Julia Raeside

Two sitcom one-offs launch another Sky comedy season of new work. The first, called "30 And Counting", features two friends trying to help their broken-hearted chum get an internet date and feels a little old-fashioned. At 9.30pm, the second - "Officially Special" - is lifted by Katherine Parkinson's central performance (as a world records official with a crap love life), and some pretty good writing. Miss Wright (starring and co-written by Isy Suttie) is the stand-out of the series. Look out for that on 4 April.

The last in the series of the Sue Johnston-led family comedy. It's the day of Liam's pirate-themed birthday party, and he is terrified of pirates. Everything is going to plan, until Paula (Elizabeth Berrington) picks up a cordless drill and all hell breaks loose. Which is less exciting than it sounds. Eileen's friends arrive to save the day and Ray (William Ash) gets ready for a rare visit from his parents, while Maurice uses the occasion to butter up Eileen. It hasn't been the subtlest of comedies, but the cast were great.

The former chief exec of Channel 4 goes in search of the origins of the joke and attempts to discover its earliest example. So he starts in Liverpool with comedy legend Ken Dodd. Trawling history for evidence of what tickled our ancestors, Grade discovers it was basically the same mother-in-law gags and references to anal wind we all love so much now. Interesting contributions come from Tim Vine and the ever-sharp Barry Cryer. Seriously, he must sleep in an amber cave.

Are Anna & Katy the new Vic & Bob?

The UK's funniest new sketch duo are in the surreal lineage of Reeves & Mortimer. But it's been a long road from Edinburgh to Channel 4.

Ricky Gervais's programme continues. Tonight, Derek is played by a sad-eyed puppy in a paper hat. He calls an ambulance when he finds an injured baby bird in the garden, and later there's a death for him to get sad and sweetly confused about. The character of Kev, with his exact mimicking of Gervais's stand-up voice, is a constant reminder of who you're really watching, so it's impossible to feel anything but bowel-twistingly awkward. Gervais playing humble is as convincing as David Cameron eating a pasty.

Benidorm writer Derren Litten launches a new comedy with the help of an outstanding cast including Rebecca Front and Frances Barber. Alison (Front) is Leighton Buzzard's slimmer of the decade and manager of The Spa, a supposed haven for the stressed but actually rather shrill and brightly coloured. The formidable Barber plays her boozy friend Ginny. No previews were available, but if those two can't provide the plumpers and fillers to Litten's trademark jolly-but-flawed scripts then no one can.

A new series of comedy shorts launches tonight, written by (and starring) notable types such as Johnny Vegas, Katy Brand and Rufus Jones. In Floyd, the first part of a double bill, Charles Dance plays an ageing roadie; he's followed by Jessica Hynes as a befuddled Tory councillor in Patricia. Both central performances are superb, but the 10-minute format is tricky with so much exposition and character to pack in. They work as thumbnail portraits, but feel as though they don't go anywhere.

Stella's home is fast becoming a refuge for errant wives as this second exemplary series continues. Her daughter's fallen out with her med student husband, and sister-in-law Paula needs some space from Dai. Meanwhile, russet love god Rob is back in Pontyberry to cause trouble for both Stella and the local rugby club. The only slightly weak link is Paul Kaye's ridiculously OTT Scandinavian life coach, who comes to town to charm the locals into attending his self-help seminar. Apart from that, brilliant stuff.

Feels like they had the title first, then made a show around it. Scott (The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison) works at an all-night vets, half-brother Joey is up to his eyes in gambling debt and their friend Cozzo (Marc Wootton) is a MacGyver-style vending machine repair man. In a far-fetched set-up, they go into business as clandestine suicide facilitators. It's a comedy, so it has to deal with the whole self-ending thing very lightly, which doesn't work at all. Harold & Maude balanced comedy and suicide perfectly but this can't make up its mind whether to laugh or cry. Quite uncomfortable.

Nicely done adaptation of Rae Earl's real 1990s teenage diaries. Earl was an unstable, overweight teenager in Lincolnshire when she was sent to an institution for four months during a nervous breakdown, while her mum told everyone she was in France. Sharon Rooney is outstanding as the girl desperate to fit in, have sex and escape her unhelpful mother. It is funny, features all the 90s indie you could want, and the direction really is exquisite. The bit when a sausage thwangs slowly into someone's cheek is worth the budget alone.