Joe Wilkinson

In the last in the series of Taskmaster, Greg Davies's taskees have all to play for, with an overall series winner set to be crowned out of contestants Doc Brown, Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan, Joe Wilkinson and Richard Osman. Among this week's tasks are transporting a range of groceries over a small river and into a shopping trolley, and making a stop-motion film starring a potato. To the victor, the spoils, which includes a golden bust of Davies's head.

Taskmaster: series two, episode 5 review

The final episode in this series witnesses the Taskmaster trophy finally presented, and a horror film starring, yes, a potato.

Taskmaster: series Two, episode 4 - review

In the penultimate episode of the series we witness a hostage taking, fruit hiding and vegetable constructing.

Taskmaster: series two, episode 3 review

In this week's episode of Taskmaster we see artistic silhouettes, a huge number of Calippos, and the return of old friends.

Taskmaster: series two - episode 2 review

On this week's episode of the comedy challenge show, we watch some disturbing music videos, horrible culinary habits, and learn that Joe Wilkinson looks like a battered toaster.

A new series of the show in which Greg Davies sets a series of increasingly irritating tasks for famous comedians, this week comprising Jon Richardson, Katherine Ryan, Joe Wilkinson, Doc Brown and Richard Osman. At stake and up for grabs is the most important document each comedian owns. In the case of Joe Wilkinson, it's his marriage certificate, so nothing trivial. The biggest take-home from this is that lateral thinking is clearly not a comic's forte.

Review: Taskmaster, series two, episode 1

Taskmaster is great at displaying people's laterial thinking.

TV review: Taskmaster, Dave

It is no surprise that comedians are ruthlessly competitive. What I didn't realise until Taskmaster came along was how cunning and crafty they can be when he comes to getting one over on their stand-up rivals.

New comedy Rovers sees the reunion of Royle Family members Craig Cash and Sue Johnston. Cash stars in the role of Pete Moat a die-hard fan of non-league football team Redbridge Rovers and a man who is part of a motley crew of supporters who huddle together in the team's clubhouse. Among them is his best friend Tel (Steve Spiers) who recently came out as gay and now Pete has to share him with super-stylish boyfriend Mel (Seb Cardinal). Then there's twin brothers Bruce and Lee (writers David Earl and Joe Wilkinson) who enjoy winding Pete up and the brilliant Ronnie (Mark Silcox) who runs Redbridge Rovers' very meagre club shop. Overseeing everything is Doreen (Johnston) the queen of the clubhouse who offers up pints alongside salubrious gossip about the team's captain. As well as playing Pete, Cash also serves as director as he has done on previous Sky sitcoms After Hours and The Cafe with Rovers sharing the gentle vibe that both of those comedies offered. Rovers is particularly reminiscent of The Cafe as it is set almost exclusively in one venue and features a variety of colourful characters having fairly mundane conversations with one another. Earl and Wilkinson's script is extremely anecdotal and at times is too low-key for its own good. I feel where it works the most is when the characters are discussing their love of the football team and what it would be like to get to the heady heights of the Evo-Stick Premier League. The small scale nature of the club shop was also a nice little running gag which was aided by Silcox's performance as the deadpan Ronnie. I do feel it's too early to judge whether Rovers will be a success or a failure especially seeing as Earl and Wilkinson had to introduce a cavalcade of characters in one fell swoop. But although there were some funny moments nestled within Rovers I have to say that there wasn't really one character who I wanted to root for. Whilst I'm assuming that Pete is meant to be the character we sympathise with his jealousy towards Mel coupled with his astounding stupidity meant that he was hard to warm to. It also didn't help that Craig Cash was essentially playing the same character we've seen him portray in both The Royle Family and Early Doors. In fact everyone from Johnston to Wilkinson to Spiers was playing a similar version of characters we've seen them play in superior shows which made Rovers feel a little low rent. So, while it's not without its charm, I feel Rovers is destined to nestle in the second division of British sitcoms and will never be promoted to the premier league.

Rovers, Sky1, review

Lo-fi football sitcom starring Craig Cash and Sue Johnston has its heart in the right place.