Greg Davies (I)

The offbeat sitcom returns minus a key element following the exit of Andy Samberg's titular hippy. This season two opener sees things pick up a few years on from Cuckoo's disappearance. With life moving on for Rachel (Tamla Kari) and Dylan (Tyger Drew-Honey), parents Ken and Lorna (Greg Davies and Helen Baxendale) are preparing for an empty nest. That is, until a mysterious figure from Cuckoo's past arrives. Will Twilight's Taylor Lautner be able to fill Samberg's role as the new oddball on the block?

One of the biggest decisions an up-and-coming stand-up comedian can make is to give up the day job and concentrate on performing. It means farewell to the career as a teacher (Greg Davies), doctor (Harry Hill) or sales rep (John Bishop) and suggests a belief that a job telling jokes is going to pay the mortgage instead.

Alfie Moore spent 18 years on the Humberside police force before he turned to stand-up comedy, but if It's a Fair Cop - his first series for BBC Radio 4 - is anything to go by, it was definitely the right move.

The formula for the show is that Moore swears his audience in as police officers for one night, and takes them through a real-life scenario to see what kind of decisions they would make in the same circumstances. Theft was the theme of the first instalment, with the focus on 80-year-old Maureen and a stolen tin of salmon.

This approach was clever because the laughs, and there were plenty of them, came from two different directions. For a start, there was Moore's great patter, in which he managed to mock his previous profession at the same time as demonstrating a deep respect for it. Plus his rapport with the audience/temporary officers ("Don't do the crime if you can't do the time," said one less than sympathetic volunteer) was equally entertaining.

Twilight's Taylor Lautner spotted filming Cuckoo

The US actor has swapped his role as a teenage werewolf for a part on UK TV. He joins BBC Three's comedy Cuckoo, which stars Greg Davies, and will play a mysterious stranger who turns the family's lives upside-down, after their unwanted son-in-law disappears while walking in the Himalayas.

Game Face has the potential to become a hit if it gets the green light.

Comedian Roisin Conaty and Mike Wozniak, who played Greg Davies's best mates in the hit C4 comedy Man Down, are reunited in this sitcom pilot, written by Conaty herself. She plays Marcella, a chaotic under-achiever and compulsive liar who's hoping to make a fresh start with the help of a life coach, a wonderfully straight-faced Wozniak.

Alcohol, fried chicken and an old enemy from school somehow conspire to derail all Marcella's best-laid plans. If you've caught Conaty's stand-up show or any of her panel-game appearances you'll know she's a natural (she won the Best Newcomer award at Edinburgh in 2010).

So while this pilot boasts flashbacks, bad country and western and even a cameo from East 17's Brian Harvey, it's Conaty's own brashly unsinkable personality that pulls it all together.

Interview: Mike Wozniak

Mike Wozniak is currently touring the UK with his 2013 Edinburgh Comedy Award nominated show, Take The Hit. Radio Teesdale's Peter Dixon caught up with our favourite stache-modeller to talk about the show, character comedy, the demise of BBC Three, working with Greg Davies on C4 sitcom Man Down and more.

Greg Davies: How to deal with heightism

We turn to the towering talent of Greg Davies who gives his thoughts on what not to say to the more "vertically gifted".

This Is Jinsy is one of those weird British comedies, like The League of Gentleman and The Mighty Boosh, whereupon a first viewing, it seems inaccessibly strange but, given time, you come to embrace its eccentricities.

It's a learning experience. Here, Stephen Fry joined the cast as a coiffured professor obsessed with fine hair, whose arrival bagan a string of events that culminate in an ancient wig coming to life and terrorising the residents. Of course.

There's a lot to be said for unadulterated, often creepy silliness. Jinsy's best moments are its tiny asides: someone holding a newspaper with the headline "COW DIES"; a TV show (hosted by Greg Davies in drag) called Punishment Roundup; something named The Singing Obituaries. It's very silly, but very worth it.

Featuring a talent competition judged by a dog, a truly hair-raising chase sequence and guest turns from Stephen Fry as a luxuriantly locked hair doctor and Ben Miller as a busty accountant's daughter (and her dad), life in Jinsy is as wonderfully bizarre as it was first time around. So it's a warm welcome back for Justin Chubb and Chris Bran's inspired mix of crackers characters, singing obituaries and catchy tunes. Top of the Jinsy Hit Parade in this opening double bill are the skiffle-tastic Was It You? and torch song Vegetable Tricks - and you also get to see what Greg Davies looks like in a skirt, in case you'd been wondering.

Another debut sitcom that was awarded a Christmas Special is Channel 4's Man Down. Having not been a fan of the series I approached Man Down with trepidation and mainly watched it as I couldn't find the remote control after Alan Carr had finished.

Man Down can best be described as a surreal sitcom which gets laughs from the absurd situations its characters find themselves in. Greg Davies is perfectly cast as the hapless hero while Rik Mayall provides incredibly absurd support as he revels in dressing up in a number of costumes to surprise his son. Best of all though is Mike Wozniak as Dan's only sensible friend Brian and gets to deliver a brilliant speech about this year's must-have toys for kids.

I have to say Man Down was the biggest surprise of the Christmas season as I was expecting not to laugh at all while watching. It may well have been I'd had too much to eat and drink at this point, but I still found Man Down to be a comically surreal slice of festive fun.

Radio Times review

At first, Greg Davies' debut sitcom, about a teacher called Dan who is much less mature than any of his pupils, seemed like it would merely be very funny: Davies the disgusting, massively overgrown clown, larking about amid a cast of oddballs including Rik Mayall as Dan's bonkers dad. As the series went on, though, we began to see that the storylines, characters and relationships had been carefully constructed, so that at the point where most sitcoms start flagging, Man Down just got funnier and funnier. Davies says it took him six months' full-time work to write series one - the hard work paid off.