Lee Mack

Would I Lie To You? is yet another comedy quiz show, this one inviting the usual assortment of stand-ups and guest celebrities to tell convincing fibs. It is Call My Bluff basically, replacing words with deeds.

It is very cheap and cheerful fare that depends almost entirely on the charm of those involved. Rob Brydon is the genial host, David Mitchell and Lee Mack the suitably contrasting captains, and they are do what is required of them with frightening efficiency. But the formula pokes through like the ribs on a starving man, and I found the whole show somewhat depressing.

One thing did intrigue me, however. In a show about deception how come nobody pointed out the miraculous reappearance of a full head of hair on the recently thinning Brydon?

Did Larry Lamb really once run a market stall selling hats for dogs? It was the 1960s. It was Harlow. Canine millinery was massive, he insists. True or not, from now on it'll be hard to watch his evil EastEnders' alter-ego Archie Mitchell without conjuring up an image of him lovingly tying a bonnet on to a pug. It's absurd revelations like that one which make this game such a joy.

As series three starts, Rob Brydon takes over from Angus Deayton as host - completing a dream team alongside captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell.

Comedy panel shows are, of course, only as good as the quality of the regulars and guests. This one - in which players guess whether incredible facts and embarrassing personal tales are true or false - has invited the splendid Rob Brydon to host its third series. And, with team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell, fun is guaranteed.

Poor Angus Deayton has been dropped again. Rob Brydon steps into his shoes and very good he is too (much better than AD, who treated it as if he had somehow turned back time and was on the set of HIGNFY). Also good are the team captains: David Mitchell's natural habitat is the panel show and Lee Mack is naturally funny. Tonight's guests are Jo Brand and Russell Howard, providing back-up laughs, and Carol 'whaat now?' Vorderman and Larry 'do something about your son' Lamb are the straight men. It's never hilarious but it's always funny and less annoying than Mock The Week, so everyone should be glad to see it back.

Team captains David Mitchell and Lee Mack return for a third series of this engagingly funny panel game. Rob Brydon takes over the hosting duties from Angus Deayton, which should improve the laugh quotient even more. But can there be any more humorous skeletons in Mack and Mitchell's respective closets? I'm sure there will be. A bigger mystery, though, is why this has been shunted into the post-news slot, when it should surely be better off in a 9pm or 9.30pm point in the schedule.

BBC axes Not Going Out

The BBC has axed studio sitcom Not Going Out after three series. The Avalon-produced series, co-created by its star Lee Mack and writer/broadcaster Andrew Collins, was part of BBC1's Friday night line-up.

You have to admire the way Lee Mack manages to effortlessly tuck totally random gags into an otherwise normal sitcom. His The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe joke tonight is perfect - especially because you have no idea how it managed to find its way into a conversation about weddings.

That's right, Lee's flatmate Lucy is getting married to a hunky mechanic named Pavlov who has almost as many sob stories as Lee has one-liners.

It's the last in what's been another great series.

There's one big negative: it's got a laughter track. Spaced didn't neeed canned chuckles; The Boosh don't use them; Nathan Barley didn't come equipped with fake guffaws. It's an out-dated device that undermines a programme's writing and is best left to the stuff featuring Jasper Carrott. Because, granted, there are some canny one-liners amid the corny drivel, but when something's billed as a comedy, surely it shouldn't be too surprising that some moments are funny. Lee Mack is an ace stand-up but his moves into television have been mainstream meh. The Sketch Show, anyone? Mack should stop Not Going Out and get back on stage where he excels.

Editor Note: This critic seems to have fallen into the trap of not realising that NGO is filmed in front of a live audience

Normally, one-liners are best left in the realms of Christmas crackers. But Lee Mack and Tim Vine are two of the best in the business at dreaming them up and machine-gunning them out, which makes this sitcom such a fun maelstrom of ridiculousness, and one that trumpets its own cheesiness. And no, Mack can't really act - but as the loose-moralled lead who'll do anything to get the girl, he strikes the perfect balance of loathsomeness and lovability.

This daft sitcom shouldn't work, given that it centres on someone (er, Lee Mack) whose entire performance relies on shameless one-liners rather than anything much in the way of acting. But its punchlines land with such a devastating ka-pow that this regularly has us in stitches.