable people, Danny Baker (who tries to put panel shows "a virus - Jeremy Kyle that's been to college" in and wears disturbingly bright white socks), Fern Britton and Robert Webb put their ideas to Frank Skinner, who is extremely good at this kind of thing. Be warned, however, the audience are extremely excitable and liable to applaud absolutely anything.

Room 101 is reducing the numeral of its network, moving from BBC2 to BBC1, while increasing the number of participants. Whereas previous hosts Nick Hancock and Paul Merton quizzed a single celebrity about their little list of things to be eliminated, new chairman Frank Skinner has a trio competing to delete. Friday's first panel is Fern Britton, Danny Baker and Robert Webb.

This is a big alteration - a chat-show becoming a panel game - and the presumable justification is a move to a more mainstream panel, although the obvious risk is that a show which had a distinctive premise and form has been made to look like several others. Rather inconveniently, Webb will have been seen 48 hours earlier on BBC1 in the now structurally similar Would I Lie To You?

Frank Skinner: The top ten greatest comedy double acts

From one of the most quotable funny acts of all time to a duo who loved language, Frank Skinner chooses those comedians who have most inspired him.

A superstar in the 30s and 40s, George Formby has since become a figure of mockery; a byword for fusty music hall comedy. Frank Skinner, a huge Formby fan, sets out to rehabilitate public perception of the entertainer in this documentary, originally shown earlier this year. Skinner traces Formby's career, from his time as a jockey to the boom years as a comic, where his earnings would vastly outflank those of his contemporaries. There's a sad coda to this piece; Formby died of a heart attack in his 50s, leaving an ugly legal battle over his will.