Lee Mack

Returning to assume his hosting position for an eye-watering seventh series, Rob Brydon stirs the comedy panel-show action with his familiar scurrilous cheek. David Mitchell and Lee Mack are back in harness as team captains, and tonight's porky-spinning guest line-up includes Rhod Gilbert, Vernon Kay, Dara O'Briain and Denise Van Outen. Who will turn out to be the most credible fibbers/most gullible listeners when it comes to telling tales - tall or true - about their own lives?

The funniest and most likeable panel game on television returns to brighten Friday nights, with Lee Mack and David Mitchell renewing their class-divided clash of wits.

As Mitchell has pointed out, the running rivalry trades on images of each other - as the unworldly toff and the philistine oik - that have precious little to do with reality, but hey, who cares when they deliver the laughs? The other panellists, Rob Brydon as host, even the format of the show, are all only biding time until Mack and Mitchell can start pitching derisive darts at one another.

But lest we forget, the gist of the show is celebs telling implausible - yet often true - stories about themselves and submitting to mocking cross-examination, before opponents try to guess if they're bluffing.

For added enjoyment, play along at home and pause before the reveal to take bets. It's not easy.

This, believe it or not, is the seventh series of Would I Lie to You?. A hardy perennial then, which seems to suggest that casting, not format is the most important factor in the success of a panel show. The competitive comic chemistry between posh pedant David Mitchell and ruthlessly efficient robo-quipper Lee Mack sustains the show, and Rob Brydon is a likeable host too.

A few of the rougher edges have been smoothed out over the years - WILTY? occupies a pre-watershed slot these days, so we can probably forget about any more appearances from Frankie Boyle or Jimmy Carr. But it remains really watchable Friday evening fare.

It's been scientifically proven that it's impossible to watch this without feeling at least 42% happier than before it started. True or false? Who cares.

What is absolutely true is that this is the seventh series of the rib-tickling Friday night favourite where team captains David Mitchell and Lee Mack do such sterling work each week to keep the old North-South rivalry stoked up.

Rob Brydon will be in the presenter's chair once again and fibbing for all they're worth tonight (or are they?) will be comedian and occasional maths guru Dara O Briain, Rhod Gilbert, Vernon Kay - who claims that he once nearly caused a gas explosion while in a banana packing factory - and Denise van Outen, who has a confession to make about her bottom for viewers tonight. You can feel David Mitchell blushing behind his beard already.

It's a good job this goes out before the watershed, or things could get out of hand.

Lee Mack's second BBC1 show of the night also features a welcome return for the brilliant Geoffrey Whitehead. With this and The Worst Week of My Life, he's definitely the go-to man every comedy should call on to play the stern, disapproving father.

Lucy's mum and dad are encouraging her to go to a trade conference to pick up some much-needed new clients, and as she's pretty desperate for work, she agrees. But when she lets slip to Lee that she's been using him as a fake husband in work situations, he turns up at the conference and scuppers a potential lead for Lucy.

It's the most far-fetched of set-ups - even for this show - but it does (finally) lead to some enjoyable farce. And a simple gesture from Lucy at the end provides one of the more entertaining moments, proving yet again that this sitcom doesn't need to be big or clever to be funny.

Jogging into the studio for a chat we have the Olympic gold medal-winning legend Mo Farah - shouldn't he be getting an early night ahead of Sunday's London Marathon, even if he's only doing half?

Also in the running are Not Going Out main man Lee Mack and Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow - who's doing the promotional rounds for Iron Man 3.

All three guests are game for a laugh, so it's just as well synthpop duo Hurts are on hand to calm things down with their music.

In the first two episodes, the gap left by the departed Tim Vine's character was filled with farcical plots. Tonight, things calm down and we veer as close to emotion as this endearingly flippant series gets. Lucy is doing night classes in psychotherapy, so Lee (Lee Mack, a Graham Norton guest tonight) mocks the whole idea - before submitting to counselling himself. Perhaps his failure with relationships has roots in his upbringing?

Enter Bobby Ball as Lee's dad. There are deeper waters than usual under the gags, but dim friend Daisy keeps it light. Daisy: "You said you wanted to damage the bike!" Lucy: "No, I said I wanted to break the cycle."

If you haven't seen or heard of 8 Out of 10 Cats before then you probably don't have a television and have no need to be reading this. It's your straightforward celebrity panel quiz show where the questions are based around various surveys and statistics, as is explained at the top of the show by host Jimmy Carr.

This week they aired a second episode of the show where the host and guests are, for no explained reason, playing a game of Countdown. I can only assume that the initial C4 mash-up was a big hit and they thought, "Aaah why not, eh?" As usual, Jimmy rattled off a number of scripted gags, ranging from fair to poor, and Jon Richardson was his usual dour self, taking the role of team captain.

Notably missing from the line up was Sean Lock, which was a big loss to the show. Sean usually adds a nice eccentricity with his obvious lack of ego, never afraid to pick up on jarring absurdities of 'celebrity' guests on the regular weekly edition. Lee Mack was a fair replacement though, quick witted as usual, with a number of nice one-liners. He even managed to score a nine-letter word early on leaving the ever competitive Jon Richardson with plenty of room to play up his comically-angry persona.

Lee was joined by Rob Beckett and Jon by Rhod Gilbert, both of whom were funny and likeable. Tim Key was in Dictionary Corner and although enjoyable, he didn't have as much of a chance to shine as I would have liked. Joe Wilkinson appeared around the halfway point to "assist" Rachel with the letters, however he had no real reason to be on the show. Wilkinson is undoubtedly a funny man, but the number of appearances he makes on the show is somewhat diluting the hilarity of his "crazy antics".

An entertaining and fun show, then, providing you're not put off by the odd Savile joke or sexual objectification. Just saying.

This show could have been made at any time in the last 40 years, which should tell you all you need to know. Lee Mack is the Mr Reliable of British comedy and Not Going Out continues to deliver his stock in trade: traditional, unremarkable humour with a high gag density that just about makes up for its lack of real inspiration.

Tonight Lee, Lucy and Daisy go skiing. This episode plays out in real time, entirely inside a cable car which counts as significant stylistic innovation in trad sitcom world. The trio cause a mechanical breakdown, endanger a bird and incur the wrath of the stern eastern European woman with whom they're sharing the ride. Oh, and the woman is pregnant - if you've ever seen a cookie-cutter prime-time sitcom, you can probably imagine where this might be going. It doesn't disappoint.

The best image in tonight's instalment is of Lee Mack hanging upside-down from a pair of skis.

This is another episode that asks itself "What's the smallest space we could use for an entire 30 minutes?" before deciding to go with a cable car.

Lee, Lucy and Daisy go skiing and if you think their clothes look like they were found in the back room of a 1970s thrift shop, the set-up is even more old fashioned.

The cable car gets stuck (their fault, naturally) and there's an angry, heavily pregnant eastern European woman on board (Pooky Quesnel) who's about to go into labour. To add to the fun, Lucy has both her arms in plaster casts, which makes you wonder how she applied her eye make-up.

The one-liners ricochet around that cable car at such a rate that you'll probably forgive the predictability of their plight.