Kevin Eldon

Tony Pitts and Kevin Eldon's elliptical comedy, about a group of "sheddists" who have set up a kind of shed shanty town on a beach, has had a couple of major cast changes since its acclaimed first series. For a start, Eldon's other work commitments precluded him from writing and acting, but Pitts has taken up the writing slack and Stephen Mangan has ably filled the role of Jimmy.

Suranne Jones also found herself too busy to recommit to the role of Diane, but Rosina Carbone is a great replacement. The absurdist humour is still top-notch and well complemented by lyrical narration from Maxine Peake.

Special mention must go to Emma Fryer, whose deranged turn as Deborah, the Gypsy who breaks into song at the drop of a hat is a hoot.

I'm a bit torn over which is my favourite of the newer characters at BBC2's Harry & Paul. The Fifties East End typing-pool girls played in drag by Paul Whitehouse and Kevin Eldon have to be right up there, mainly because they sound like Russell Brand at his most annoyingly mockney.

But I also enjoy the 'When Life Was Simpler' films from the Fifties. The latest one featured a man being made Director-General of the BBC despite having no experience of or interest in television. Honestly. As if that would ever happen.

While there's no doubting the ability of Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield to do silly voices and funny impressions, their knack for writing fresh, original ideas is far less reliable these days. Following a tired Dragon's Den sketch with an overlong Question Time skit reeks of laziness and lack of adventure, as does the return of the likes of Parking Pataweyo (cor, bloody parking attendants, eh?). While there are a host of 'different' characters, many are just minor variations on the 'overly posh' theme, with each caricatured incarnation identifiable solely by a costume change and a negligible shift in accent. The procession of mediocrity can't even be saved by Kevin Eldon, which doesn't bode well. If anything's going to raise a titter here, it's more likely to stem from a word said in a slightly funny way than from a great gag or smart idea.

New sketch show enlivened no end by the prodigious talent of performers like Simon Callow and Kevin Eldon cranking some laughs out of the hit-and-miss material. It doesn't help that every routine is punctuated by the sort of hideous synthesiser riff a junior manager of Dixons would demonstrate on a Casio keyboard circa 1988. Worth it, though, for Charlie Brooker's input and the professionalism of those on show.

Set above a village pub and starring a motley crew of British TV's bit-part stars, there's a lot of goodwill riding on The Function Room to work. Comic's comic Kevin Eldon takes the lead as local bobby Tony Marks, playing the unlikely straight man in a roomful of idiots as he hosts a daft residents' meeting on home security. Naturally, the agenda is hijacked to resolve a whodunnit on the mysterious identity of the 'shit egg killer' - the local kook terrorising victims by chucking parcels of turd through their windows. Reece Shearsmith, Simon Day and Josephine Butler all take a turn at scene-stealing, but this is a conventional studio sitcom with all the traits that genre brings: gentle jokes, obvious characters and an audience always laughing harder than you are.

The Function Room is a cheerfully traditional and often very funny studio sitcom set in a pub, and starring a host of familiar comedy actors including The Vicar of Dibley's James Fleet, The League of Gentlemen's Reece Shearsmith, The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison, The Fast Show's Simon Day (once again playing a pub know-it-all) and every-comedy-of-the-last-fifteen-years' Kevin Eldon.

The sort of uproariously gag-heavy sitcom that encourages deserved rounds of applause from its studio audience, it's definitely a step in the right direction for Channel 4, and if they have any sense - which they don't - they'll commission 
a series.

I lost count, during The Function Room (Channel 4, Sunday), how many times the uniformly excellent cast said "shit" ... Admittedly, the police and residents meeting in a pub sought to crack the case of the so-called Shit-Egg Killer, a venal hurler of uncouth missiles through blameless suburban windows. They won't use that nickname in the press, counselled Kevin Eldon's weary-eyed copper. Yeah, no one puts shit in the papers, a sarky resident quipped. Not even the Daily Mail.

Writer Dan Maier and the cast were enjoying themselves so much it was infectious. "A phalanx of youths have been causing ructions in my cul-de-sac," complained an out-of-work camp thesp plummily, introducing a Crimewatch-meets-Mrs-Slocombe vibe. It's nice to see Simon Day playing another pub bore. He wasn't saying that talcum powder is made from human skulls, just noting that episodes of ethnic cleansing are followed by rises in global talc production. I'm not sure where Maier goes after this pilot, but I really want to find out. Commission a series, Channel 4!

Radio: Kevin Eldon Will See You Now

Bleak but addictive listening on four part Radio 4 comedy series.

Trolls, giants and damsels abound in this clattering sword 'n' sorcery spoof, starring Stephen Mangan as Sam, left behind when all the rest of the questors go off doing the heroic action stuff. In comes Eirwen (Sophie Winkleman), a lovely maiden, saying he's saved her. But who comes next? Lord Darkness (Alistair McGowan) trying to conquer Lower Earth, if only his servant Kreech (Kevin Eldon) can work out how. Aha! Kreech has discovered a prophecy which dictates that the Lord must impregnate a hideous creature to bring forth the UnChosen One. Look out, Kreech...