Mathew Horne

If Bad Education was a child, it would be one of those bright but infuriating kids with ADHD who fly around the room never quite settling at anything. One whose moments of brilliance are punctuated by tiring bouts of 'look at me, look at me' daftness.

At least Jack Whitehall's comedy - debuting on BBC iPlayer - feels like it's taking place in the 21st century unlike David Walliams and his oddly dated Big School. Whitehall's hopeless goon of a teacher, Alfie Wickers, one of those types who wants to be mates with the kids rather than, you know, actually teaching them anything, feels absolutely in tune with the way education is going.

And, in-between descending into cringe-making farce, Whitehall mines comedy gold from potshots at Mumford & Sons ('you're too young to appreciate a good dinner-party anthem when you hear one') and his ill-fated efforts at convincing colleague Miss Gulliver of his boyish charms. Efforts not entirely dissuaded by her admission that she bats for the other team.

'I am angry and aroused and upset,' was his reaction to her sudden conversion to lesbianism. 'But mostly aroused.' When he's dishing out the banter, Whitehall is a sharp writer. But a lot of Bad Education flails around in the shallow end of physical comedy, with extended sequences at a swimming gala failing to make much of a splash.

That said, it did allow the somewhat niche delight of watching Mathew Horne's head (teacher) attempting to break in a pair of Speedos and Whitehall streaking around the corridors, blinded by a horror-movie spin on a chlorine allergy that made him look like a Doctor Who alien. It was high on energy but low on subtlety, driven by the false assumption that physical freakiness is so funny it requires no other target.

Whitehall should ditch the slapstick and stick to the staff and classroom sniping. Because when he does it's A*. Otherwise, it's an epic fail.

BBC Three is launching all its new scripted comedy online ahead of being broadcast on ye olde-fashioned telly.

First new kid out of the block is the second series of Jack Whitehall's school room farce, available tonight a week ahead of its official BBC Three premiere.

Whitehall's character, Alfie Wickers, is still a tragic plonker, getting his trunks in a twist at the school swimming gala and fantasising over his imaginary relationship with foxy Miss Gulliver (the excellent Sarah Solemani).

All that, though, is trumped by Mathew Horne's 'down with the kids' headmaster and his extraordinary barnet, a triumph of dodgy coiffing if ever there was one.

Interview: Mathew Horne

Mathew Horne, 34, is best known for hit sitcom Gavin & Stacey. He can be seen in West End play The Pride and TV series Bad Education.

Marc Warren's Hey Diddly Dee [was] a lame comedy about a flailing Andy Warhol musical prepping for its West End premiere. Peter Serafinowicz plays the aging, egotistical star; Kylie Minogue his leading lady and Mathew Horne his browbeaten understudy.

Crammed with creaking theatrical cliches - superstitions and la-di-da luvvies - it treats theatre with patronising contempt. David Harewood gives a corking cameo as the pandering director, but based on this effort, Warren should be banned from coming within 100 yards of a writing implement.

The first in a new series of Playhouse Presents, Hey Diddly Dee was an extremely enjoyable, deliciously dark comedy about a dismal West End production's final day of rehearsals.

Tensions are already running high when obnoxious star Roger Kite (Peter Serafinowicz) denigrates the production in front of the cast, humiliates his understudy (Mathew Horne) and unceremoniously dumps his co-star mistress (Kylie Minogue). But most recklessly of all, Kite threatens the theatre's lucky cat - never a good idea, given the theatre world's preoccupation with superstition and the supernatural.

Writer and director Marc Warren throws in every conceivable showbusiness cliche and mixes them up to fun effect. The story itself gets a little lost, and the ending is confusing to say the least, but the performances from the starry cast are terrific. I particularly enjoyed David Harewood, fresh from being blown up in the series finale of Homeland, as the hapless director trying and failing to keep his volatile star sweet.

Peter Serafinowicz, Mathew Horne and Kylie Minogue star in this comedy-drama about the cast of a new Andy Warhol musical putting up with Serafinowicz's monstrous star turn, until the theatre's mysterious cat gets involved. Actor Marc Warren writes and directs a delightful tale of the unexpected, and Serafinowicz has the time of his life swanning about in Warhol's wig. Another treat tucked away on Sky Arts. Keep an eye on them: turn your back for a second and you could miss a gem.

Mathew Horne: I talked Kylie into being a man-eater

Gavin & Stacey's Mat Horne roped in an old pal to play a saucy actress in his latest TV project - Kylie Minogue.

They gave us Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe sharing a bath in A Young Doctor's Notebook and now we've got Kylie Minogue gyrating to The Velvet Underground - Sky Arts' Playhouse Presents... certainly has pulling power.

In Hey Diddly Dee, a star-studded cast - Mathew Horne, Peter Serafinowicz, Homeland's David Harewood sporting a Brummie accent - find themselves caught up in a theatrical black comedy which trips them back to Andy Warhol's Factory glory days, with a potentially fatal clash of ego and ambition.

Oh, and a scene-stealing black cat.

Mathew Horne: My family values

The actor talks about his family.

Jack Whitehall's Bad Education ended as it began, a baffling mix of great lines ('Pol Pot and Paul Potts, I always get those two mixed up') and misfiring scenes even Waterloo Road would have thought twice about. Still, it's worth a second term, if only to find out who's living in Mathew Horne's hair.