Jasper Rees

Miranda Hart returned with a Boxing Day special to kick off a third series. Like many a comedy before it, the shtick is to take a daffy comedienne and fictionalise her neuroses as entertainment. Essentially postmodern slapstick, the sitcom trades in laughing at its own pratfalls, which in this episode consisted of Miranda tripping over things, getting drenched by things, getting her clothing stuck in things and, as ever, eating sweet things. Such fun? Yes, but a little of Miranda's infantilised portrait of 30something singledom goes a surprisingly long way.

A Young Doctor's Notebook, Sky Arts 1

The comic texture is mostly of the relentless, high-octane variety typical of Russian satire.

Misfits - Series 4 preview

A fourth series sees a badger cull of probationers with special powers.

Getting On, series 3, BBC Four

The NHS comedy is in rude health as it moves into a smart new hospital.

BBC Four's Getting On strikes the funny bone

BBC Four's new hospital comedy Getting On is the first comedy in decades that has got us cackling at the NHS.

Q&A: Writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson

Fifty years on, the creators of Steptoe and Son explain its enduring appeal as the classic sitcom is revived onstage.

Vexed, Series 2, BBC Two

Second outing for clueless cop comedy on the schedulers' naughty step.

Steptoe and Son's guardian angel woman

The writers of the legendary TV series Steptoe and Son tell Jasper Rees of an extraordinary twist in the life of their comedy creation.

Armando Iannucci on Veep, interview

Armando Iannucci, creator of The Thick of It, tries to convince Jasper Rees that the female vice president in his new White House satire is not Sarah Palin.

Tom Hollander on Rev

The BBC comedy Rev has put the urban vicar on the map. Tom Hollander talks about a heavenly role.