Matt Lucas

There was a sharp intake of breath among fans when it emerged that Matt Lucas would not be reprising his role of score master George Dawes on Shooting Stars. But in shambled Angelos Epithemiou with his carrier bags, rave interludes, bottle-bottom glasses and misplaced arrogance. He was, perhaps, even better than Dawes, and easily as arbitrary. Here comedian Dan Skinner gets a whole half-hour of his own to show off Angelos in all his shabby glory.

How Matt Lucas and opera star Alfie Boe became friends

Theirs is the most unlikely of friendships - the opera singer from Lancashire they call the Park Bench Tenor and the comedy actor who created Little Britain's Vicky Pollard. But Alfie Boe and Matt Lucas see nothing strange about their closeness.

Come Fly With Me is up for four RTS nominations

BBC One comedy Come Fly With Me, which is written by David Walliams and Matt Lucas, leads this year's Royal Television Society awards shortlist.

Curb Your Judaism saw David Schneider ponder why Britain's Jewish comics often avoid looking to their religious background for material, unlike their opposite numbers across the pond.

This was a hotchpotch of a documentary with different contributors - among them David Baddiel, Matt Lucas and writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran - all offering their thoughts on why Jewish humour has largely stayed in the closet. Could it be the effect of political correctness? The performer's fear of being pigeonholed and not making the mainstream? It wasn't clear whether the programme sufficiently answered any of these questions. Perhaps placing the debate in some kind of historical and/or social context would have helped as well as hearing the thoughts of the American performers mentioned.

Peter Sellers, Sid James, Bud Flanagan. All Jewish. Who knew? I certainly didn't and it's just one fascinating tidbit unearthed by stand-up David Schneider as he explores why British Jewish comedy is not as successful as its American counterpart.

The most popular reason seems to be that British Jews were more likely to be assimilated into mainstream culture, though David Baddiel does come up with a far-fetched theory that the benefits of political correctness bypassed Jews, meaning that black and Asian people had comedy TV shows while Jews didn't.

The programme is scattered with wonderful Yiddish - "kvetching", "schmaltzy", "shiksa", "sheitel" - and offers a superb chance to hear Matt Lucas (yes, he's Jewish too) describe his plans for a sitcom about a Jewish family in great detail.

How's Matt Lucas doing in hospital?

We'll give daily updates on Little Britain star Matt Lucas's stay in hospital after getting a severe ear infection.

Size has always been central to Ronnie Corbett's fame too - or rather, the lack of it. As if to prove the point, Matt Lucas described him as "a giant" in the introductory sequence of Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain. That sequence made this sound like a long and slightly tedious tour of Corbett's lunch companions, with the aim of presenting him as the patron saint of British comedy. In fact, it was utterly wonderful.

Miranda Hart, Stephen Merchant, David Mitchell and John Cleese were among those who shared insights into what makes comedians tick and comedy funny. The former is mainly the potential for going from bladder-wrenching insecurity to megalomania in the blink of an eye. The latter is mainly timing.

Corbett proved a superb and humble interrogator. He didn't address the decline of the sitcom and the relative rise of sketch shows, nor did he ask why so many comedies these days centre on flocks of people, rather than families, and what that says about our society. But he did remind us that contemporary British comedy is full of great talent, a useful corrective to the nostalgic defeatism of most televisual trips down memory lane.

This new ITV1 documentary sees Ronnie Corbett meeting up with some of his favourite comedians, past and present, while also looking back at key comedy moments.

As a result, this programme, on the whole, is not going to suit a die-hard comedy fan; because it covers lots of things that they will already know about, such as how The Two Ronnies came together, or the early radio history of Little Britain. This show is really more for the casual comedy observer who wants to learn more.

One thing that got me thinking, however, was that this first episode was all about comedy partnerships. However, Corbett didn't actually meet up with any double acts - just half of them, namely Miranda Hart, Stephen Merchant, David Mitchell, Matt Lucas and John Cleese (although admittedly there is a very good reason why Cleese's comedy partner was not on, seeing as how Graham Chapman has been dead for over 20 years).

If anything, this show seemed to be a comedian's version of Jim'll Fix It, with Corbett giving many of his comedians some exciting experiences. For example he allowed Miranda Hart to walk on to a stage where Morecambe and Wise had one of their greatest ever stage shows to the tune of "Bring Me Sunshine". Another segment saw Corbett getting Merchant a brand new tailor-made suit; another featured Corbett doing a Little Britain radio sketch, attempting to do Vicky Pollard - badly.

To be honest I was almost expecting Corbett to be sitting in his chair, holding a cigar and saying something along the lines of: "Now then, now then, I've got a letter from a Jim Davidson of London what says; 'Dear Ronnie, I haven't been on telly for years due to no-one liking my act because it is racist. So could you fix it for me to appear on your show?' Well, goodness gracious, unfortunately Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain does have a very tight budget, so Jim how would you like it if Ronnie fixed it for you to sing with the black and white minstrels?"

Having said all this I did like some of the archive clips that they showed, graphically onto any flat surface such as walls, clothing displays and theatre curtains. Some of them also featured clips I hadn't heard before such as one clip from The Goon Show which I found absolutely hilarious.

So, this show does contain the odd comedy laugh that you won't have heard of 50 times already, but other than that it is just a series of interviews and pleasant surprises.

Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain was short on laughs

Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain wasn't actually very funny, considering the veteran entertainer was cavorting with the likes of Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas and Miranda Hart.

If you have never seen Monty Python's parrot sketch, or are unfamiliar with Eric Morecambe's demolition of "Andrew Preview" ("I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order"), then this is for you. Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain is a handy primer for anyone who needs to work on their history of British comedy. For everyone else, it's an easy-going, if sometimes uncomfortably loose, hour of very familiar comedians talking about comedy. As Corbett is beloved of the new wave of Brit-coms - he had cameos in Extras, where he snorted cocaine from a toilet seat, and Little Britain, where he was confronted by the grotesque Bubbles DeVere - his pals are modish. So he has an odd little interlude with Miranda Hart, whom he accompanies to the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, spiritual home of Hart's beloved Morecambe and Wise. Then Corbett has lunch with Stephen Merchant, a picnic on a punt with David Mitchell and afternoon tea with John Cleese. And with Matt Lucas he tries to be Vicky Pollard, and is terrible.