Ian Wolf

Written by Guy Jenkin (co-writer of Drop the Dead Donkey and Outnumbered), Hacks is a satirical comedy about the phone hacking scandal.

This comedy wasn't as funny as it could have been for one simple reason: what happened in real life was much funnier and shocking than what happened in this programme. I know this to be true personally. During the actual phone hacking scandal I thought, "There's no way that this can get any weirder." Then I found out that one of my old university lecturers had been arrested on suspicion of phone hacking and, well, you get the point.

The thing with the phone hacking scandal is that it's so ridiculous and stupid that i''s almost impossible to think how you can make it even funnier than it really was. For me, the funniest thing in the whole show was this world's version of an enquiry in which the Murdoch-esque owner (played by Michael Kitchen) was attacked with silly string and then the attacker was nearly beaten to death by his owner's wife (Eleanor Matsuura).

Before I start I should point out that I've never really been a huge fan of Lenny Henry, but I must admit that The One Lenny Henry wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. For me his stand-up was better than his sketches, particularly the material about film piracy and trying not to be funny when performing Othello.

However, most of the sketches were a bit dull, lacklustre in places and in several cases thought he was overshadowed by those alongside him; in particular Peter Serafinowicz and Omid Djalili.

On a final note, during the show Henry gave a short rant about obituaries, saying that when he dies his will probably read "Premier Inn Bloke Dies." I'd just like to say: "Whose fault is that exactly, Lenny?"

This week the BBC attempted to re-launch Radio 4 chat show I've Never Seen Star Wars, where guests try out things they've never done before, for television. Why they needed to do so I don't know.

The TV version was first broadcast in 2009 on BBC Four with the host of the original radio version, Marcus Brigstocke, still hosting it. This new "pilot" was hosted by Jo Brand, and I do have to say that this edition does look better than the original series. The set is much crisper and cleaner, and they kept the original theme tune from the radio series rather the altered version from the first TV series. However, they still kept the annoying musical inserts between each item. They aren't needed and they end up just get up your nose.

The guest for this new edition was Stephen Fry. In this edition his first time experiences were his first ear piercing (an experience which gave a score of 8 out of 10), putting together flat-pack furniture (1 out of 10), watching Only Fools and Horses (9.5 out of 10) and boxing (10 out of 10). My favourite section was the furniture sequence, during which he sweat so profusely his skin looked like a waterfall. He looked like Lee Evans in the middle of a gig.

I've Never Seen Star Wars was an enjoyable show, but I still don't understand why they needed to replace Brigstocke with Brand. She was a decent enough host; but so is Brigstocke and I don't think there was any need for such a change...

This new studio-based sitcom pilot from Channel 4 starring Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller is best described as a decent effort, but probably not worth returning to.

While the fact that it has a live audience would be enough to make most reviewers vomit in disgust, for me the main problem with this Edwardian sitcom is that it pales into insignificance following the BBC's showing of The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff last week.

Like the latter, Felix & Murdo uses silliness and satire as a focal point for its humour - my favourite moment was the cash machine operated by a young boy inside it - but it just wasn't as good as The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. Of course, The Bleak Old Shop... has had a lot of practice - what with it first starting off on radio - and if it's given a full series it may improve, but I doubt it.

On the plus side, it was good to see Marek Larwood playing a straighter role than normal. It would be nice to see him continue in straighter acting as well as his more humorous and bonkers roles.

Shooting Stars fans will no doubt be keen on seeing at least one vestige of the surreal panel game live on in this Comedy Showcase pilot - which has already been commissioned for a full series in 2012.

Dan Skinner plays the award-winning burger van owner Angelos, making his own somewhat shambolic show alongside his friends Gupta (Adeel Akhtar), Kenny (Seymour Mace) and Margaret (Hannah Walters). The show features sketches, interviews, songs and audience participation.

As with any sketch show, these are always measured on their "hit and miss ratio". I would say that it's certainly more on the hit side, especially with it's range of physical and visual humour.

Yes, I know it's not the most sophisticated, but it's just pleasing to see.

Everything from the opening silhouette of Angelos at a mike, which turns out to be a chicken drumstick, to him taking a bath in the house of an unsuspecting audience member, is just... pleasing. And no doubt the more troublesome sketches will be ironed out in the forthcoming series, which should be well worth a watch.

