Jack Seale

Radio Times review

Ironically, the season of goodwill might be the only time of year you can get away with comedy as rude and crude as this. There's a panto atmosphere as Tate's misanthropic pensioner returns, in front of a live studio audience, for two new rampages.

Having beaten up a blind veteran in the street, Nan must complete an anger management class or go to prison. This doesn't stop her needling her therapist (Warwick Davis) and bullying the other members of the group. When Tate is on form she can wring a guilty laugh out of anyone; when she isn't and the script falls back on Nan just being nasty, it's the opposite of joyful.

Radio Times review

Hard times on Nan's estate: developers are circling, trying to evict tenants or buy off the luckier residents who, like Nan, own their flat. When the corporate vultures' oily representative Charles Willmott (Adam James) says she can make a bit of cash, she immediately moves to the dark side: "We're bringing in a new breed of residents. The fashionistas. Russian oligarchs. Frank Lampard."

But Nan and "Wilmott-Brown" are, of course, destined to fall out. It's so much more satisfying to see Catherine Tate's creation turn her ire on someone who deserves it: that, and a riotous scene where Nan farts luxuriously on live television, compensate for some gratuitously offensive jokes.

Radio Times review

No comic actor ever wrinkled their nose or pushed up their spectacles with better timing. Ronnie Corbett's gifts are lauded by a biography strand that's previously given warm tributes to Robbie Coltrane, Les Dawson, Judi Dench and indeed Ronnie Barker. Interviews and clips aim to bring out the secrets behind the success of The Two Ronnies, and Corbett's rather bleak solo sitcom, Sorry!

There's plenty to explore from the years before his TV career: when Corbett appeared on The Frost Report as a fresh-faced, talented newcomer, he was actually 36 and a veteran of the clubs. Before that were his days as a teenage organist - no, that's not the set-up for a Two Ronnies newsreader joke - and his 1952 film debut in You're Only Young Twice.

A seasonal episode of the show that - like the Twitter account it grew from - does pretty basic observational comedy, but does it pretty well. On TV, it helps that the status of the contributors is bewilderingly high: sitting in various lovely interiors tonight are David Tennant, James Corden, Rich Hall, Romesh Ranganathan, Catherine Tate and Danny Dyer. Among the agonies wryly shared are how much to pay carol singers and when to abandon a bad party.

Julia Davis's cavalcade of cruelty, violence and suggestions for how Jane Austen might have described vaginas reaches the end of a relentless two-parter. Graham adores Helene, a desire thwarted by his estranged wife and Helene's new suitor, the witchfinder-y pastor. The cast give their all, notably Rufus Jones, whose depiction of Graham's impotence is immensely ballsy. But most comedies spend whole episodes building up to the sort of vulgar explosion Hunderby rams into every scene. Less is sometimes more.

Christmas is cancelled! The double-length special introduces a slightly against-type Brian Blessed as a subdued Santa, and a perfectly cast Richard Ayoade as rubbish villain The Snowman. This icy fiend has atrocious bad-guy patter ("Snow you won't!") and a dastardly plan to overcome his apparent vulnerability to mild heat. Can Danger Mouse and Penfold thaw Earth before Christmas morning? Stay alert for a Walking in the Air gag that's a killer, even if you're five and don't get the reference.

Radio Times review

Ross can still trade blows with Graham Norton: the night after the BBC One host had Carrie Fisher on his sofa, Wossy has another Star Wars star, Harrison Ford, on his. That's the cinema event of the season covered. As for TV, David Walliams has, via the circuitous route of writing books that lend themselves to sparkly dramatisations, become a festive fixture. He's here to chat about Billionaire Boy, which forms part of BBC One's heavyweight schedule on New Year's Day.

But, quick! Hide the jellied fruits! Jamie Oliver, whose campaign against excess sugar is gathering speed, is on the bill, too. He will, however, surely say a little indulgence is OK. Jess Glynne provides the music.

Radio Times review

A lightly sparkling edition of the stand-up showcase, although without too much disrespect to the comics on the bill, a Christmas Apollo doesn't mean a host of bigger names. Josh Widdicombe, after a year of ubiquity that's included sitcom and topical comedy as well as stage work, gets a very warm welcome for a decent observational routine about going home for Christmas to a single bed. Before him are the ribald Tanyalee Davis and Hal Cruttenden, who's always a little edgier than his camp, cuddly persona suggests.

The host is ventriloquist Nina Conti, doing her now-familiar improvisation using audience members as dummies.

Radio Times review

It's "Black" Christmas Eve at the discount supermarket Valco: as well as bargains being snapped up by hordes of feral shoppers, there are new and familiar faces in the sitcom that attracts top-quality comic actors, then doesn't do quite enough with them. Gavin (Jason Watkins) has become a Scrooge-like hard man, denying his staff a party and prowling around for vulnerable team members he can corral into working on Christmas Day. Will the return of Julie (Jane Horrocks), the tender guidance of rival store manager Cheryl (Sarah Parish) or the arrival of mysterious head-office enforcer Frank (Richard Wilson) lead to a softening of his spirit?

Radio Times review

For the second year running, the indefatigable comedian hosts a cheery variety show, filmed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Dara O'Briain, Dame Edna Everage and surprise America's Got Talent winner Paul Zerdin provide laughs to go with McIntyre's own zippy observations about the tiny absurdities of a family gathering. Ellie Goulding and Tom Jones are the musical guests, with other celebs dropping in to surprise, and perhaps prank, the live audience.