Jack Whitehall

Agreeable standup and Fresh Meat star Jack Whitehall moves the Edinburgh fringe chat show he did with his dad (a former theatrical agent) to BBC Three. It's Adam Buxton and Bad Dad for the under-30s. And their first two guests are quite the mixed bag. Disdainful Newsnight prober Jeremy Paxman lines up next to right-barrel-o-monkeys paranormal investigator and actor Danny Dyer. No previews available, sadly, but Paxman with his tie off is always good fun.

Jack Whitehall's star continues to rise and, rather endearingly, he's inviting his dad along for the ride. Having written a book and done stand-up together, Michael (a theatrical agent) and his son have bagged their own chat show. If the guestlist for tonight's opener is anything to go by, it should be both eclectic and hilarious. Imagine, for example, Jeremy Paxman's face when he was told he would be sharing airtime with Sir Daniel of Dyer?

But a word of warning. It's not the first time a comedian has had their parent on the show. Maybe it's kinder to use Adam & Joe's Bad Dad as the barometer, rather than the presenter's mum on The Matt Lucas Awards. Preceded by a live Whitehall gig at 9pm, Backchat may yet shed the curse of the BBC comedian-led talk-show that has beleaguered everyone from Sarah Millican to Rob Brydon.

Backchat, episode one, BBC Three - review

Jack Whitehall and his father Michael's BBC Three series is a Whitehall farce that's surprisingly funny.

Jack Whitehall reveals what his dad is really like

All-conquering comedian Jack Whitehall doesn't really need to bond further with his dad, Michael. As fathers and sons go, they're cool, as in warm.

For the debut of his brand new chatshow, Jack Whitehall's got the two hardest men on British TV sharing a sofa: Jeremy Paxman and Danny Dyer.

Guests aside, this new series is all about another double act - the one between Jack and his 73-year-old father, Michael, a former showbiz agent.

You might have seen them paired up on the Million Pound Drop, but that didn't really give you much idea of Whitehall senior's dry sense of humour and poker-faced delivery.

They've previously done a show together at the Edinburgh Fringe, and they've just published a book called Him And Me - a joint memoir in which they write a chapter each.

In the chat show role of second banana, Michael acts as saboteur, even ganging up with Paxman to point out Jack's failings as an interviewer, as a student and as a son, generally.

"It's literally like having two of my dads here," wails Jack at one point.

Danny Dyer's colourful language could be the reason why this is now being screened half an hour later than originally scheduled.

There's no shortage of chatshows on TV right now, but this is different enough to carve out its own territory.

How Jack Whitehall saved Never Mind The Buzzcocks

It's fair to say that Jack Whitehall is having a moment. As well as Fresh Meat, Bad Education and his new Backchat series co-hosted with his dad, Jack Whitehall was the latest host on Never Mind the Buzzcocks on Monday. And a fine job he did, too.

Jack Whitehall and his dad provide big laughs

Overall, I have to say that I rather enjoyed Backchat and it definitely provoked a lot of laughter from yours truly.

So what was it like bringing up Jack Whitehall?

Michael Whitehall, irascible father of Britain's most rebellious young comedian, reveals his laid-back approach to keeping his stand-up son Jack in line.

Is it just us or has this new series of Fresh Meat not quite got going yet? It couldn't be boring if it tried, but with the Kingsley-Josie-Heather love triangle struggling to achieve comedy lift-off (haven't we been here before with these three, anyway?) and Vod subdued by Javier's presence, it isn't quite hitting the heights either.

It's still full of cherishable moments, of course; mostly courtesy of JP (slightly too expertly portrayed by Jack Whitehall), but they aren't quite coalescing into anything completely satisfying. Tonight, Vod announces a slightly counter-intuitive scheme for getting shot of Javier, there's more romantic confusion for Howard and Josie continues to waver over her course before alighting on pharmacology - to Vod's explosive delight.

With promising scenarios establishing themselves, we can see good times around the corner. But they're not quite here yet.

Channel 4's Fresh Meat has become part of the telly furniture. When that happens to a popular drama, the characters sometimes sit around on actual furniture and do little more than chat.

This can work, depending on the depth of our love for them, but now and again it turns out indulgent, if not disastrous - remember how badly This Life ended? Reconvening for a country house weekend, a favourite show expired through a combination of fierce hotel thermostat and crummy writing. Anyway, Fresh Meat returned for a third series with a lot of sitting around, though of course this is what students do all the time.

They loafed about in the flat, in the union bar - and best of all in Josie's digs in Southampton, where she'd transferred to forget about Kingsley. Only Kingsley was in bed with her and, discreetly, they were "doing it". Oregon was also in the bed because there was no room on the floor, so she said: "I'm having an involuntary threesome." JP was on the floor and he said: "Right, that's it, I'm having a wank." This idea caught on as Howard and Vod woke from their subsidised-beer stupors. "Let's have an orgy!" roared JP. "Come on, it's all been leading to this. Let's just throw ourselves into a sex pie!"

Puerile? Yes. Funny? That too. We know from Peep Show that writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain can do third, fourth, fifth series. These boys have staying power; much more than any course-hopping student fancying yet another gap year. And just because plum-coloured trousers have passed through their post-ironic phase, and just because lots of men who aren't posh wear them, and just because Made In Chelsea has given us real upper-class twits to laugh at, that doesn't mean that JP has outlived his comic usefulness.

He wasn't getting enough sex; in pie form or any kind. He decided: "I'm pulling out my privilege." To the host of the Southampton party, a traffic-lights party no less: "Would you kindly announce to your flatmates that a man with a Coutts Gold Card is in the house!" To a girl he fancied: "I could take you to a place on the Kings Road where Prince Harry got a handjob off an assistant manager of Abercrombie & Fitch." To Howard who, incredibly, secured a date with the girl he fancied: "I don't mean to be rude but she's a proper human being. You're the Pig Man of Arbroath." JP is a fabulous fool, played with utter conviction by Jack Whitehall.