Geoffrey Whitehead

Radio Times review

Tim Vine's absence is keenly felt in Not Going Out, but Hugh Dennis's addition to the cast is a shrewd move - he fills a similar comedy foil/sounding board role for those pub chats. But he has a delicious wryness, too, which softens the blokey stuff that goes on elsewhere.

Tonight he's called on, by a very tortuous route, to help Lee torpedo a surprise anniversary party that Lucy is hosting for her parents. Her terrifyingly imperious dad (the magnificent Geoffrey Whitehead, who surely should be knighted for services to both television and radio comedy) hates surprises, while her mum just wants some fun. There's an idiotic phone call involving a fake Italian accent and lots of ludicrous crosstalk.

Radio Times review

Architects can be every bit as laughable as politicians, lawyers and the rest. But, surprisingly, there's been no architectural sitcom until now.

The scene is set mainly in Sir Lucien's struggling practice, where junior partner Matt is refusing to compromise his vision for a dream house in Carshalton Beeches. As Sir Lucien, the juicily-voiced Geoffrey Whitehead performs with relish.

The humour is quick-fire and caustic. But it revolves not so much around planning regulations and what annoys us about modern higher-and-higher thinking as confusion over words and names and, in this opening episode, Sir Lucien's trip to Baden-Baden for colonic irrigation. It's somewhat surreal unless writers Jim Poyser and Neil Griffiths have insider info.

Whether it's funnier than Jonathan Meades's recent celebration of brutalism on BBC Four is debatable.

Pam Ayres was all dewy-eyed over a new grandson, penned an ode to a mangle and reflected on the bittersweet experience of children leaving home.

Ayres' style of old-fashioned, cosy humour isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's refreshing not to have to listen to yet another comedian's political rant or personal agenda. And plenty of one-liners are equal to those delivered by Ayres' much younger comic peers. Students, said Geoffrey Whitehead, playing her husband, sleep all day - just think of them as hamsters who text.

Radio Times review

Snoring partners, downsizing with reluctance and children moving out are subjects sure to strike home with many an adult reader and Pam Ayres delivers her personal views on each of them in the comical way we have come to expect since she won Opportunity Knocks back in 1975.

Joined on stage by Geoffrey Whitehead, in the role of her long-suffering husband Gordon, this is a wryly observed selection of sketches, anecdotes and, of course, poems on what it's like to teeter on the edge of retirement. Although some of the moments are poignant, the majority are good-humoured, even risqué. Ayres obviously believes growing older does not equate with giving up the ghost.

She remains an inspiration to us all.

Lee, Lucy and Daisy spend Christmas in a ramshackle, remote country house once owned by Lee's now-dead aunt. But it's a creepy place - a chair rocks by itself, there's strange music, a locked cellar door and a legend involving an unhappy boy.

Anyone who enjoys Not Going Out's quickfire, you-can-see-them-coming gags and its soft-centred smut will be in heaven. It's hard to resist such a straightforward, coarsely old-fashioned sitcom and Lee Mack's immaculate comic timing, despite or possibly even because of the scatalogical gags. Though everything is assiduously telegraphed, just give yourself up to a bit of ribald fun, one that stars the fabulous Geoffrey Whitehead as Lucy's magnificently austere dad.

Good news: the wonderful Geoffrey Whitehead is back in the series. He plays the stern, disapproving father of Lee's flatmate Lucy, just as he played the stern disapproving father in Worst Week of My Life (which starred Ben Miller) - and every bit as well. It's a shame the script feels more strained than usual as Lucy (Sally Bretton) visits a trade conference to try to pick up new clients - "pick up" being, to Lee's horror, the name of the game.

How he tries to intervene before she can go too far and how that gets him into trouble with her parents leads us through an enjoyably old-fashioned farce. And Whitehead gets to say the line: "I used to box for Surrey, you know!" as only he can.

Lee Mack's second BBC1 show of the night also features a welcome return for the brilliant Geoffrey Whitehead. With this and The Worst Week of My Life, he's definitely the go-to man every comedy should call on to play the stern, disapproving father.

Lucy's mum and dad are encouraging her to go to a trade conference to pick up some much-needed new clients, and as she's pretty desperate for work, she agrees. But when she lets slip to Lee that she's been using him as a fake husband in work situations, he turns up at the conference and scuppers a potential lead for Lucy.

It's the most far-fetched of set-ups - even for this show - but it does (finally) lead to some enjoyable farce. And a simple gesture from Lucy at the end provides one of the more entertaining moments, proving yet again that this sitcom doesn't need to be big or clever to be funny.

A hungover Lee wakes up in bed with Lucy: "I take it you're naked as well?" she cries, horrified. "Well, I kept me socks on," he replies, "I've got some dignity." Yes, after several series of quip-tastic lusting after his flatmate, it looks as if Lee has finally got further than a kiss under the mistletoe. Good news? No - they're both in a state because they can't remember a thing, thanks to all the home-made potato hooch they drank. And they're desperate that Lucy's brother Tim shouldn't find out. From there we get a typically likeable, gag-rich storyline, helped along by the presence of peerless sitcom-senior Geoffrey Whitehead as Lucy's dad. Yes - her parents get involved.

The brilliant Bobby Ball is back as Lee's (Lee Mack) wayward father Frank in this gently amusing sitcom. He turns up on the doorstep unannounced, in a wheelchair and asking to stay. Lee wants rid but Lucy (Sally Bretton) takes pity and invites him in. When Tim (Tim Vine) and his father (Geoffrey Whitehead) drop round to watch the cricket, their relationship inspires Lee and Frank into some father-son bonding.

David Jason plays a bumbling buffoon called Guy Hubble, who becomes an accidental hero when, as Head of Security at Buckingham Palace, he rescues the Queen from her runaway carriage.

Hubble is appointed to guard his sovereign at all times. But everyone knows he's an idiot, including the high-up who appointed him (the magnificent Geoffrey Whitehead).

This new series is the most undemanding of farces, involving Jason being caught on a balcony in his underwear, hiding under tables and fighting with a suit of armour.