James Corden

Although most of Victoria Wood's work since 1985 had been for the BBC - including her sketch series As Seen on TV and the sitcom dinnerladies - she fell out with the corporation in 2009 when her seasonal specal, All the Trimmings, commissioned for Christmas Day, was dumped in a lesser slot without consultation.

Possibly because of this, only ITV was able to gain access to the writer-comedian's closest colleagues - including Julie Walters, Duncan Preston and Celia Imrie - for Let's Do It: A Tribute to Victoria Wood. There was also a suspicion that, in relation, the BBC might have been mean about releasing clips: there was so little material from dinnerladies and As Seen on TV that the opening titles had to be used as illustration.

Despite smart use of DVDs of stage shows and clps from a 1996 South Bank Show, the talking heads between the extracts adopted the now standard TV obit-show tone of rave about the person in the grave. James Corden explained that "she just made a lot of people laugh". Sir Lenny Henry averred that "she was just brilliant", while Jim Broadbent siad: "You just think, God, what a special person!'"

Attention was rightly paid to Wood's epic comic song, The Ballard of Barry and Freda. But, rather than reference to its double internal rhymes or climactic triple rhymes or the comic effect of domestic detail (lagging, grouting, flameproof nightie), we got a string of celebs calling the song "brilliant" and David Threlfall[/o] declaring: "Is there no end to this woman's talent?" Well, sadly, Dave, yes, there was, which is why an ITV crew is in your dressing room.

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The new series of Very British Problems began this week but seems to have lost its purpose. The show began life as a very witty, observant Twitter account which would blurt out panicked and appalled little tweets about the difficulties of being a repressed British person who's trying frantically to avoid embarrassment in a world full of boors and idiots.

The humour lay in not knowing who was sending the tweets and so we could imagine it was an uptight Englishman in a suit and bowler hat, catching the 8.09 to Waterloo, perhaps resembling a stern-faced John Cleese. Or maybe it's a kindly old lady who makes jam for the Women's Institute and crochets bootees for the church jumble sale, and is quietly horrified at the manners of today's young people. We could imagine what we liked, or slot ourselves into the situations described. But transferring the concept from Twitter to TV has ruined that. Our imaginary and oh-so-typical Brit has been replaced by celebrities. James Corden, Catherine Tate and David Tennant now share their awkward moments and social embarrassments, and there is no longer room for us. We've become observers not awkward, agonised participants.

We all love Christmas but wouldn't like it every day - contrary to what the song says. The luxury of all that food, wine and excitement would soon wear off and leave us longing for an uneventful day at work or a quiet potter around the supermarket. We can only take so much wonder and joy - and that must be the reason why Charlie Brooker is relatively rare on TV.

If I was in charge, he'd be on TV constantly. BBC News 24 would be Brooker 24 and watching would be mandatory. But, as with too much turkey and Prosecco, maybe we'd soon start to groan and wilt: no more, please. I'm full! I can't take another joke. I'm woozy with these witty observations. Another gag will make me gag.

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