Matt Willis

Comedy podcasts round-up 3

No fewer than three comics launch podcasts related to the one thing we can't do - travel.

DLT Entertainment launches new podcast division

Award-winning production and distribution company DLT Entertainment has launched its new podcast division alongside two new comedy podcast series, When No One's Watching and National Treasures with Laura Lexx & Will Duggan.

Samuel James replaces Matt Willis in Birds of a Feather

Samuel James has joined the cast of Birds of a Feather series two. James replaces Matt Willis in the role of Garth Stubbs after the musician and actor left the show to focus on McBusted commitments.

It was a little discombobulating to see Birds Of A Feather back on our screens after 15 years, albeit transposed from the BBC to ITV. Essex sisters Sharon (Pauline Quirke) and Tracey (Linda Robson) were initially estranged, while maneater Dorien (Lesley Joseph) had hit the big time by writing a 50 Shades-style bonkbuster under the nom de plume "Foxy Cohen". After a series of unfortunate events, they were all reunited under the same roof by the end of the first episode, a housing situation complicated by Sharon's teenage son Travis (played, rather confusingly, by Pauline Quirke's real-life offspring Charlie Quirke) and the late arrival of another sibling, Garth (former Busted heartthrob Matt Willis), with his new Aussie partner and a kid in tow.

Stuffing all these bodies into one Chigwell house is a smart sitcom move, although past masters Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran didn't need proximity and antagonism to craft gags, firing them out willy-nilly from the off. With pointed jabs at Cameron and Osborne, it made me wonder: did the show used to be so politically minded? In performance terms, Robson, Quirke and Joseph had the benefit of a recent theatre tour warm-up, so it seemed very much like busybody-ness as usual. As yet, there have been no references to The Only Way Is Essex, but surely it's only a matter of time.

Fans surprised as return turns out not to be terrible

Linda Robson, Pauline Quirke and Lesley Joseph all returned for tonight's inaugural episode, titled Gimme Shelter, with Matt Willis in the role of Garth - and feedback was positive.

It's been 15 years since Tracey, Sharon and Dorien graced our screens in what was, back in the day, a rare example of a female-centred sitcom. Pauline Quirke, Linda Robson and Lesley Joseph return, a little older but just as sharp, with each of them slipping easily into their old role as if it was a comfortable dressing gown.

Mouthy Sharon's living in an Edmonton tower block and is clearly down on her luck, her older sister Tracey's still living in Chigwell with son Travis (played by Pauline Quirke's real-life son Charlie), while man-eating Dorien has repackaged herself as Foxy Cohen, author of the sex blockbuster Sixty Shades of Green.

This episode reunites the trio and introduces us to Tracey's other son, Garth, who's played by Busted's Matt Willis. While the humour is hardly cutting edge, it will make a lot of people smile.

Matt Willis joins Birds of a Feather cast

Former Busted musician and I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! winner Matt Willis has joined the cast of returning sitcom Birds of a Feather.

Vic Reeves to star in new ITV1 Miss Marple drama

Stars including Hebburn actors Vic Reeves and Kimberley Nixon, as well as Busted singer Matt Willis will feature in a new Miss Marple drama.

It's often said that growing old gives you the freedom to complain about everything and anything. So it's no surprise that youngsters are now racing the oldies in their mission to moan.

Anyone with a Dad, Mum or vague middle aged relative will have heard of Grumpy Old Men / Grumpy Old Women. Little more than the filmed testimonies of various irritable celebrities, each series was hilarious viewing for both young and old in their cutting deconstruction of some of society's most baffling trends and sociological subgroups.

Never one to let a rant-inducing phenomenon pass us by, Comedy Central is back with a brand new one-hour special focusing on crotchety, grouchy young men.

Narrated by Robert Webb (who plays our generation's grump spokesman Jez in Peep Show), the programme features hilariously acerbic ranty rambles from a mixture of young comedians and celebs - Dan Snow, Alex Collier, Jack P Shepherd (Corrie's David Platt) and Matt Willis.

From dating to obesity and the modern day obsession with fame, this is a brilliantly witty, guilty pleasure that manages to rant about everything we've always wanted to but have felt socially obligated to put up with.