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.

Rory Bremner and pals lampoon the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Russell Brand in a new series of the sketch show. What with the PM's manic YouTube grin, the meltdown of Britain's banking system, a couple of twerps making abusive phone calls to Manuel off Fawlty Towers and greedy MPs buying Whiskas with our hard-earned wages (eight out of 10 voters said their cats were utterly disgusted), you can't say Rory and the two Johns will be short of material for this three-parter. Superbly written and performed, this is subtitled The Last Show Before the Recovery. Oh, if only that were true.

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.

A satirical series in which the trio have played the current financial crisis for laughs, but have also conducted a crash course on the head-in-the-sand mindset of the world's highest-paid bankers as they traded in large amounts of debt.

In November last year, The South Bank Show produced a wonderful profile of the satirical veterans Bird and Fortune. During the programme, the pair did a two-handed analysis of the sub-prime crisis. Aside from being achingly funny, this nine-minute sketch provided a devastatingly accurate analysis of how the mess came about. You can still see it on YouTube, where it has already notched up (literally) millions of hits without any publicity.

It makes sense, therefore, that Bremner, Bird and Fortune should tackle the crisis in greater depth in this new four-part series. They are certain to offer a sharper - and far funnier - guide to the crisis than many an economic analyst.

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?