Micky Flanagan

On the same evening that ITV1 unleashes its ratings juggernaut The X Factor, the Beeb launches this new comedy game show aimed squarely at families. It's a talent show meets guessing game, hosted by the always charming Alexander Armstrong, with fast-rising stand-up Micky Flanagan as his foil. Eccentric members of the public demonstrate their unusual talents to a panel of comedians, headed by Flanagan, who put a secret cash value on the skill, based on originality, personality and performance. The contestant must then guess the total amount bid to win the cash or they leave with nothing. It's hardly ground-breaking, bearing a distinct resemblance to 1990s ITV show You Bet!, but is still frothy fun.

Ebury buys Micky Flanagan memoir

Ebury has bought a memoir by Mock the Week and Live at the Apollo star Micky Flanagan.

Saturday night... The Marriage Ref. Last of the sizzling series. A landmark in television history. Will it come back? No.

But another rare chance to catch ubiquitous guest Sarah Millican and her dreaded Geordie wit. Which used to be quite funny... until she started appearing on every show in town.

"I can't believe you got divorced," gasped witless host Dermot O'Leary. I can. And I'm guessing Sarah's husband saw far too much of her. Like the rest of us.

Similarly over-exposed panel game favourite Micky Flanagan sighed: "I don't know why I'm here." Because Jimmy Carr and Jack Dee weren't around... and it was your turn on the rota. Same old faces... same old jokes.

As always, the ­contestants all loved each other deeply. But had some meaningless minor moan.

A dead show walking right from the start, this pointless pap was so ­stunningly dull it was shunted to a late night timeslot. Due to total lack of interest.

Yes, it's yet another talking heads/clips show but it does give us an opportunity to relive some cracking stand-up routines - last week's gave us Eddie Izzard covered in make-up and looking dazzling as he delivered his super skit about school-level French from his 1990s Dress To Kill show. This time, Bill Hicks rightly gets a look-in, as does Lee Evans's ingeniously physical Bohemian Rhapsody routine. Jonathan Ross, Micky Flanagan and Rich Hall are among those sharing their reverence.

Here's another new panel show riffing off the week's news but this time it has a celeb gossipy bent. The super-duper Andrew Maxwell and deadpan Jack Dee are the capable comedy regulars; Kate Garroway and Tamara Ecclestone their pop-culture-savvy cohorts. This week's guests are Micky Flanagan and X Factor judge Tulisa Contostavlos. Occupying the host's chair is the ever-colourful David Walliams.

Having left The One Show in a storm of tabloid publicity about his private life (and texting habits), Jason Manford returns to our screens with this new comedy-music show. Tonight, Manford welcomes a mix of new and established faces, including stand-ups Micky Flanagan and Russell Kane.

Try to see tonight's show as a sandwich. Stephen K Amos and Micky Flanagan are the slightly stale, economy-range bap around Jon Richardson's premier-choice ham with vintage cheddar. How the duff bread and quality filling ended up on the same plate is a mystery. Amos, as ever, is bland, while Flanagan's material on wooing women in the 1980s is predictable. Former BBC 6 Music DJ Richardson, however, is a neurotic genius whose stuff on his hang-ups and rigid world-view will make you weep. Best of all is his ice-skating first-date story.

If you can find a gap between football games this week, the last of Micky Flanagan's series What Chance Change is well worth a listen. Partly recorded at his standup gigs, partly in conversation with his family and friends, Flanagan has charted his life from Billingsgate fish market to middle-class delis. This week, he chatted to Sean Lock and considered middle age - thankfully managing to swerve Grumpy Old Men territory.

Just time for a mention of Micky Flanagan's Radio 4 comedy series, What Chance Change? I saw Flanagan's stand-up recently and his riffs on life in the yummy mummy enclave of East Dulwich, south London, had the audience roaring. What Chance Change? takes that routine's premise - how strange it is for a boy from the markets in the East End to move up a social class - and expands on it.

It's excellent, funny and poignant, though you can't help feeling that Radio 4's traditional audience is not quite who Micky is aiming to inspire.

Radio Review: Micky Flanagan - What Chance Change?

A look back at his schooldays was homely and likeable, writes Elisabeth Mahoney.