Ian Hyland

If the rest of Channel 4's latest round of 4Funnies pilots provides as many belly laughs as Friday night's opening effort, Dr Brown, there may yet be hope for the future of TV comedy.

But don't ask me to pinpoint why this half-hour collection of sketches made me laugh so much. Because I might say something unhelpful along the lines of its star Phil Burgers simply has one of those faces that can crack you up.

Either way, if you hear anyone exclaiming 'Deeeeeenied!' over the next few weeks you can be certain of one thing. They watched Dr Brown too.

I hope Channel 4's executives are being kind to Jack Whitehall. Because their tale of Manchester undergraduates Fresh Meat is shaping up to be the best chance they have of establishing a long-running home-grown comedy hit. I'm not saying it wouldn't survive without Whitehall's obnoxious posh boy JP. It just wouldn't be as funny.

If you swallowed the hype, Channel 4 has finally created an animated sitcom about a British family that would rival its American counterparts. Sadly, after sitting through the opening episode of said sitcom I must say it's rather apt that they've called it Full English. Because Family Guy and American Dad would have it for breakfast.

I'm a bit torn over which is my favourite of the newer characters at BBC2's Harry & Paul. The Fifties East End typing-pool girls played in drag by Paul Whitehouse and Kevin Eldon have to be right up there, mainly because they sound like Russell Brand at his most annoyingly mockney.

But I also enjoy the 'When Life Was Simpler' films from the Fifties. The latest one featured a man being made Director-General of the BBC despite having no experience of or interest in television. Honestly. As if that would ever happen.

My favourite line of the week came in The Comic Strip's 30th anniversary reunion which, for reasons known only to the hip young fools currently running its spiritual home, Channel 4, ended up on UK Gold.

Anyway, the gag in question came during the brilliantly silly Five Go To Rehab as Adrian Edmondsen's character Dick argued his drink problem wasn't as offensive as the veganism practised by Jennifer Saunders's character, Anne: 'At least alcoholics don't take their food to other people's houses and refuse to eat what's given to them like you do.' From which I can only deduce there are more vegans than alcoholics working at Channel 4. But I bet it's close.

I'm sure BBC2 has its reasons for burying Harry And Paul at 10pm on a Sunday night. But if Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse can keep up the opening episode's 70 per cent strike rate, I'm definitely in.

Their Question Time skit was spot on, especially the bit about the panel often including a 'comedian who wants to be taken seriously'. I'm presuming it was a reference to the likes of Steve Coogan and Jimmy Carr, but let's face it: the description could also apply to any number of MPs these days.

So farewell then to BBC2's The Thick Of It. And a special '****ety-bye' to Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker. We will probably never see their like on TV again.

If I was being picky I might say I would have preferred it if Tucker had bowed out with the penultimate episode's withering government inquiry speech. But now is not the time for being picky. Now is the time to order the box set.

Hats off to the BBC for broadcasting it [Episode 6] even though it centred on an inquiry into a national scandal and contained Nicola Murray's embarrassingly timely line, 'I think it's good to have an inquiry every now and then. It livens things up a bit.'

The writing was top-class from the minute spin doctor Stewart Pearson attempted to avoid any blame for the damage parliamentary leaks can cause by arguing, 'If someone chokes on a crisp, do you issue an arrest warrant for Gary Lineker?'

Even part-time insurance salesman Chris Addison got in on the act with Ollie Reeder's 'Knowledge is power, but that doesn't mean Carol Vorderman should be prime minister'.

Tucker stole the show, though. His protestation 'Je ne remember rien' was brilliantly withering, while his climactic rant about privacy really should mark an end to that particular debate.

In fact, I'd love to reprint it here in full. Mainly because I'm sure it's the longest he's ever gone without saying '****'.

BBC Two's new Thursday-night comedy Hebburn made a promising start. It's basically Shameless meets Gavin & Stacey meets The Royle Family, only set in Newcastle.

I'm not sure about the recurring theme of mouthy Geordie lasses having drunken confrontations in ladies' toilets, though. I can't recall hearing about that sort of thing ever happening in real life.

Peter Capaldi's comedic monster, Malcolm Tucker, has surely never performed a more ruthlessly cruel demolition job than the gutting he gave Nicola Murray MP on last night's The Thick Of It. 'You have all the charm of a rotting teddy bear at a graveside' is certainly up there with this comedy's best-ever lines.

But I do have some bad news for Tucker: Peter Mannion MP has emerged as the main man this series. He's even started to swear better...