John Bird (I)

Rory Bremner, John Bird and John Fortune take their satirical scalpels to the election. With three shows (tonight, tomorrow and Tuesday) in which to poke political fun, the trio keep things topical by recording each programme on the day of its transmission. Bremner provides impressions and analysis with Bird and Fortune adopting their usual guises as senior political figures.

The three satirists continue to cast their jaundiced eyes over the recent financial meltdown and the failings of new Labour with a rage that hasn't been seen since the sleazy fag end of the last Conservative Government under John Major. Some of Bremner's impersonations, particularly Tony Blair and Ken Clarke, are almost uncanny, and there is a series of wonderful George Parr interviews between Bird and Fortune, especially those with John Bird as a smooth and unscrupulous banker. But the surprise star turn in the show is Gillian Tett, who - as assistant editor of the Financial Times - gives an entirely straight interview with Bremner about the early-warning signs of crisis. It's when you stop laughing that you realise she was being serious.

Rory Bremner interview

For the moment, budget cuts mean Bremner is recording themed specials rather than the topical series that needs weekly recording time. People say nobody saw the financial crisis coming but he has sketches going back to 1996 in which John Bird and John Fortune lampooned the whole City culture.

Impressionist Rory Bremner and his regular collaborators John Bird and John Fortune have, arguably, become the kings of biting topical satirical comedy. And in this new three-part series, everything is fair game. MPs and their expenses, the current financial disaster and Gordon Brown's much-derided grin in the video he recently released on YouTube get the skewering they so richly deserve.

A new three-part series from Rory Bremner, John Bird and John Fortune focuses first on the economic recovery, or lack of it, as well as looking askance at Gordon Brown's frightening smile and the "Sachsgate" affair. This was recorded in advance of the full horror of the MPs' expenses scandal; that will no doubt be explored in future weeks.

It is surprising that this radio-TV crossover about the venality of PR folk hasn't been more successful, especially as it stars Stephen Fry and John Bird. Here the eponymous masters of spin Prentiss McCabe try to make a tabloid newspaper more successful. Go on, laugh. It won't kill you.

"Are you clapped out, exhausted and shagged? Are you flabby, flaked out and flatulent? Are you just too tired, fat and sad to have a life? Then watch BBC TV. Does your brain hurt? Do you want to come home and collapse and rest your weary head? Then watch BBC television. It makes no demands on the brains at all."

The spin doctors of Prentiss McCabe are back for a final series of Absolute Power (6.30pm, Radio 4), written by Mark Tavener. Things get off to a bad start when Martin McCabe (John Bird) makes the fundamental error of telling his most important client - the Beeb - the truth about itself and its audience. Can Charles Prentiss (Stephen Fry) dig him out of the hole?

Devotees of Prentiss-McCabe, the most underhand, crooked and downright malevolent firm of political PRs outsideof reality, will be downcast to know that this is the last series for radio. So revel while the going is good (and while we anticipate the usual move to television, after Mark Tavener's creation made a successful fleeting visit a few weeks ago). Stephen Fry is in typically fruity top form as arch-manipulator Charles Prentiss, while John Bird is the slightly dithery but equally cold and calculating Martin McCabe. Tonight's episode gets the series off to a topical start, as Prentiss-McCabe, former servants of New Labour, find themselves representing the BBC.

The good news is that this ripper spoof of political PR is back on radio after its successful foray into television. The bad news is that this is the last time Mark Tavener's tales will grace radio. But then, that's what successful transitions to TV do for you. As before, Stephen Fry is Charles Prentice, a man so low he has to reach up to tickle a snake's belly, and John Bird (above, with Fry) is Martin McCabe, a representative of old-school PR, but no less venal for that. It is a testament to the power of spin that Prentice and McCabe can do the same job for new Labour as they did for the Tories - although they do feel uncomfortable about it.

Other than that it's good to note that someone at the Beeb also feels that February is the worst month of the year - the fag end of winter but still too far from spring - and that we need some special laughs to get through it. Thus the return of Absolute Power (February 5, 6.30pm). This Stephen Fry/John Bird dissection of the dark arts of PR has made a successful transition to TV, with the result that this, the third series on radio, will be the last, so cherish it.