Jools Holland

Jonathan Ross - who, depending on your taste, is either likeably energetic or irritatingly garrulous - is tonight joined by Australian actress Rose Byrne (Damages, Bridesmaids). She'll be discussing her role in the new British romcom I Give It a Year. In the studio, too, are comedian Adam Hills, whose news review show The Last Leg has become a cult hit, and entertainer Jools Holland. Music comes from Alicia Keys.

The Jonathan Ross Show was given a fairly low key launch last week given that it was the long-awaited return of a British talk show staple, and followed suit with a similarly muted episode.
Sarah Jessica Parker was candid and Adele as booming as ever but the line-up felt a little lacklustre for an opener.

This was rectified tonight however with an entertaining, albeit slightly random group of guests perching on the Jonathan Ross sofa.
Benedict Cumberbatch talked John Le Carre novels while The Saturdays were a little less prosaic with their insights into the pop industry, but Alan Carr proved the most interesting booking. An odd choice to invite a clear rival onto the show though perhaps, especially since the bespeckled comedian, along with Graham Norton, is arguably surpassing Ross in the talk show stakes at the moment.

With Friday Night With...'s pre-Jools Holland slot the BBC vehicle often saw some good live music and it was pleasing to see that this is to be kept up on ITV, with tonight's performance coming from legendary funksters The Red Hot Chili Peppers, sans departed guitarist John Frusciante.

First in the line-up on Radio 4 Extra is a new series of Arthur Smith's Balham Bash in which Smith presents music and comedy from his south London abode. When I tuned in, singer Katie Melua was hanging out in the kitchen, while Alun Cochrane offered a slice of stand-up from the landing at the top of the stairs. The laidback Smith took on something of a Jools Holland role as he strolled around introducing his guests and invited the listener to join the party.

If you've not seen Burnistoun don't worry - most people haven't, primarily because it's only broadcast on BBC Scotland and thus if you live anywhere else in the UK you have to watch it on iPlayer.

It's a shame, really, because Burnistoun is a very good show. To give you a quick summary of what it's about, the show features a range of different characters played by Robert Florence and Iain Connell in the fictional town of Burnistoun. The most famous characters are Paul and Walter, the owners of the town's ice cream van who always share a moment of high tension.

This week, idiotic Walter got petrified from watching a horror film which turned out to be Jools Holland's TV show, had to deal with a women who wanted to buy tampons and Paul tried to break up Walter's relationship with his best friend - a Breville sandwich toaster. The sketch was just bonkers but utterly brilliant. Bizarre ideas kept building on top of the other until the point that all you can do is drive your van away.

The best way to describe this show is simply 'daft'. Sketches featuring two Kenny Rodgers impersonators falling in love, a rap about shoes being left on top of bus stops, and a trailer for a horror film about a terrifying wee wardrobe are amongst some of the oddities that are on offer.

As said before, it seems baffling that such a show is not being shown nationwide, because it clearly is a hit over the border. For me, it's rather like one of those situations where they try out a TV show on a digital station before moving it over to a terrestrial channel. If it's successful, then it'll no doubt be given more public exposure. I say that, but it already is successful really, so if the BBC wouldn't mind sticking it on in England now I think we'd all be glad.

Speaking of countdowns: what exactly was going on with Alan Carr: Chatty Man New Year's Special, seemingly the only other New Year's programme that broadcasters were willing to make available in time to review? It was not, in itself, a particularly unusual choice of New Year's Eve scheduling, what with Jools Holland and Graham Norton doing the honours on BBC1 and BBC2, it only seemed right that an equally popular host was chosen for Channel 4. What is rather peculiar is the fact that last night wasn't in fact, the first time the programme had aired. It rang in the New Year on the 29th as well. Still, those forced to watch it twice could have fared worse. Carr's always a charming host, and the slightly random theme of a 1980s party (was it all to coincide with Spandau Ballet's appearance?) made it feel, if nothing else, rather festive. Still, with jokes like these ("It's all right being Dr Who but Dr Who?") perhaps a slightly longer break between airings might have been helpful.

For the past few weeks Radio 4 has been running a series of late Monday night one-off comedy shows in pursuit of a series. "Patchy" would be the best way to describe them - until this week, when The Secret World came along to show that not only can an old dog learn new tricks, some of them are better.

It reunites the Dead Ringers pair of Bill Dare (producer, writer) and Jon Culshaw, man of a thousand voices, some of which were getting a bit tired. Now Culshaw and a team of impressionists sure to become more famous than they are at the moment have come up with some new ones. Cunningly, some of them are of people whose real voices are unfamiliar.

Mike Leigh is famous, but not for his voice, so we have to take it on trust that it's him running a thriving business providing Method actors as cheap labour while they research parts. And as for Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad waking up in bed together after a crazy UN party, all we got was generic Middle Eastern accents.

This meant that the writers had to come up with things that were funny in their own right and, let's face it, the leaders of Israel and Iran in a gay love tryst was not that much of a thigh-slapper. But Peaches Geldof being shocked to discover that her father was involved in that gathering of "dad bands", Live Aid, was. As was Jools Holland trying to escape from a Misery-style stalker. And Amy Winehouse auditioning for the role of Maria in The Sound of Music.