Isy Suttie

It's been too long since we've seen deliciously downbeat comedian Stewart Lee on our TV screens so, while we wait for him to park his Comedy Vehicle again, it's good to find him at the wheel of this new stand-up series. Promising an edgier alternative to the stable of naughty-but-nice comedians favoured by the likes of Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow, Lee invites largely unsung acts on stage at The Stand Comedy Club in Edinburgh. Opening the series, Lee introduces Henning Wehn, self-proclaimed German Comedy Ambassador to Great Britain, and Isy Suttie, Peep Show's Dobby, who we last saw putting the wind up Beggsy in Great Night Out.

Radio Times review

The popular image of stand-up nowadays is of arena tours, massive-selling DVDs and appearances on TV panel shows. But Stewart Lee wants to wrest what is known as "alternative comedy" away from the pejorative backwater where it's been languishing. In truth, that means a series of lower-profile - though very funny - comedians on stage at the Stand in Edinburgh. Henning Wehn, Isy Suttie, Boothby Graffoe, David Kay, David O'Doherty and Glenn Wool are in the line-up - and the conversations with Lee are bite-sized gems.

You'll never look at a Toblerone the same way after seeing our quartet of Stockport thirtysomethings in the run-up to a pub quiz night. Joining in the endearing comedy chaos is Paul Nicholls as an old mate who takes Glyn off for a spot of waxing at the local spa. And the shadowy presence of Bev (Isy Suttie, Peep Show's Dobby) - so far seen only when Daz visits Col - emerges with a creepy crush on Beggsy (William Ash). Can he resist her cupcakes?

Some series are about the ­characters' struggle to achieve something. Great Night Out, on the other hand, is about four blokes desperate to maintain the status quo for as long as possible.

They really don't like change, which is why in their mid-30s they're still best mates and drink in the same pub. You can be pretty confident that in another 30 years they'll still be there at the Admiral Nelson, slightly fatter, balder, but still feeling like they're 15.

This week they're temporarily jolted out of their comfortable little ruts when an old schoolmate Scott (guest star Paul Nicholls) arrives with some threatening ­opinions about male grooming and proper orange juice after tasting life beyond Stockport. Glyn's little head is turned to the extent that he even buys a pair of espadrilles. This will never do.

Meanwhile, Hodge is thrown into panic when wife Kath decides she wants a baby, but best of all Beggsy discovers he has an admirer in Colleen's weirdo flatmate Bev.

We haven't seen much of Isy Suttie, who plays Bev, before now but her aggressive pursuit of Beggsy tonight - armed and ready with cupcakes - is one of the highlights of the whole series.

Four episodes in, and the Stockport-set comedy is still struggling to catch fire - but there are enough flickering signs of life to merit a look. Hodge (Lee Boardman) gets the jitters when his wife Kath (Rebekah Staton) suggests starting a family, not helped when his plumbing results in disaster at Daz's (Stephen Walters) house. Meanwhile, Beggsy (Will Ash) isn't happy about being used as bait for Colleen's (Naomi Bentley) peculiar flatmate Bev (Isy Suttie); and an old schoolmate (Paul Nicholls) of Glyn's attempts to renew their acquaintance.

Comedy drama from the makers of The Worst Week Of My Life, with four 30-ish lads from Stockport, each cut from a different stereotype - cuckolded husband, brash divorcee, shambling singleton and erm, the other one - venturing on a night out. This week's caper finds the quartet stuck on a London-bound train with a reluctant groom, and on cuckolded husband's anniversary, too. Light on gags but strong performances (including turns from Ricky Tomlinson and Isy Suttie) elevate this into watchable territory.

This new sitcom comes from the same writing team that gave us The Worst Week Of My Life, but despite a cast which includes Ricky Tomlinson as the local pub landlord, Great Night Out offers more gentle and much more obvious laughs.

Set in Stockport, it's a male bonding comedy about four ­life-long friends and Stockport County supporters played by William Ash, Lee Boardman, Craig Parkinson and Stephen Walters.

Their not-so-great night out this week finds them in Manchester's posh Midland Hotel attempting to celebrate the fifth wedding ­anniversary of their unofficial leader, Hodge.

The cast, which also includes Susie Blake and Isy Suttie in peripheral roles as well as Jessica Gunning as the Friend From Hell, should provide plenty of material for more misadventures each week. But when the biggest laughs of the episode go not to any of the leads but to a character billed only as Train Attendant, then ­something's gone a bit wrong somewhere.

I can't say I'm fond of children's comedy. I'm probably the only comedy critic who isn't that fused on Horrible Histories, I don't watch CBBC and I've never watched CBeebies before in my life - until this week.

The Cow That Almost Missed Christmas, a one-off show on CBeebies, is a comic retelling of the nativity story. The story is told by animals in or visiting Bethlehem as Mary and Joseph arrive into town. Known that something big is happening around town, an excited cow called Marjorie (Isy Suttie) and her chicken friend Brian (Johnny Vegas) sneak away from their home to attend the 'big party'.

On first viewing, I tried to prevent my inner QI pedant from wanting to correct all the commonly held mistakes about the nativity story (the fact there wasn't a census; there were no animals present at the birth of Christ; there weren't three "kings" - they're wise men), but after getting all that under control, I really did enjoy it.

There's the visual humour - such as the sight of Brian the chicken wearing a leotard and a giant afro, and Mary's donkey playing cards while she is visited by the Archangel Gabriel - to the rather clever jokes. For example, the chickens insist their stable is a barn because it has both a manger and an outside loo. In another scene, Marjorie askes how far some weary travellers have come: "Rome? Alexandria? Milton Keynes?"

This may be on a small channel devoted to the under-fives, but The Cow That Almost Missed Christmas is a funny show that you can watch with everyone. Certainly worth a watch if you haven't seen it already.

Having Jez fall in love with Dobby has been the genius idea of the latest series of Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong's never-disappointing sitcom, which climaxes tonight in some pretty unsavoury places - not least Super Hans's flat. Dobby (the splendid Isy Suttie) is offered a job in New York, but should she stay or should she go?

Written and illustrated by the team behind the bold, funny children's book The Cow That Laid an Egg, this animation tells the Christmas story through the big doe-eyes of Marjorie (Isy Suttie), a Bethlehem cow. She hears about a street party and sets off with a chicken called Brian (Johnny Vegas) to join the fun.