Jo Brand

Getting On (Wednesday, BBC Four), an understated comedy set in a drab NHS ward is luckily still going. It is telling that there is a Thick of It connection, with Peter Capaldi directing early episodes. It stars, and is written by, Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan (another stalwart from The Thick of It).

I love the washed-out almost monochrome palette, the wobbly camera work, the avoidance of a laughter track, the naturalistic dialogue.

In the latest episode earnest, politically correct former Matron turned Business Consultant Hilary Loftus (Ricky Grover) was on fine form making sure all electrical appliances were turned off as part of a new green initiative. If you have had any experience of the NHS you will appreciate that this is depressingly well observed.

Nurse Kim and Sister Den (Jo Brand and Joanna Scanlan) attend a grim hospital meeting led by the perky Damaris designed to "cascade down" the hospital's energy-saving initiative.

Its leading exponent is lugubrious Mr Loftus, who makes it his business to empty rubbish into the correct bags and check that Ward K2 isn't wasting power now it has a meter. "We will be recording in ohms and wattage," he announces, pointlessly.

Thus Getting On gives us another perfectly bleak vignette, poking a stick at the rattling absurdities of health service bureaucracy. It doesn't shout messages, it's about the small things, and it's full of heart and humanity.

A blend of truth and razor-sharp wit is the defining feature of Getting On, the wonderful mockumentary set in a geriatric ward. Written by Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine, the extended series three continues as Nurse Kim Wilde (Brand) tries to find a mentor for a training module and Dr Pippa Moore (Pepperdine) deals with the financial shenanigans of her husband. Kim, Pippa and Den (Scanlan) also battle with the latest rules on cost effectiveness implemented by the jargon-spouting Hilary Loftus (Ricky Grover).

There's indecipherable streamlining going on at St Jude's, as the staff get "cascade training" - laden with meaningless buzzwords - from Damaris on saving energy and the new colour-coded (but not quite colour-coded enough) bags for the unspeakable waste that exudes from the wards. It's just what Den needs now that hypochondriac patient Mrs Dethick is back, and her pregnancy is beginning to weigh heavy. Meanwhile, Hilary is pinballing about the ward turning lights off. As ever, Jo Brand, Ricky Grover and Joanna Scanlan are pitch-perfect.

As the second episode of this tart little anti-comedy begins, inept doctor Pippa (Vicki Pepperdine) is lost in a pod of isolation. Her husband has left her and her precious female genitalia project is in jeopardy.

Poor, emotionally illiterate Pippa; she is dismissive of everyone while being hollow with loneliness. Her colleagues Den and Kim (Joanna Scanlan and Jo Brand) laugh behind her back as they try to kick holes in the thick walls of NHS bureaucracy. For Den, this means changing her plans now she knows that pregnant staff members are entitled to a free fridge for expressed breast milk.

Vicki Pepperdine's fantastically annoying consultant Pippa continues to steal the show in Jo Brand's tragicomic sitcom. Whether she's lusting pathetically after Tobias Menzies's dashing database man or referring to groups as 'gents' regardless of their gender make-up, she leaves impenetrable jargon, small-scale chaos and widely felt irritation in her wake. Nor does Kim (Brand) reap the benefits of lending Den (Joanna Scanlon) a sympathetic ear when the latter starts to play the pregnancy card at ever opportunity. Hilary, meanwhile, is still lurking like a bad smell, even by the standards of ward whiffery in your average hospital. It's another effortlessly underplayed but very telling slice of NHS life: incisive and making its points at the same time as making us laugh - not an easy trick to pull off.

Dr Pippa Moore (Vicki Pepperdine) continues to attempt to breeze through her divorce in this charmingly understated hospital comedy tonight. Meanwhile, pregnant nurse Den Flixter (Joanna Scanlan) sharply adjusts her plans to resign when she discovers the benefits she's entitled to and Kim Wilde (Jo Brand) learns that putting herself through medical school will be no easy task.

Probably the best comedy drama currently on television, the third series of Getting On is still getting the laughs, although there's been quite a few changes.

For starters, the staff have been transferred to a new, brighter hospital. But this hasn't stopped Nurse Kim Wilde (Jo Brand), Sister Den Flixter (Joanna Scanlan) and Dr. Pippa Moore (Vicki Pepperdine) each - in their own way - trying to cope with their workload and each other. Their former matron, Hilary Loftus (Ricky Grover), has also now taken a consultancy role in the hospital, meaning he's just background noise - though he could have a say in who the hospital keeps as staff...

Most of the laughs come from the relationships between the three lead characters, helped along by solid acting and some cracking writing. Pippa had the best scenes in this opening episode, especially when chatting to some student doctors in the hope that they'd be interested in her latest medical project: an examination of "post-65 vulvas". Wonderfully funny, if slightly icky.

The drama is also coming off well, especially between Den and Hilary. This episode sees the staff going for medical check-ups, which sees Den discovering something shocking. I'll say no more.

Getting On's one of the best shows around, but as it is hidden away on BBC Four it's not given as big a profile as other shows. Maybe it might be time for a move to BBC Two?