Graham Linehan

A strong premise for this sitcom by Steve Delaney and Graham Linehan: Michael Baker, an author of rather dry books is commissioned to write a biography of his dead father, a famous comedian of the 1970s. Research duly leads Michael to his father's double act partner, Arthur Strong. Rory Kinnear is great as Michael Baker, but Arthur himself (Delaney) seems to be not so much a character as some cliches about elderly people, wearing a hat. What follows is mainly a procession of Last Of The Summer Wine-style "funny business".

Previously a minor cult on Radio 4, Count Arthur Strong makes the leap to the small screen courtesy of Graham Linehan (Father Ted). He has co-written the TV version with Steve Delaney, who plays the title role.

It's a bit of a self-consciously bonkers affair, Strong being the kind of over-the-top character who is the very definition of Marmite. Strong's speciality is mangling the English language until it screams for mercy - and you might be doing the same.

Graham Linehan interview

The man behind the hit sitcom Father Ted on Catholic guilt, the power of Twitter and how he put The Ladykillers on stage.

TV commissioning: the debate rages on

The IT Crowd writer Graham Linehan, Peep Show's Sam Bain and actor James Corden among those to defend executives' role.

Graham Linehan: 'I've come to hate the church'

He is a master of the sitcom, but as Graham Linehan brings yet another comic creation to the screen, he admits he would never write Father Ted now.

Richard Herring's favourite podcast guests

Ahead of his new podcast series, we talked to Richard Herring about his favourite guests from previous episodes.

Simon Day and Ralf Little join The Ladykillers cast

Graham Linehan's The Ladykillers is heading back to the West End over the summer with a new cast which includes Simon Day, Ralf Little, Angela Thorne and Chris McCalphy.

A mere pilot episode, but in our list because this was the show that finally harnessed and distilled the animal comic talent of Matt Berry. Previously best known as the mad boss from The IT Crowd (where Graham Linehan wrote his lines - here they were co-written by Father Ted's other creator, Arthur Mathews), now he was fruity actor Steven Toast. Toast's humiliations included auditioning for the part of a gay, corrupt detective in a prison visiting room (because the director had been sent down for making racist remarks on his previous job) and a howlingly funny scene where a voiceover job forced Toast to spend the whole afternoon saying one word over and over. Would Toast of London make a hit series? "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeeee-eeeees. YES! Yes. Yes."

The 100 Funniest People On Twitter

We asked our 75,000 followers to nominate the Tweeters that regularly made them laugh - the ones that were frequently mentioned got added to the pile.