Jessica Hynes

Given the success of Sky1's Little Crackers and the broadcaster's reputation for giving its talent a free creative hand, this new series of short comedies comes as no surprise. Both Floyd and Patricia demonstrate the pros and cons of this approach, as good ideas are allowed to drift without a firm editorial hand.

Floyd (Charles Dance) is a retired tour manager living with his son's family and stuck in a weed-induced loop of nostalgia and misplaced rebellion. Dance has a ball in an unfamiliar guise and there are a few chuckles, but also an over-reliance on the classic rock soundtrack to segue between scenes that seldom last longer than 30 seconds.

Later, Jessica Hynes casts herself in a spectacularly unflattering get-up in Patricia, the story of a local Tory councillor with fingers in pies, head in clouds and feet in mouth. When a snafu envelops a new housing project, a traffic accident and her uppity new press officer, she's singularly ill-equipped to cope. Again, the laughs are gentle but the series potential is such that we may yet see Floyd and Patricia again.

A new series of comedy shorts launches tonight, written by (and starring) notable types such as Johnny Vegas, Katy Brand and Rufus Jones. In Floyd, the first part of a double bill, Charles Dance plays an ageing roadie; he's followed by Jessica Hynes as a befuddled Tory councillor in Patricia. Both central performances are superb, but the 10-minute format is tricky with so much exposition and character to pack in. They work as thumbnail portraits, but feel as though they don't go anywhere.

A new series of comedy shorts - all set in the same location - opens with the entertaining Floyd, which stars Charles Dance as a retired rock band manager now living in suburbia with his uptight daughter (Amelia Bullmore) and son-in-law (Hugo Speer). Written by Mark Warren and Fraser Steele (Never Mind the Buzzcocks), it captures the rebelliousness of the ageing rocker and Dance is wonderfully grizzled in the role. Less successful is Jessica Hynes's Patricia, in which she stars as an issue-averse local councillor. After causing an accident on her way to work, Patricia is greeted by a demonstration against her plans to build luxury flats in place of a nursery school.

Hugh Bonneville was at the centre of my favourite dramatic creation of the year, Twenty Twelve. His character, Ian Fletcher, was head of the Olympic Deliverance Commission.

"Deliverance" was a typical word for members of the commission to use. Throughout the series, the level of debased language was high, if you follow me.

Until the actual Olympics arrived and ruined everything by being delivered rather better than the show had led us to expect, the bunch of blunderers portrayed by the show looked and sounded as if they could have stayed up there forever. My favourite cretin on the squad was Siobhan Sharp, played by Jessica Hynes. Some critics thought that her hooting patter was unlikely but it matched a lot of the PR stuff to be heard in what I am increasingly reluctant to call real life.

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The only laughs come from the film's title and Jessica Hynes as a ridiculously pretentious TV hostess.

Chris Morris's scathing satire Brass Eye, Jessica Hynes and Simon Pegg's brilliantly offbeat Spaced, Victoria Pile's gloriously surreal Green Wing - Channel 4, it's fair to say, has reeled out a number of memorable comedies since it launched in 1982. Part of C4's Funny Fortnight, this lively two-hour programme counts down its top 30, as voted for by readers of the station's website. "Rude, radical, and irreverent, over the last 30 years Channel 4 comedy has taken us on one hell of a ride," intones the narrator, with no shortage of hyperbole. Though the tone, of course, is self-congratulatory, there's still plenty to enjoy here, not least the terrific archived footage, which reminds you why these show's have such an enduring appeal. Interspersed with these clips are hilarious insights from an impressive array of talking heads: among them, Tamsin Greig, Sally Phillips, Al Murray, Charlie Higson, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes, who says about Spaced: "When I think about all the things I've done, that was the most intense, the most fun, the thing I'm most proud of." One caveat: how did a show as derivative as Star Stories make it on to the list?

The very British skill of laughing at ourselves

Twenty Twelve is a gold medal standard British comedy featuring a hideously hilarious performance from Jessica Hynes.

The best sitcom of 2012 (and 2011) comes to an end tonight.

Yes, it's time to wave a teary farewell to Twenty Twelve ([y]BBC2[/y], 10pm).

Amid nonsensical PR-speak, the calamity-ridden organisation makes its final blunders. There are so many good things about this show.

Like Jessica Hynes as the wonderful Siobhan. Someone please give this woman her own spin-off.

With a certain sporting event looming, it's the last ever episode of this marvellous mockumentary. As the Olympic Deliverance Team prepare to hand over to the Live Team, last-minute panics still need resolving. The fireworks planned by Danny Boyle for the opening ceremony will trigger the Army's ground-to-air missiles. Charging stations for the official Olympic electric cars work so slowly, the entire fleet will soon be stationary. And the special "Big Bong" peal of church bells, supposed to ring nationwide, has so far attracted only two entries. Cue BlackBerry-addicted "branding guru" Siobhan (Jessica Hynes) salvaging the crisis by roping in a celebrity. Will she land Sting or settle for Aled Jones?

Just to add tension, three colleagues have applied for the same post-Games job, with the shortlist about to be announced. Come handover day, Lord Coe isn't around to make his planned speech, having been "called away to argue with animal rights groups about a sheep", so Ian (Hugh Bonneville) steps in. Can he make it a rousing send-off? And will his excruciating but rather moving romantic tension with PA Sally (Olivia Colman) be resolved? Smart, superbly played and painfully close-to-the-bone.