Miles Jupp

The second series of this sitcom has intimations of a soap; despite being set in the world of espionage, this takes a back seat to day-to-day romantic and family intrigues. A strong cast is headed by Darren Boyd as Tim, whose precocious son Marcus tonight makes his aggressive bid to become school president. Mark Heap is the hapless headmaster, Miles Jupp plays the appalling Owen and Robert Lindsay also features, looking like Jon Culshaw impersonating Alan Sugar. A running joke involving a hooded interrogee is the highlight of this week's silliness.

Writers' Guild Awards 2012 shortlists

Best Radio Comedy: I, Regress - Matt Berry; Another Case of Milton Jones - Milton Jones, James Cary; In and Out of the Kitchen - Miles Jupp. Best TV Comedy: Holy Flying Circus - Tony Roche; PhoneShop - Phil Bowker, Jon MacQueen; Grandma's House - Simon Amstell, Dan Swimer.

This is the third attempt to put JAM on the box, the BBC having done it previously in 1994 and 1999. Parsons and Merton appear in each episode, with guests appearing being Sue Perkins, Gyles Brandreth, Stephen Fry, Liza Tarbuck, Graham Norton, Josie Lawrence and Julian Clary. There are also a fair number of new contestants: Jason Manford, Miles Jupp, Ruth Jones, Phill Jupitus, John Sergeant and Russell Tovey.

The format is the same, but there are some obvious changes; for a start, there's no scorer sitting next to Parsons. Instead he just has the scores on a screen, and the clock is started by a large button next to him. There's also a little bell rang to indicate they are moving into the final round.

Some things do remain the same, though. The studio is designed to look like the art deco BBC Radio Theatre, where the radio series is normally recorded. For some reason, however, the studio lights change from blue to purple when the subjects start. Why they need to do this I have no idea. I find the camerawork even more irritating. There's no need to cut from here to there every three seconds.

However, there's still much to enjoy from this show. I for one enjoy the little amusing asides that go through out each episodes. My personal favourite was in the fourth episode when the panel kept making jokes about Miles Jupp being the supposed love child of Gyles Brandreth. The jokes just kept snowballing throughout.

With regards to the TV adaptation, I know that there will always be people who will insist that it's not as good as the one on radio, but there are always people who complain about TV adaptations of radio shows. If we rejected every TV adaptation of a radio adaptation out of hand we wouldn't have had the TV successes of shows like Whose Line is it Anyway? or Little Britain.

I'd love to see more episodes of the TV version of Just a Minute; but I doubt they'll produce them. Unless they want to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary, that is, and given that Parsons is 88 years old that might be a bit dangerous.

Miles Jupp interview

Let's Dance For Sport Relief finalist and Rev star Miles Jupp reveals why The Killing, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Frasier are his favourite shows.

If this new panel show sounds familiar it's because host Miles Jupp tested the idea in 2011 in a round called What Does My Dad Know? in Angus Deayton's It's Your Round series on Radio 4.

The brief has now expanded beyond questioning his own father to getting three guests to test someone who supposedly knows them well with questions such as "Who would I rather spend an evening with: George Clooney or God?" Des Lynam picks his agent to answer these Mr and Mrs-style questions. Rachel Johnson opts for a girlfriend she met when they were in their 20s. And Mark Steel puts his faith in his teenage son. One couple does very well indeed, another faces predictable embarrassment and there's a duo who might just as well have never met before.

Listen out for a particularly saucy comment from Mr Lynam - his agent certainly wasn't expecting this when she agreed to appear with him.

New panel game, the premise of which is to see how well the contestants know their nearest and dearest. Rachel Johnson, Des Lynam and Mark Steel will each nominate a chosen relative or friend to whom, privily, a list of questions will be put. Chairman Miles Jupp will then test the panel's knowledge by asking them to predict what answers the nominees gave. Sounds oddly similar, perhaps, to those old TV games that came with loud buzzers, manic studio audiences and major prizes. No prizes though for guessing this week's celebrity guest, Michael Winner.

It was a formula that could have easily have been as self-indulgent as Dave Gorman's pub quiz disaster, but thankfully the show had several redeeming features. Host Miles Jupp's convoluted links between rounds were so bizarre they were funny and the contrasting personalities of those taking part also proved to have comedy value.

Best of all was hearing the celebs second-guessing the answers given by friends and family and getting it wrong. Mark Steel's nerves might have been on edge every time it was his son's turn but it made for very funny radio. This was especially true when young Elliot was asked if he had a motto and replied: "never do it without an alibi".

Miles Jupp joins Let's Dance For Sports Relief

The Cuban Brothers, Outnumbered's Tyger Drew-Honey and Miles Jupp have all joined the line-up for Let's Dance for Sport Relief.

Spare a thought for men of the cloth this Christmas. Judging by this superb series finale, it's the most stressful time of year for a vicar. As Reverend Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander) enters his first Advent in the London parish of St Saviour's, festive nerves are fraying. Camels keep being stolen from the church Nativity, he's up at the crack of dawn every day to cook breakfast for the homeless, and resident wino Colin (the show's cult figure, played with pitch-perfect pathos by Steve Evets) plans on being drunk until Twelfth Night. Adam is out of pocket, permanently hungover and under pressure for the seasonal collection plate to hit its financial targets.

The last thing he needs is a surprise house guest in the form of his grumpy "social hand grenade" father-in-law (the hilariously hangdog Geoffrey Palmer). Midnight Mass is a shambles thanks to a congregation fresh from the pub. As lay reader Nigel (Miles Jupp) notes: "We're the religious equivalent of a kebab." There's still time for subtle pastiches of Groundhog Day and Da Vinci's Last Supper. A gently witty, fittingly heart-warming conclusion to this second excellent run of the Bafta-winning sitcom.

No one should miss the Christmas Rev, a brilliant end to the series, with ever-embattled Adam (the great Tom Hollander) having to conduct Midnight Mass with a black eye and trying to persuade uptight God pedant Nigel (Miles Jupp) that the season of goodwill is big enough to embrace Jesus and giant Toblerones. Alex's lugubrious father (who else but Geoffrey Palmer?) turns up to add woe and mischief. It takes a stony heart not to cheer at the TV when Adam finally gets the present he deserves. Joyful and (as the song goes) triumphant.