Gillian Reynolds

Trolls, giants and damsels abound in this clattering sword 'n' sorcery spoof, starring Stephen Mangan as Sam, left behind when all the rest of the questors go off doing the heroic action stuff. In comes Eirwen (Sophie Winkleman), a lovely maiden, saying he's saved her. But who comes next? Lord Darkness (Alistair McGowan) trying to conquer Lower Earth, if only his servant Kreech (Kevin Eldon) can work out how. Aha! Kreech has discovered a prophecy which dictates that the Lord must impregnate a hideous creature to bring forth the UnChosen One. Look out, Kreech...

In and Out of the Kitchen is irresistible. This is a sly comedy by and starring Miles Jupp. He plays a cookery writer who so closely resembles a real one, much read and seen, that it adds an extra frisson to every radio adventure yet makes it unlikely he will ever transfer to TV. The spoof recipes would deserve a health warning if they weren't so blissfully silly. Only one show to go. Don't fret. Radio 4 is soon to have even more repeats.

Love in a Glass Jar was a play by Nancy Harris about sperm donation, gently comic in intent, astonishingly graphic. I learned a lot more about sperm collection than I may ever need to know but, a third of the way through, I started to grasp that, really, it was about people and how we get to know each other no matter what barriers exist or we put up. This was a repeat. I was glad of it because, this time, I stayed with it and better understood Eve (Niamh Cusack) and her donor, Patrick (Lorcan Cranitch). I liked them and will look out for this writer in future.

I sit at home, stony-faced, like a statue in the company of pigeons.

Studio audiences these days fall about at the following: the royal family, religion, flatulence, foreigners, male genitalia, lavatories. No actual joke need be made. The mere mention of any of the above words is an absolute guarantee of mirth from those sitting there as, for instance, Dilemma is recorded. From this, I deduce they are being held hostage, each one to be released only on due production of four guffaws and a titter.

Dilemma (Radio 4, 7.45pm) is a new panel show, hosted by inescapable Sue Perkins, a sort of Moral Maze for the lace-loosened, in which comedians Dave Gorman and Richard Herring, actress and writer Rebecca Front and pithy columnist Dominic Lawson discuss such questions as "Would you provide an alibi for someone you hate?" Sketch show comedy and topical satire have so far not exactly flourished in this slot. Management fingers will be crossed for this, hoping that the audience hasn't already scuttled off to other channels.

Be warned, this isn't the real thing however much it sounds like many a TV show these days. Written and presented by Miles Jupp, it's a pretend diary of things cooked and eaten across a year by Jupp's imaginary writer, Damien Trench. It's supposed to be a diary of good food and good company, "however grisly or gristly". As it starts at New Year, the first recipe is for an explosive hangover cure, the first topic is New Year's resolutions. Damien's is to retain his professional integrity. Anthony, Damien's partner, wants to lose weight.

Alice Arnold and Jon Holmes bring the glorious fantasy radio show where amazing things happen, like all The Today Programme presenters talking together and the hunt for Melvyn Bragg, who's gone missing, lost in an In Our Time machine he's built with tips gleaned on his many adventures in knowledge. Don't listen to this sitting on a rickety chair. It may collapse under the impact of your laughter. The "interview" between John Humphrys and PM Cameron on the state of their relationship and a discussion of Rastamouse in a new role are both sublime.

This is bold. It really is live and because of that, and the time of night, it's going to be expensive (all the behind the scenes people will be on overtime). And Mark Watson wants you to join in, too, discussing the big questions crucial to people's understanding of themselves and society, looking for big answers. There's a live studio audience who'll join in, plus Watson's two sidekicks Tim Key and Tom Basden, but your tweets and emails are requested. If it ends up sounding like that spoof, Down the Line, you've been warned.

I love Rory Bremner. There are sterling comedy writers on his team here. Yet almost every joke ends in a dismally predictable pay-off. As satire on events political and financial it's too angry to hits its marks, as caricature of people in the public eye it is so obviously moulded to fit Bremner's repertoire that Gordon Brown turns up more regularly here than he has in real life for a whole year. I try to imagine Radio 4 Controller Gwyneth Williams sitting by her radio and laughing her socks off, this comedy slot having been her idea. That picture won't come. Alas.

A very funny and understated comedy show starring Diane Morgan and Joe Wilkinson, the kind you don't expect on Radio 2 but all the more welcome for it. I reviewed its first show (glowingly) three weeks ago. This is its last. It richly deserves to come back. The only question is where? Radio 2 is losing lumps from its comedy budget and on Radio 4 they mostly go for comedy that SHOUTS at you. Fingers crossed.