Jane Anderson (II)

Radio Times review

Anya's life is not good. She is desperately trying to keep her father's tattoo business afloat, while caring for the difficult and visually-impaired man himself at home. She could really do with some help on both fronts.

It seems as if her prayers have been answered when she swats a tiny, darting creature that oozes out the most remarkable-coloured ink. Within a matter of days, her client base is growing, with people dazzled by the creative, vibrant tattoos now on offer. Life changes for her dad too - his eyesight improves and his mood matches it. But Anya's magical ink supply decides to fight back. The pixies, for it is they that have been supplying her with their lifeblood, hire a lawyer.

Ed Harris's script is comical and fantastical, but with every fairy's demise comes a Brothers Grimm-like cautionary note that you don't get anything for nothing in this - or the pixie - world.

Radio Times review

What is it with comedians and getting married this week? Milton Jones "launched" his own wedding business in yesterday's show, and now Jason Cook offers advice on the things one really ought not to include in a best-man's speech - what the bride is like in bed being a prime example.

When he was writing this series, Cook posted a request on his website asking fans to send him examples of what they have done in stressful situations, so while his "advice" is funny, it stems from real mishaps.

Radio Times review

An unusual venture from Paul Whitehouse, who co-wrote and co-stars in this new series about a community psychiatric nurse's working day and the clients she visits in their homes. I struggled with Whitehouse's voice as the first client, which sounds like he is pinching his nostrils together as he talks, but the character he is playing soon shifts from being a silly voice to a heartfelt examination of loneliness. I think this series is a slow burner that will warm us with familiarity.

Radio Times review

The English language receives a shakedown as Milton Jones exercises his word play to left-field extremes that make Lewis Carroll seem tame. Sometimes it is a simple description - like calling a church "a huge stone refrigerator" - that sets his mind wandering. But when he starts playing with the sound and meaning of words, the fun really starts.

In this opening episode he decides to launch a wedding business, but for Jones a groom is someone who works with horses, not a husband-to-be. The comic and dramatic support from Tom Goodman-Hill, as Milton's long-suffering flatmate, is invaluable and there are some particularly fine moments in a running theme about the bride looking like Robert De Niro. Their attempts to work De Niro film titles into every conversation with her are superb.

Radio Times review

Snoring partners, downsizing with reluctance and children moving out are subjects sure to strike home with many an adult reader and Pam Ayres delivers her personal views on each of them in the comical way we have come to expect since she won Opportunity Knocks back in 1975.

Joined on stage by Geoffrey Whitehead, in the role of her long-suffering husband Gordon, this is a wryly observed selection of sketches, anecdotes and, of course, poems on what it's like to teeter on the edge of retirement. Although some of the moments are poignant, the majority are good-humoured, even risqué. Ayres obviously believes growing older does not equate with giving up the ghost.

She remains an inspiration to us all.

Radio Times review

Stephen Fry and Daniel Rigby return for a new series of the gay equine epistolary romance, set in the Napoleonic War. Fry's hearty voice is perfect for the French stallion Marengo, while Rigby is the more camp, hysteria-prone English steed Copenhagen.

Introduced by Tamsin Greig, this week's letters include the famous words of Abba "at Waterloo, Napoleon did surrender" spoken with knowing deadpan by Daniel Rigby, who shot to fame when he beat both Matt Smith and Benedict Cumberbatch for the 2011 best actor Bafta for his role as Eric Morecambe in the BBC drama Eric and Ernie, but is now playing the geeky Simon in the BT advertisements!

When I spoke to Carl Cooper, the producer of this series, I asked how much of the material for this edition - Kevin Bridges interviews fellow Glaswegian comedian Frankie Boyle - had to hit the cutting room floor. "It was a tricky one, content wise," he conceded, but you'd never know it from this brilliant edit.

All right, you might have an inkling when Boyle starts talking about beaming porn onto the outer walls of primary schools - not a practice he supports, takes part in or suggests, I should add, before the green biros come out to start an "appalled from . . ." letter.

For the most part, the conversation is on why the controversial performer has decided to stop - spending time with his family became more appealing than being under constant scrutiny for every word he said or wrote. There's an interesting section on why Boyle hates comedy panel shows where he reveals how scripted and planned they are, and how much he liked to drop a grenade into such proceedings.

He's certainly not lost his precocious comedy gift and shows like this are evidence that he can be put before a microphone without bringing a broadcast company into disrepute. I'd like to go on record now that he should be a guest editor on The Today Programme next year.

The longevity of their working and personal relationship tells in the entirely natural flow of conversation between Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It's like opening the door on two schoolgirls in an unstoppable stream-of-consciousness natter and not being told to get lost. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Dawn French says: "'Tis the season to be jolly, after all, so please do join us. It would be rude and silly not to, wouldn't it?"

So, they might talk about their favourite vegetable or which celebrity is the most adept at snogging. The content is unpredictable because it is not scripted - just ideas springing forth, being nurtured and, if necessary, crushed with the force that only a mother knows how to use. Star guests are guaranteed, not the least being fellow comedian Victoria Wood.

If nothing in this show makes you laugh get a friend or relative to check that you're still alive.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb have lost none of their comedy momentum: the series continues as energetically as it started last week. This time, the running sketch is Mitchell as the "Radio 4 sommelier", with suggestions for a wine that will augment the most laughs in each section of the show. The most unexpected hilarity comes in a scene set in a tavern close to Count Dracula's castle where the endless list of vampire lore - ward them off with water, crucifixes, garlic etc - is given a very funny new twist.

A final word of praise for the wonderful Olivia Colman, whose skills as a comedy actress are put to good use.

Anyone who witnessed David Starkey's altercation with Victoria Coren Mitchell on Question Time earlier this year will not be surprised to learn he is namechecked not once but twice in this brilliant sketch show. David Mitchell proves that revenge is a dish best served cold and seasoned with plenty of laughs.