Hugh Dennis

This week saw Mock the Week enter into double-figures as the show entered its 10th series. Judging by the latest episode, it's set to continue for some time to come.

Without Russell Howard, the show guest starred Chris Addison, Greg Davies, Milton Jones and Seann Walsh. Out of the guests, it was Jones, with his surreal and clever one-liners, and Walsh, who came up with the best Michael McIntyre impression I've ever come across, who stole the show. The other comics had moments too, with Davies coming up with a Blackadderesque extended simile about his grandmother's use of facial products.

There was some interesting stuff from the regulars as well, such as Dara O'Briain introducing a round called: "There's No Super-injunction on our Ryan Gags", and Hugh Dennis's running joke about Sepp Blatter's name sounding like the German for "step ladder".

Annoyingly, like in so many satirical comedies, many of the jokes were lazy. Addison did one about Eric Pickles and his weight, while Walsh made one about Wayne Rooney's stupidity. Walsh also got a rather cheap laugh from making up a taunted schoolboy called Richard Poowillie.

Dara O'Briain returns to host the topical comedy show, along with regular panellists Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons. Though supposedly a competition between two teams (though O'Briain usually couldn't care less about sensible scoring), it's more a brutal contest of wit, or at least forcefulness of character, as comedians with little to say and no talent for interjecting are sidelined. This week the guests subjecting themselves to comedic natural selection are stand-ups Milton Jones and Seann Walsh, The Thick Of It's Chris Addison and Greg Davies, AKA the sardonic Mr Gilbert from The Inbetweeners.

The jokes may be less clever than in its big brother, Have I Got News for You, but Mock the Week can still serve up a few laughs. Now, as the 10th series begins, Frankie Boyle - the one who seems get a thrill out of reciting the most controversial jokes he can think of - has moved on. As has BBC Three darling Russell Howard, though as he is the least funny of the regular panel this is nota great loss. Dara O'Briain returns as host, with Andy Parsons and the quite wonderful Hugh Dennis still in their panel seats. They are joined by Chris Addison (The Thick of It, insurance adverts), Greg Davies (the headmaster in The Inbetweeners), and stand-ups Milton Jones and Seann Walsh.

There was a time when Mock the Week felt like Have I Got News for You's spikier younger brother. Its brow was low. Its comedy jeans hung at half-mast. In any given show you could be sure of jokes involving sex, drugs and royalty (or if Frankie Boyle was involved, all three at once). But Boyle has moved on and, for the time being, so has fellow stalwart Russell Howard, and the comedy in this topical panel show feels more comfortable and less subversive these days. As the tenth series begins, Dara O'Briain is still keeping order, with Andy Parsons and Outnumbered star Hugh Dennis as the key comics, ready to step forward and attempt to outgun each other on any given topic. Tonight they are joined by the smart and funny Chris Addison (from The Thick of It) and Greg Davies (Mr Gilbert from The Inbetweeners).

Video: Mock The Week starts 10th series

Actor and comedian, Hugh Dennis has finished recording the first instalment from the 10th series of Mock The Week.

He told BBC Breakfast the show is edited down to 28 minutes from a three hour recording session.

The comedian says his wife watches the finished product and gives him feedback.

Another chance to catch the first episode of series three of the delightful family sitcom starring Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner. Gran takes the Brockmans on an outing to London. Needless to say it's an agonising day: daughter Karen (Ramona Marquez) thinks modern art is rubbish; Ben (Daniel Roache) plays "spot the chav" and stabs one of the Trafalgar Square lions with a ruler; and older brother Jake (Tyger Drew-Honey) suffers serious trauma when he is unable to send a text message. A fourth series is slated for later this year.

Another chance to catch the first episode of the third series of the family sitcom that reinvented family sitcoms. We rejoin the Brockmans on a sightseeing day out in London. Scarily precocious Karen (Ramona Marquez) is grumbling that she wants to go somewhere 'more World War Two-ish', while uncontrollable Ben (Daniel Roche) is climbing on one of the Trafalgar Square lions and stabbing it with a ruler. "Die!" he shouts. "Die, Aslan, die!" Throughout, dad Pete (Hugh Dennis) wears his fixed expression of pain and confusion, like a baited bear. As a portrait of parenthood, it's terrific, even when the plotting, which includes a weary old joke involving a disabled loo, lets the side down. And the dialogue is as sharp as ever. "Look, mummy," says Karen, "I used to believe in wishes and all this nonsense, but then my wish about Ben and the hyenas didn't come true."

I am glad to welcome back this reliably inventive humorous review of the week. And relieved. Hugh Dennis and Steve Punt (not to mention their supportings artists) are in such demand on TV these days that it's a wonder they have the time to do little old radio any more (let alone work for the tiny fees). But they do and let's be glad of it. We all deserve a laugh or two at the end of yet another disaster-laden, gloomy, wintry week. And here's the show where the skits and songs can be counted on to prove it's not just you and I who think the world's gone mad.

Last in this series. Thank goodness. Next week Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis return with The Now Show, which may have its off moments but still hits more marks than it misses and, to me, seems to leave its older stablemate sounding tired and desperate. Marks of this are the ever deepening shades of blue written into chairman Sandy Toksvig's script, which induces the other comedians on the show to venture ever further into crudeness. It's not that I'm shocked. It's just that it's all so predictable. Maybe it's time to give it a rest. Or bring in a new writer.

Hugh Dennis was so boring I divorced him

Miranda Carroll, Hugh Dennis' first wife, who now lives in Los Angeles, offers an intriguing view of Dennis the man as opposed to the Dennis the hilarious performer.