Mathew Horne

Are You Being Served serves more of the same

The old show was never a critics' favourite - despite our howls about these comedy rehashes being sacrilegious grave-robbing. But it had a kind of bravery; the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 decriminalising gay sex was within recent memory, and living together was still 'living in sin' in the provinces. Its knowing primness was clever - a huge wink to the fourth wall of the masses that although the outré characters seemed naughty, and Mr Humphries got into scrapes with a wide array of young men, he was never explicit about them. But the world has moved on - Kim Kardashian's bum failed to break the internet and against shows like Catastrophe, this looks more than passé.

TV preview: Are You Being Served?, BBC1

So let's face it, this does nothing new but does the old thing pretty well.

Binging: Gavin and Stacey

You've finished The Wire, Breaking Bad and The Killing but you're still hungry for more boxsets. Fear not, Standard Issue writers are on the case with some gems you might not yet have seen. Vix Leyton tips her Welsh hat to Ruth Jones and James Corden.

Matthew Horne says he's still pals with James Corden

The pair were joined at the hip until a series of flops caused a strain and they went their separate ways, with James making it big in the States.

Ashley Jensen is back as the sleuth whose life is packed with just-moved-to-the-country-based cliches. Former colleague Roy (Mathew Horne) turns up after being dumped, bringing a naked yogi with him. Agatha joins a rambling group and is soon dragged into a murder investigation after one of their members is found dead on a landowner's estate. And so begins a flimsy but entertaining whodunnit in which Agatha is reunited with her ex, James (Jamie Glover), as they go undercover.

Getting comedians sloshed and having them recount the tales of historical figures is a malleable format. Having started out as a web series and then graduated to full broadcast, Will Ferrell and Adam McKay's Drunk History now receives a UK remake. The star wattage isn't as high as its US counterpart (it had Jack Black, Winona Ryder and Dave Grohl), but there are still some redoubtably funny people involved, including Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and (playing Oliver Cromwell) Mathew Horne.

Although creator and star Jack Whitehall hasn't confirmed whether school's out forever at Abbey Grove, tonight's series three finale ties things up nicely just in case. With their GCSEs over, Form K have some important decisions to make about their futures, as does their tutor Alfie (Whitehall), who has decided that he can't carry on at the school without them. With headteacher Fraser (Mathew Horne) in bits at his resignation, can Gulliver and Form K get Alfie to the prom and perhaps back to the classroom?

Radio Times review

The rude school sitcom, starring Jack Whitehall as the spectacularly loyal, endearingly thick teacher Alfie Wickers seems to have improved a notch from the slightly flat opener. Here we have a contrived but confident episode, which uses the classic trick of forcing our hero to be in three places at once.

So there's the fantasy convention organised by Alfie's tragically pitiable colleague (Mathew Horne), his girlfriend's book group and student Mitchell's leaving party. Will it go wrong? Of course it will... up to a point. Because just as with Whitehall's posh buffoon from C4's Fresh Meat, you wish Alfie well against your better instincts. And the writers don't let you down.