Hugh Dennis

Good news: The Now Show's back

The Radio 4 comedy sketch show in which Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis offer their satirical take the on the week's news returns.

Do I detect a slightly more relaxed and free-handed atmosphere now Frankie Boyle's not around to dominate proceedings? Mock The Week still can't match 8 Out Of 10 Cats' jovial atmosphere, but it's certainly getting there. The guests all got a chance to shine, which was the main thing. Chris Addison (best known for his role in political satire The Thick Of It, but also a stand-up comedian) got a few big laughs (mainly with his suggestion that we counter a tidal wave created by the Chinese jumping simultaneously with a similar wave borne of the UK's obese children), and stand-up comedians Sarah Millican and John Bishop both made enough of an impression to prevent total domination by the regulars.

But I'm still disappointed MTW even has so many "regulars" - because what's wrong with the traditional two team captains format? It just feel unbalanced and, frankly, I've grown tired of Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons' shtick. And it still irritates me when the stand-up round features topics designed to give the guests the opportunity to reuse their stand-up routines (I mean, "Language"? The broadness of "Politics"?), but otherwise this was a fun episode - if still something you'll have forgotten about by ten o'clock.

I missed Stephen Fry's explanation of what "gallimaufrey" means, but it's apparnetly "a motley assortment of things", which basically means this edition of QI wasn't constrained by a strict topic. It made me wonder: is QI's alphabetical adherence to topics in its best interest? I know it gives the show structure and order, but there must be times when the behind-the-scenes "elves" are tearing their hair out trying to think of compelling subjects/trivia with a vague connection to the year's particular letter. God help us when we get to "Q" or "X"...

The guests this week were again rather restrained. Hugh Dennis and Andy Hamilton are both intelligent people, which can help push the show onwards without it getting bogged down in too much toilet/sexual humour, but they can also make it feel a little plodding. Still, I always like it when the guests throw in their own "quite interesting" facts, such as Hugh's story about a communist state altering their highway code so "red" meant go and "green" meant stop, but forgetting to change all the traffic lights.

Phil Jupitus continues to have a very odd presence on this show, looking half-embarassed to be there, or unsure of himself in some strange way. Alan Davies was okay, but it always bugs me when he bludgeons a joke to death with repeated play - this week, his impression of German car inventor Mr. Bentz writing his own driver's license. Funny once, not so funny the fourth time.

Frankie Boyle's been lanced, Russell Howard's wearing specs, but it's otherwise business as usual for satirical news quiz Mock The Week; a fusion of Have I Got News For You? and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, with irrelevant scoring and a weird mix of rounds that go from sitdown quiz to stand-up performances. It's all a mere conduit for ribpoking of the week's news stories, and MTW is perhaps more consistent than its contemporaries because four of the pannelists are regulars.

The downside of that consistency is that Hugh Dennis stopped being funny in the mid-'90s and Andy Parsons has never been funny, leaving host Dara O'Briain and Russell Howard to shoulder most of the comic burden. And, like a great many modern panel shows, a lot of guests just become glorified audience members, desperate to shoehorn in paraphrased segments of their standup material. This week, Mark Watson coped well as a guest (he's a veteran of this format), Patrick Kielty had the confidence to soldier through any difficulties he encountered, and while Milton Jones sometimes struggled to recycle his material appropriately, he at least didn't just sit back and do nothing. It helps that his stage persona is a spaced-out weirdo, so his weaker moments and slipups could be forgiven as part of his "act".

Alas, we'll miss the dark humour of Frankie Boyle, who recently announced his departure from the programme, but this new series of the comedy panel show retains wit aplenty in the form of Dara O'Briain, Russell Howard, Andy Parsons and Hugh Dennis.

If only because it centres so much on the precocious (yet, for the most part, just the right side of annoying) younger members of the cast, there's an obviously limited shelf to this series, centred on the chaotic everyday life of a middle-class south London family. So, who knows, this may well be both the first and last Outnumbered Christmas special.

If it is, it's comfortably up to the standard of the two full series we've enjoyed so far, as we descend upon the Brockman family - Pete (Hugh Dennis), Sue (Claire Skinner) and their unruly offspring Ben, Jake and Karen (Daniel Roche, Tyger Drew-Honey and Ramona Marquez) - on a less than blissful Boxing Day.

One of the many great things about Outnumbered is that it's lovable without being nauseating; the humour is warm, but not cloying. Everything gels. There are great scripts from Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, and a super cast: Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner as sweetly exasperated parents Pete and Sue, and a trio of astonishing child actors.

Hugh Dennis on working with the kids of Outnumbered

Hugh Dennis talks about working with the young actors in Outnumbered.

Parents-under-siege sitcom Outnumbered is a slow-burning hit that's steadily accumulated both favourable ratings and gongs (it picked up three British Comedy Awards earlier this month). Rightly so, because it's a rare beast: a comedy that captures the chaos of family life without lapsing into sentimentality. This festive episode, then, is a welcome taster for the third series next spring. It's Boxing Day in the Brockman household and, along with Santa, some burglars have squeezed down the chimney. As usual, precocious, pet-obsessed seven-year-old Karen (the remarkable Ramona Marquez) steals the best scenes - she's not only lost the school hamster under the floorboards, but takes it upon herself to make everybody else's New Year's Resolutions, with typical tact. Meanwhile, brother Ben (mop-topped tyke Daniel Roche) wreaks gleeful havoc with a mechanical hand and eldest Jake (the preposterously named Tyger Drew-Honey) is trying to find Awol grandfather Frank (David Ryall). The increasingly senile old goat couldn't be hiding with the hamster, could he? Parents Pete and Sue (Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner) preside over this pandemonium with beleaguered bafflement.

Dara O'Briain presents a festive edition of the comedy panel show. The series's regulars - Hugh Dennis, Russell Howard, Andy Parsons and Frankie Boyle - offer their reflections on Christmas and review highlights from the series. There are also contributions from other nimble-witted comedians, including Fred Macaulay, Holly Walsh, Milton Jones and David Mitchell.