Harry Enfield

TV: Upstart Crow, BBC2

Ben Elton's eloquent defence of the mainstream sitcom last month was illuminating, fascinating and persuasive. And in a way maybe it could be seen by some as an incidental pre-emptive strike against critics who might have their hatchets sharpened for the new series of Upstart Crow, Elton's popular sitcom about Shakespeare's early years starring David Mitchell. If that is the case though Elton needn't worry. The only thing he has to live with here is critics trotting out the "not-as-good-as-Blackadder" line.

Season two of the reliably rude royal spoof has been building to a constitutional climax only slightly dafter than the rake-stepping self-sabotage of our real-world Brexit. With the PM in a vegetative state, Charles (Harry Enfield) is poised to become absolute monarch after the rather convenient discovery of a new Magna Carta. Can he secure the endorsement of a divisive world leader who looks like a Wotsit and is keen to press the flesh with Camilla?

Preview - The Windsors: series 2 finale

The finale of the second series of the royal spoof sees power go to the heads of certain future monarchs.

No royal goes unmocked as the family plan a gathering at Balmoral. Camilla (Haydn Gwynne) wants revenge on Theresa May, and Charles (Harry Enfield, giving it the bumbling brilliance) makes waves in Scotland when it's revealed he's wearing "nae skiddies" beneath his kilt. Prince Harry's relationship with Meghan Markle reaches new heights when the actor gets a part in Hollyoaks, but Pippa plans to scupper their love. Gloriously silly stuff.

To Sandringham, for shooting! In the world of The Windsors, that means visiting Princess Anne (Vicki Pepperdine), whose shtick - a scurrying housekeeper - is among the show's funniest. Its other standout performer is Harry Enfield as Prince Charles, and this week the writers find a way to double his screen time. In the adequate subplots, Harry accidentally agrees to a duel, and Beatrice and Eugenie give a motivational talk to Port Talbot steelworkers.

The Windsors, series 2 episode 3 review

A breezy cross between a revenge tragedy, a Carry On film and an episode of Dynasty.

The Harry Enfield-led soap consistently offers a brilliantly wicked imagining of life behind closed palace doors. This week, we learn that Wills didn't actually complete his basic helicopter training ("You know the pressures on a working royal's time! Plus we would never have had that skiing holiday!"). While he tries to get his credentials, Harry's opening a nightclub, staffed entirely by his hapless relatives. Plus, can a good deed win Camilla the popularity she craves?

Preview - The Windsors

The comedy spoofing the lives of the Royal Family in the style of an American soap opera returns for a second series.

The Gentleman's Club review

The characters are certainly very funny, thanks to their social isolation and self-certainty in their out-of-touch attitudes, cheerily referring to a 'frightfully dapper Chinaman', for example. But there's really only so many variations on the theme.