John Robinson

The folk of Mount Pleasant are all covered in snow and good cheer as is proper at this time of year. We join them at first light on Christmas morning and no one has held back on the decorations. Bianca's bought Gary one of everything from the Argos catalogue, Dan and Lisa are exchanging gifts, and Pauline and Charlie are heading for their first domestic of the day. David Bradley, Paula Wilcox, Sally Lindsay, Liza Tarbuck: it's one of the most impressive casts on British television. If you like a bit of well-crafted family fun, you're in safe hands here.

Tim is invited to the summer ball at Marcus's school but his ongoing datelessness prompts cruel taunts from Portis and the other spies in the office. Meanwhile, Phillip is ousted from the school in Mrs Godfrey's own night of the long knives while her daughter Bernice coldly swats away the boyish advances of Chris. Mathew Baynton as Chris steals this episode when he fashions his feelings of rejection into an impressive musical missile and aims it straight at Bernice's head. Silly and brilliant. Silliant.

"Just because we live on an estate, doesn't mean we're all single mums with drug problems ... I mean, obviously some of us are," says Viva, pointing at her friend Mel. Amber is the dizzy one. Holly is violent and Saz is sarcastic. They all play for the same school football team and banter for England. It's that brand of jaunty depravity made popular by Shameless but Febrezed thoroughly and nicely delivered by the young cast. Plus Dolly Wells is brilliant as their sadistic New Zealand PE teacher. In this opening episode Viva storms out when her dad and his new girlfriend make an announcement.

Never knowingly underexposed, James Corden returns to host the sport quiz that you don't necessarily need to know a huge amount about sport to watch. Corden will have his work cut out to hog the limelight on this first show of the series, probably being confined to the long shadows cast by his Olympian guests. Chief among these will be the beaming Mo Farah, while gymnast Louis Smith ups the medal count still further. Among the regular celebs, Claudia Winkleman is onside, while Jack Whitehall continues to successfully balance the amiable and the mildly obnoxious.

Four modern young witches share a house in Camden, north London in this new supernatural comedy-drama. Former EastEnder Lacey Turner stars and Caroline Quentin plays one of the witches' overprotective mums. They struggle to juggle their advertising/physiotherapy careers with being both magic and beautiful. Of course, the Camden witches have a feud going with some posh ones from west London. It's not at all sophisticated or layered in a Buffy way but decent fluff nevertheless.

Return of the dry medical comedy starring and written by Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan, and set in the geriatric ward of an NHS hospital. Kim, Den and Pippa move to ward K2 in St Jude's while their own hospital closes for a possible (but in no way guaranteed) refurb. Meanwhile, Pippa is causing her usual brand of chaos/inconvenience (inchaosvenience?) - dumping her baggage, figuratively and literally, all over her colleagues. Perfectly judged performances and great writing.

It's term two and the housemates need to find a newbie now that Paul Lamb, the Invisible Man has moved out. Kingsley is experimenting with facial hair, Shales and Oregon are over - which is awkward in lectures - and Josie has a new best friend. But what of her and the Pussy Man? Vod is on the scrounge again and Howard's got a new job at the abattoir, while JP is struggling with his best friend's latest revelation. No timid fresher, this: Fresh Meat established itself so quickly as part of the TV landscape, it's like they've never been away.

Having shown surprising acting chops in Fresh Meat, Jack Whitehall is a man presently in search of a worthy vehicle. In Bad Education - which he also writes - Whitehall stars as feckless, perpetually hungover teacher Alfie Wickers. His pursuit of the concerned, competent Rosie (Sarah Solemani) sees him spin a web of deceit in this opening episode, which concludes at parents' evening. It's funny and occasionally in creditably poor taste, but you get the feeling that Whitehall's phoning it in somewhat.

Jack Whitehall's stock has risen exponentially recently, thanks largely to his impressively judged turn as JP in Fresh Meat. If only Hit The Road Jack were cut from such adventurous cloth. A tour with a difference, it begins with Whitehall's basically harmless but low-rent stand-up, before he is "embedded" in the local community with slightly more amusing consequences (he keeps a creditably straight face while posing as an Australian rugby guru in Wales). He's a vaguely charming Jack of all trades but ultimately doesn't excel at any, save the acting.

Ruth Jones writes and stars in a new Wales-set comedy drama about working mum-of-three Stella, her alcoholic best friend (played by Elizabeth Berrington) and various other supporting characters. Jones has powerful screen appeal and her script radiates all of the charm of Gavin & Stacey, with rather fewer of the cynical set pieces that so often marred it. Tonight, Stella visits her eldest son in prison, discovers her daughter is on the pill and finds an unusual alternative when she forgets to make her young son's costume for the school play.