Kara Tointon

Preview - Henry IX

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the duo behind classic sitcoms Porridge and The Likely Lads, are back with a new three-part series on Gold.

Henry IX, UK Gold, review - 'return of sitcom classics'

Clement and La Frenais' latest sitcom is stuffed with gags.

A dastardly duo investigate crimes on a sunny Spanish island in this hilarious series of comedy capers.

Bradley Walsh and Kayvan Novak (Fonejacker), head up the cast as expat journalists trying to play detective and stay out of trouble at the same time.

The series also boasts a stellar line-up of cameo appearances, including Paul Kaye, Tracy Ann Oberman, Jack Dee and Kara Tointon.

Law & Order: UK actor Bradley said he thought the sitcom would appeal to families, so it's a shame schedulers have put it on so late. But it's worth recording.

The action starts when undercover reporter - and master of disguise - Woody (Novak) is forced to flee Britain after being framed by his corrupt boss.

He goes on the run to find Brutus (Walsh), his former mentor at the newspaper and the one man he can trust. Brutus, now living a quiet life running a bar (called El Baro) in sunny Spain, is less than thrilled to see Woody.

But in the end they join forces to investigate local crimes.

It's a bit like Magnum, P.I. meeting the cast of Benidorm.

"I wanted the Magnum look, but without the enormous moustache," said Kayvan, about the show.

"But it's nice to be in something without wearing a balaclava or prosthetic mask."

And Bradley said: "I'd spent so many years being a downtrodden detective, standing on Hammersmith Bridge at six o'clock in the morning, getting rained on.

"So I thought, why not go and do that in the sun!"

In this opener, Melody (Emma Pierson) asks Brutus to help her find her husband's millions. But there's a catch. The only living thing who knows where the money is hidden is Teflon, his talking parrot - and the parrot has been kidnapped.

Can they track down the bird-napper before it's too late?

While some of BBC3's other long-running sitcoms have been somewhat, well, awful, Ideal soldiers on, managing to be sometimes brilliant, oft-times puerile and always interesting. In the first episode Johnny Vegas is joined by guest stars - weirdly, the usually reticent and annoying Paul Weller comes across as quite playful and the ever lovely Kara Tointon (still wearing Strictly make-up) is her ever lovely self.

As for the plot, Moz wins back his Jenny but she's joined the police force, which makes things difficult. It's not perfect but you can't be too hard on something with full-on musical moments, some good jokes and some underplayed poignant drama too.

Johnny Vegas's puerile comedy about hapless small-time dope-dealer Moz has managed to make it to a seventh series. It's not that the antics of Moz (Vegas) and his dope-head clients aren't funny (they frequently are), it's just nothing much ever happens. In tonight's series opener, which features guest appearances from Paul Weller and Kara Tointon, Moz plots to win back his true love Jenny - until he discovers she has joined the police force.

Ideal: New series features Paul Weller and Kara Tointon

Dope opera Ideal makes its long awaited return to BBC3 on Thursday 26th May - and there will be some extra special guest stars knocking on Moz's dingy door.