Keith Allen

It takes quite a script to make Bradley Walsh seem mannered, and the likes of Kayvan Novak, Jamie Demetriou and Keith Allen vanish into the background, and I can only surmise that the actors fancied a spot of filming in the sun. Neil Webster and Charlie Skelton's sitcom told of an undercover reporter on the run on a Spanish island.

Episode three of the likable, sometimes surreal fish-out-of-water comedy about a neurotic traffic cop (Daniel Rigby) embedded in an Armenian crime family. If keeping up with the Sarkissians was starting to seem too easy for Operation Piccolo's puppyish double agent, there's a injection of menace when notorious enforcer Tommi Lylozian is released from jail. A volatile loose cannon in the convincing form of Keith Allen, Tommi twigs that something's not quite pukka with the crew's newest, twitchiest recruit.

Rae Earl's superior tale of teenage angst continues with Chloe lying in a hospital bed after a car crash while her parents look for answers from her friends. Rae takes the blame and finds herself banned from Chloe's bedside as a result. Even the promise of the best mixtape ever ("from the Divine Comedy to DJ Shadow") can't rectify the situation. Can things get any worse? Yes, they can - her exams are about to begin, and her dad (Keith Allen) appears in the record shop looking for a bit of Elton John.

The second series of the dark comedy charting the misadventures of downtrodden muso Andy (Nick Helm) and highly strung nephew Errol (Elliot Speller-Gillott) reaches its penultimate episode. Still unemployed and desperate for rent money, Andy does the logical thing and tries to worm his way into the will of dying Uncle Frank (Keith Allen). Sadly their reunion doesn't go to plan, as his abrasive relative wises up to his scheming. Could an appearance from Frank's estranged daughter bring the brood back together?

Radio Times review

Keith Allen cameos as dying Uncle Frank, whom he plays as a sort of cockney pirate. "You remind me of Hail Mary," he rasps gleefully at young Errol. "We woz in the Falklands together. 'E was built like an anorexic flamingo 'n' all."

Of course, cash-strapped Andy isn't visiting out of the kindness of his heart, but because he hopes to find his estranged uncle's fortune buried in the garden.

The first of three programmes looking at the enduring affection for Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais's classic prison sitcom Porridge. Eric Idle, Keith Allen, David Walliams, Ronnie Corbett and Ian McShane join together in celebration of Ronnie Barker's iconic lag Norman Stanley Fletcher beneath a voiceover from former co-star David Jason. La Frenais and Clement dissect their own rather sterling work while original locations are visited, as is the little-known story of how the show very nearly never reached the screen.

Radio Times review

If Ronnie Barker's vote had counted, we could have been celebrating 40 years of Welsh gambler Evan Owen, not cynical jailbird Norman Stanley Fletcher. But instead of I'll Fly You for a Quid it was Porridge pilot Prisoner and Escort that was picked up for a series in 1974.

In the first of a three-part series, creators Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, now in their 70s but still pitching ideas in Hollywood ("It's Spielberg: tell him to go away!") reveal the unlikely origins of and initial fears for one of our finest ever sitcoms. One fab sequence sees the pair dissect their favourite scene, chuckling along with every familiar line.

Later, über-fan Keith Allen drives a police van around Porridge locations, while we hear rare Barker recordings intended for real prison inmates. Eric Idle points out the roundedness of HM Prison Slade's wiliest character, and Kate Beckinsale, daughter of Richard (Godber), reminds us that the series really clicked when it became a two-hander.

It's a total treat for devotees of the kind of comedy where not a word was wasted. David "Old Man Blanco" Jason is the narrator.

Episode six of eight in the second series based on Rae Earl's teenage diaries. Rae (Sharon Rooney) is having a tough time, with therapist Kester drawing "boundaries"; Finn is out of the picture, and her newfound relationship with dad Victor (Keith Allen) is proving a disappointment. In an unexpected twist, this week takes us into the sex, lies and dark secrets that best mate Chloe's journal holds. Complete with tunes from Blur and Portishead, this surreal, serious slice of 90s teenagedom gets better each week.

The Establishment Club make a return appearance

The first event will take place on December 15 and the eclectic line-up includes Scott Capurro, Professor Laurie Taylor, Man Booker prize-winning novelist Howard Jacobson, Scottish comic Arnold Brown and music from Niggaz with Croissants and other surprise guests. As before Keith Allen will be master of ceremonies.

Review: The Establishment Club with Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry's tributes to Peter Cook during Keith Allen's Establishment Club at Ronnie Scott's had a charming Radio 4 quality to them, says Dominic Cavendish.