Matt King

Starlings, Matt King and Steve Edge's new series for Sky1, is what you might call acoustic guitar comedy. You don't get a laugh-track, you get Bon Iver singing something plangent over a low-key (and slightly over-crowded) family drama. It is very sweet, which is both praise and blame, since the absence of sharp edge may not be to everyone's taste. "Need more warm," says one character as he shuffles off to top up his partner's birthing pool. No. Need more hot and cold.

The latest result of Sky's renewed commitment to original content - not that they ever had much of a record to renew - Starlings is a determinedly gentle and cloying comedy drama written by and starring Steve Edge (Phoenix Nights) and Matt King (Super Hans from Peep Show)

Centred around a close-knit extended family cooped up under the same roof in rural Derbyshire, it arrives with the writer's avowed intent of being unencumbered by bleakness or cynicism. That's a theoretically legitimate ambition, but the problem with Starlings is that, in its eagerness to warm the cockles, it achieves a dawdling consistency of utter blandness. It feels like an interminable home insurance ad, replete with winsome acoustic guitar backing. Still, nice scenery.

If you're on the lookout for a heart-warming family drama, then Starlings could be just the thing for you. A strong cast of familiar faces - Downton Abbey's Brendan Coyle, Scott & Bailey's Lesley Sharp and more - breathe life into the Starlings, a loveable working-class clan. Believe it or not, this gentle series was created by none other than Matt King - Peep Show's Super Hans - along with writing partner Steve Edge, and Steve Coogan is also on board as a producer, so there's a strong pedigree behind the show. Starlings is perfect viewing for a sleepy Sunday evening.

Steve Coogan & Matt King unite for Starlings

We've bagged two of the UK's funniest men for a brand new Sky1 HD family comedy...

The dysfunctional flatshare sitcom, which seems to get stronger with age, settles into its seventh series. Neurotic nerd Mark (David Mitchell) tries to win back dream woman Dobby (the excellent Isy Suttie) when she starts dating a graphic designer. Meanwhile, feckless Jeremy (Robert Webb) lands a cushy job on a music website but soon makes the mistake of signing up his freaky friend Super Hans (the gloriously deadpan Matt King), whose band go under the moniker of Man Feelings.

Give it up now, everybody, for Man Feelings! Jeremy's disreputable druggy mate Super Hans (played by Whites sitcom writer Matt King) takes to the stage with his band tonight and its a gig destined to go down in musical history.

You might not have seen The Beatles at The Cavern or The Sex Pistols at the 100 Club, but now you can say you were there on the night that Man Feelings finally provided the answer to the musical question: What rhymes with The Apprentice?

Elsewhere in episode two, we find Mark pushing a pram and Jeremy playing the saxophone two activities for which they're totally, joyfully, unqualified. But weirdly, lots of other things do seem to be going rather brilliantly for Mark and Jeremy.

After making friends with last weeks boyfriend-in-a-coma, Jeremy (Robert Webb) has landed the coolest job in the world, heading up a music website, and Mark (David Mitchell) goes on a date with Dobby (Isy Suttie).

As Mark observes, things going well is very worrying because it just means they're about to screw them up. But along the way there are lots of wonderfully dumb one-liners on the subject of infant care (Can babies go by shredders?) and Mark and geeky mate Gerard getting very excited about their Stalin and FD Roosevelt action figures, which are obviously not toys.

Were not playing, Mark huffs. Were just arranging our models. With some noises.

Amazingly, Peep Show is now into its seventh series which makes it Channel 4's longest-running comedy show if you don't count Hollyoaks (who does?).

Never knew there was so much mileage in a sitcom about a feckless layabout and his uptight flatmate? Think again. Still, as they say in TV land, if it ain't broke, keep recommissioning it until it is.

Last week, Mark (David Mitchell) became a father and Jez (Robert Webb) met bookish hottie Zahra in the hospital waiting room. She was visiting her boyfriend, Ben, who was in a coma in intensive care. He awoke as Jez was moving in on Sara and now Jez has a problem.

This week he finds he also has a job - helping a grateful Ben run his web company. Meanwhile Mark learns from Gerrard that Dobby (Isy Suttie) has a new boyfriend. "He's younger, slimmer, better looking and more fashionable than us," says Gerrard. Their response? To form the Dobby Club and set out to wreck the relationship.