It's odd for a new sitcom to start with a Christmas special, but The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff has. Clearly the BBC has faith in it.

Perhaps that isn't surprising. Being based on the popular Radio 4 Dickensian sitcom Bleak Expectations is already a good enough start. Throw in a cast of, amongst others, Mitchell and Webb, Stephen Fry, Katherine Parkinson and Pauline McLynn into the mix then you should end up with a wonderful piece of work.

Robert Webb plays Jedrington Secret-Past, the owner of The Old Shop of Stuff, London's leading retailer of miscellaneous odd things. The special revolves around his attempts to pay off a certain debt he owes to evil solicitor Malifax Skulkingworm (Fry) before London's three great alliterative bells (Big Ben, Massive Morris and Tiny Terry) ring in Christmas Day.

Anyone familiar with Bleak Expectations will know the sort of humour to expect. It's silly and unashamed of it. This is the only show to feature such things as a bird known as the tinsel tit, Santa Claus on a crucifix, The A to D of London and a man being arrested for crying. Some critics may think that this programme is too silly, but I say sometimes you need something silly to lift up your spirits.

My only problem with this show is that I'm somewhat perplexed by the fact that they didn't just simply adapt the original Bleak Expectations for television, rather than create a brand new project. Yes, I like Jedrington Secret-Past and Malifax Skulkingworm, but I like Sir Philip 'Pip' Bin and Mr. Gently Benevolent too. I'd love to see them appear on screen some time...

If a documentary's purpose is to makes you want to find out more about the subject then The Many Faces of Les Dawson was a huge success.

Dawson is one of those classic comedians that, annoyingly, I haven't paid as much attention to as I should have. That's a shame, really, because there's a lot to like about him.

The fact that he had to overcome the adversity of poverty and was selling vacuum cleaners for years and years until he became famous was new to me and an interesting segment of the show.

However, I think the thing I most like about his early career was that he appeared on Opportunity Knocks - and failed to win - but became just about a bigger success than anyone else who appeared on it. Even back in 1967, comedians were proving just how stupid and pointless talent shows were.

There were a few other fascinating factual nuggets in this show, too. The fact that Dawson's show Sez Les was the only TV show that John Cleese did between Monty Python and Fawlty Towers was a revelation. I never knew the two of them worked together until now.

Yes, he is manly known for mother-in-law gags and deliberately playing the piano badly, but there's much more to Les Dawson than that, as I've just found out.

Radio weekly #7 - Mark Steel's in Town

This week saw the return of the multi-award winning stand-up radio series Mark Steel's in Town, in which the socialist comic performs some specially tailored stand-up to the locals of a particular town.

Marcus Brigstocke's upper-class student twit has been on Radio 4 for nearly a decade now. Things have changed over the years since he first arrived on air, though. Gone are the days of ex-public school idiot Giles Wemmbley Hogg (two ms, two gs) causing chaos around the world, with him now running his own travel agency GWH Travvel (mix up at the printers) in his native Budleigh Salterton.

The first episode of the fifth series sees Giles running for mayor in an election manipulated by American entrepreneur Donald Crump (I wonder who that could be a reference to) who plans to destroy the town and turn it into a seven star resort. Despite thinly-veiled satire, Giles is a great character. His idiocy appears to know no bounds, from being unable to put on his Velcro strapped shoes, or selling his car because he couldn't get around a bollard in a car park.

The situations depicted are also highly amusing. The opening scene takes place on the local golf course, which, due to budget cuts, is being shared by the TA, resulting in spontaneous appearances of new bunkers. It seems that the show has won the right to return.

This panel show is returning for its eighth series, the fourth to feature Victoria Coren as host. The series began with guests Mark Steel, Christopher Biggins and novelist Jessica Berens (whom I've never heard of).

For those not familiar with the show, in each programme the guests talk about a normally held assumption and argue against it. In this week's edition the statements they had to argue against were: "Pantomime is an outdated art-form,", "Drunken displays on our nation's streets are a sign of national shame," and "It would be nice to live in a house like Downton Abbey."

While Biggins is obviously passionate about pantomime, not surprisingly it was Steel who was the funniest on the programme, especially with his idea of doing a panto version of King Lear. Berens seemed to add little to the programme, though. Obvious solution - have more comedians and less novelists. Not much else to be said.