James Walton

Not Like That, Like This - 'a so-so biopic'

David Threlfall's portrayal of comedian Tommy Cooper saved a mediocre biopic.

Bad Sugar, Channel 4, review

James Walton reviews Bad Sugar, a new comedy series on Channel 4, starring Olivia Colman.

Shameless, Channel 4, review

James Walton reviews Paul Abbott's Manchester-set drama which returned for the second half of its eighth series.

Alexei Sayle: Stalin, the Young Ones and my mum

Raised by staunch communist parents in 1960s Liverpool, it was Eisenstein, not Bambi, for the young Alexei Sayle. But the comic's odd childhood has made for a hilarious new memoir.

Frost on Satire: the power of a good joke

David Frost's new television show suggests that satire changes things, says James Walton. But is he right?

Terry Pratchett's Going Postal, a two-part special from Sky1 which concludes tonight, had a pretty distinguished cast too. Presumably the thesps in question were attracted not just by the money, but also by the always-welcome chance to don some eccentric facial hair and shout a lot. Then again, they could even have been attracted by the script - because the programme is enormous and imaginative fun.

Needless to say, with its origins in a Pratchett novel, the imagination does tend to the bonkers. Richard Coyle plays Moist von Lipwig, a con man rescued from hanging by the mysterious Lord Vetinari (Charles Dance, salt-and-pepper beard and moustache). He was then given the job of reviving the Ankh-Morpork Post Office, much to the fury of the man who runs the Discworld equivalent of the internet, Reacher Gilt (David Suchet, Fu-Manchu moustache, beard and eye-patch). Moist's allies include the elderly junior postmaster Mr Groat (Andrew Sachs, huge moustache) and the toothsome Adora Belle Dearheart (Claire Foy, no facial hair but obviously enjoying putting Little Dorrit behind her by smouldering sexily and generally carrying either a cigarette or a riding crop).

With these - and plenty more - elements in place, last night's episode rattled along nicely, easily passing the key test for all programmes that seek to create another world: we gradually stopped noticing how mad that world was. By the end, in fact, it seemed perfectly logical that a seven-foot clay robot should have persuaded Moist to confess that he'd been responsible for the forged cabbage bonds which ruined Adora's family - while back at the Post Office a young man obsessed with pin-manufacture was attacked by a flying monster.

We Need Answers, BBC Four, review

James Walton reviews We Need Answers, BBC Four's irreverent quiz show hosted by Mark Watson.

BBC1's new domestic sitcom Life of Riley has the bad luck to begin when the triumphant second series of Outnumbered is still fresh in our minds. By noticing the fairly obvious fact that family life is funny just the way it is, Outnumbered has demonstrated that the layers of sitcom contrivance in other shows are both tired and unnecessary, and actually smother the comedy.

Here, Caroline Quentin plays Maddy Riley, whose family consists of a nine-year-old child from her previous marriage, her new husband and his two teenagers, and a baby. Maggie last night found a pregnancy-testing kit - which, despite being unopened, instantly convinced her young Katie (Lucinda Dryzek) must be pregnant. Next, husband Jim (Neil Dudgeon) found the same kit and decided Maddy must be pregnant. And so on.

Needless to say, it's much easier to sneer at a determinedly mainstream sitcom than to write one. It's also true that Life of Riley does have some nice lines, especially when simply observing family life. The trouble last night was that with all that wildly implausible plotting to be done, there just wasn't room for enough of them. Instead, we ended up spending another half-hour firmly on Planet Sitcom: that strange world where people behave not like anybody in real life, but merely like people in other sitcoms.

Little Britain USA Review

You spend quite a lot of the time analysing what Matt Lucas and David Walliams have changed in their bid to crack America - and why. (Happily, the urinating old woman seems to have gone, along with the vomiting one.) You spend much of the rest wondering what on earth its target audience will make of it.

Sandi Toksvig Interview

As The News Quiz returns, host Sandi Toksvig tells The Telegraph why it's lasted so long - despite the 'galling' low pay she and her guests receive.