As usual, all the best lines go to Super Hans (Matt King) - "That's not jam, that's just total ******* marmalade," he tells Jez during band practice - and all the best gross-out moments go to Jez. Anyone fancy chilled breast milk in their tea?

"It's one step away from cannibalism," moans Mark when he finds out what he's been drinking. "It's luxury milk," Jez counters. "From a human cow".

So Mark and Jez are back with the seventh series of Channel 4's longest-running sitcom - which means we've all got something amusing to talk about that doesn't involve people eating kangaroos' bums. Of course, we know exactly what to expect from the socially awkward duo by now - but seven years on, you'd think they might be forced to face up to a few more responsibilities as well.

Sure enough, last night's Peep Show opener saw Mark (David Mitchell) overwhelmed at becoming a father for the first time. But more importantly, in Mark's eyes at least, a burst boiler at home turned out to have been less catastrophic than originally feared. "Minimal water damage!" he exclaimed joyfully on hearing the news, while cradling his newborn baby in his arms.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Prior to the birth, we saw Mark trying - and failing - to support ex-girlfriend Sophie (Olivia Colman) in the maternity ward. Meanwhile, Jez (Robert Webb) trundled off round the hospital and fell in lust with Zahra (Camilla Beeput), who was visiting her comatose boyfriend. In a bid to impress her, he agreed to read out passages from FHM to her unconscious partner - providing just one of the episode's many laugh-out-loud moments.

Still, my favourite moment came when Jez promised Mark he'd find someone to fix the boiler. This could only mean one thing. Sure enough, Super Hans (Matt King) showed up with a "mate who knows a bit about plumbing" - but found time to offer Mark some words of wisdom about childbirth. "Stay away from the goal end," he advised. "And trip your nuts off."

In real life, you'd probably run a mile to avoid Mark and Jez. But seeing the 21st century's version of The Likely Lads return to the small screen is one of the most welcome sights on TV.

Matt King and Oli Lansley's slightly offbeat country kitchen sitcom is up there with Rev as one of the best comedy debuts of the year. Among the main cast - led by Alan Davies's chef Roland - Michelin-starred delights come from Isy Suttie's dippy waitress and Stephen Wight's turn as the menacingly ambitious (and weird) trainee chef Skoose. Tonight, Roland breaks the heart of his long-suffering sous chef Bib when he names Skoose as his sous for a TV cooking segment, and Australian comic Mark Little (AKA Joe Mangel from Neighbours) guests.

The very idea of a new sitcom on BBC2 makes my heart sink a little - all that British comic talent ploughing through a script in search of a gag - but it's probably best to start with low expectations. That way, when a programme like Whites comes along, one may be pleasantly surprised.

Given that it's set in the chaotic, high-pressure world of the restaurant kitchen, Whites is a surprisingly even-tempered thing. It stars Alan Davies as a self-absorbed executive chef at a country house hotel (he looks the part; in fact he looks exactly like Marco Pierre White), Darren Boyd as his demoralised sous chef and The IT Crowd's Katherine Parkinson as the catty front-of-house. There's a clumsy kitchen worker who spills things all the time, but there's also a creepy, ambitious agency cook named Skoose who adds some genuine menace. Whites occupies territory somewhere between dinnerladies and Peep Show (which I accept isn't much help to anyone trying to find it on a comedy map). Peep Show's Isy Suttie and Matt King (who co-wrote this) even turn up, as a hapless waitress and a dodgy meat supplier (he's dodgy, not the meat; not so far, anyway).

If it sounds surreal, inventive, original and hilarious then I'm over- selling it. It's gentle, subtly played, often funny and quite promising. At times it got a bit predictable, but I blame the leisurely pace, which sometimes allowed the viewer to catch up with the joke, and occasionally overtake it. In last night's episode the best laughs belonged to the minor characters, especially Isy Suttie's Kiki, who is kind, thoughtful and at least a half a bubble off plumb. "I remember my first day," she tells evil new boy Skoose. "I needed the loo but I was too scared to asked where it was, so I ended up going behind a gravestone in the chapel out back, and I thought I saw a ghost but it was just wee steam."

My main criticism of Whites is that it doesn't actually offer much new insight into the workings of a restaurant kitchen. Perhaps I've sat through too many episodes of Masterchef: the Professionals to be surprised, or even curious. Even the menu struck me as being a little tame. Comedy's one thing, but this show needs to take the cooking to the next level.