Matt Lucas

You want this fantasy spoof to succeed, you really do. The cast is good: Matt Lucas can be funny, India de Beaufort is beautiful and the rest of them have some solid work behind them. And the good news is that it mostly hits the target. The bad news is that it mostly aims for late-period Mel Brooks. The strokes are broader than Mr Tickle's breaststroke.

The One to Watch: Thursday 11 June

Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire (BBC Two): Little Britain's Matt Lucas and former EastEnder Sean Maguire star in this a new comedy series about the adventures of a reluctant hero and his band of inept band of freedom fighters.

Think of a tale of swords and sorcery, sabotaged by inept heroes and driven along by a combination of snappy American wisecracks and exuberant British panto. That's more or less what is going on in Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire, in which the heroic son of a blacksmith and a stay-at-home mum (Sean Maguire) leads the resistance against the evil Meconian Empire and its ruler, the camp Chancellor Dongalor (Matt Lucas). It starts tonight with a double bill, which is probably too much of a good thing. But in small doses, it is very silly and great fun.

Here's a new sitcom that does for sword-and-sorcery adventures what Red Dwarf did for sci-fi. Set in an ancient empire, it stars Sean Maguire as Krod, a well-toned but clueless rebel warrior with an ill-assorted retinue - a sorcerer who can't do magic, a clumsy slave and a girlfriend who seduces baddies more readily than Krod would like. (Feminism hasn't got very far in this version of Middle Earth.) Their enemy is the evil but inept chancellor Dongalor, a part Matt Lucas plays with such glee it lifts the whole show several feet off the ground. The jokes mostly come from hearing workplace jargon in a medieval setting. In the best scene, Dongalor stabs the wrong rebellious courtier by mistake: "I thought we were going to get names carved in the back of the chairs? Did that not happen? Let's make that an action item, shall we?" he says, before sending out for juice and muffins. There are broader gags that will probably work better if you've been to the pub first, including a running bestiality gag around a character called Horst Draper, and a rebel general (Roger Allam) who turns gay after a spell in the castle dungeons. But there's just enough finesse to justify comparisons with the likes of classic film The Princess Bride.

Littler Briton Matt has baddie hair day

Slimmed-down Little Britain star Matt Lucas dons a hairy codpiece as he plays a baddie in a new show.

If you like your comedy very silly and rude then make sure you give this a try. It's a sword-and-sorcery spoof starring ex-EastEnder Sean Maguire as Krod, the vain leader of a completely useless band of rebels. There's his girlfriend who uses sex as a weapon, a sorcerer who can't do magic and a very clumsy servant. But the star of the show is Matt Lucas as Krod's enemy, the evil Dongalor.

I don't know what to make of Krod Mandoon - but it doesn't matter, because Sean Maguire looks absolutely amazing. I haven't been keeping a close eye on his career lately and I realise now that this was a mistake.

After EastEnders he went off to become a pop star and mope about in Dangerfield before becoming massive - in every sense - enjoying a successful TV career in the States and bulking up for movie spoof Meet The Spartans. All I can say is - wow! - in a professional sense, of course.

Krod Mandoon - also starring Matt Lucas as evil Chancellor Dongalor - is a medieval spoof. A bit Robin Hood, a bit Blackadder, a bit Shrek, a bit Monty Python And The Holy Grail - although sadly with much, much weaker jokes. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise as it was written by Peter Knight, whose CV includes something called Big Wolf On Campus. What is a surprise though is that the best thing about it is Maguire, who stars as the extremely buff, sword-carrying freedom fighter Krod Mandoon.

Just to underline the cheesiness of it all, he plays it with a flawless American accent, and his girlfriend, pagan warrior Aneka (India de Beaufort) will definitely get the guy vote too. You'll love it or hate it, but you'll be driven mad trying to work out who's under the pageboy bob of Chancellor Dongalor's henchman. Take a bow Holby City's snide (and bald) anaesthetist Keith Greene (Alex MacQueen).

Fans of Lord of the Rings who watch this quirky new comedy will be as disappointed as the time they booked a trip to the Orkneys and failed to spot a single orc, because this firmly tugs at the breeches of fantasy stories. And it's hard to see how it could do anything else with Matt Lucas off Little Britain playing the evil Chancellor Dongalor and Sean 'Big in America' Maguire starring as hapless hero Krod. Daft sword-and-sauciness fun.

Sean Maguire Interview

Sean Maguire chats about breaking the States, working with Matt Lucas and smacking himself with a flaming sword...

Sean Maguire, last seen in 300 spoof Meet The Spartans, rolls out his splendid torso again for this good-looking TV series parodying ancient times. Now we're in the realm of the Meconian Empire and he's a freedom fighter trying to vanquish evil Chancellor Dongalor (Matt Lucas) before he figures out how to work a baffling weapon of mass destruction called the Eye of Gulga Grymna. Maguire is on good form but the rotund, baby-faced Lucas steals the show; he's contrary, powerful, bloodthirsty, ridiculously attired - and clearly loving every minute of it.