Lee Mack

In BBC1's Friday-night run of Would I Lie to You?, Have I Got News for You and Not Going Out, it's the sitcom that is starting to feel like the weak link. But Lee Mack's old-school set-up-gag, set-up-gag rhythms still attract audiences of well over three million every week, even if some of us still miss Tim Vine. This week, it's once again Katy Wix's Daisy who provides the funniest scene, as she helps Lee practise his magic show before a kids' party, but takes things a bit literally, warning him, "You shouldn't mess around when dealing with the occult."

Would I Lie To You? is a BBC One panel show originally hosted by Angus Deayton and now hosted by Rob Brydon. The point of the show is to lie to or fool your opposing team into believing what you are telling them is the truth. Successfully deceive your opposition and get some points. Simple, yet affective. Joining Rob Brydon as regular Team Captains are the wonderful David Mitchel and Lee Mack. Guests on this episode are Jason Manford, Paul Hollywood, Warwick Davis and Joan Bakewell.

This, as a celebrity panel show, couldn't really be much different from a show like Celebrity Juice if it tried; WILTY is about quick thinking and wit. 5 minutes in and I haven't heard a single muff joke. It's a great show and one I don't watch as much as I probably should. It is entertaining, likeable and unique. The players are all pitch perfect; great chemistry and natural comedians. There is lots of great comedy which manifests itself organically within the show.

Heresy's simple format involves Victoria Coren and guests attempting to expose the wrong-headedness of received wisdom.

In the first programme, Coren was joined by comedians Lee Mack and David Schneider, and writer-broadcaster Germaine Greer. They argued about Andy Murray, whom Schneider described as "the Gordon Brown of tennis", and the merits of urban foxes.

The show's trump card involves members of the audience - not that their contributions raised the laughter bar much, but they at least provided some respite from the mostly predictable panel patter and comedic one-upmanship.

Lucy's strait-laced parents arrive from their local amateur dramatic group, and they need actors for a new production. It sounds terrible, with a villain described as an "evil, impotent, wart-ridden narcissist". Naturally Lee (Lee Mack) is everyone's first casting choice.

After too many so-so episodes Not Going Out slides back onto its well-worn tracks with an increased quotient of funny gags, though you'll see most of them telegraphed from about five miles away. Mack is great as he froths with jealousy at Lucy's insufferable leading man.

Opinion: Lee Mack & Catherine Tate love Raymond

I can't predict if the UK version, relocated to Cheshire, will be a hit, but it sounds well cast.

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.