Miles Jupp

Genial inner-city vicar Adam is nervous about the forthcoming religious inspection at the C of E school run by the comely Ellie. He's particularly disturbed by Matthew, a cool new teacher whose credentials are in doubt after he gave a school assembly on Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene.

So jealous Adam gets all pompous and defensive when he agrees to put together a team to take part in the archdeacon's beloved interdenominational football tournament. But Adam has problems raising enthusiasm. His fey curate Nigel (Miles Jupp) is appalled and wonders aloud: "Can we do bowls instead?"

As ever, gentle Adam (Tom Hollander) is at his funniest when his less-than-godly side starts to show, this time when he behaves disgracefully during the match. But we are all brought up short by a tragedy, and a final, genuinely moving few minutes when Adam is called upon to bring solace.

"Do Muslims go to heaven?" is just the sort of question to throw hapless vicar Adam into a bit of tizz - especially when it comes from a small child in school assembly. And it sets him off on a quest to learn about the Islamic faith. Of course it is a very lackadaisical, Adam-style quest, which ends up not in a voyage of discovery but an inter-faith football tournament. Which proves a little embarrassing because Adam's attempts to put together a St Saviours' team demonstrate his usual brand of hopelessness. A church notice fails to attract much interest. "One name! Why hasn't anyone else signed up for our football team?" he demands. "Because you have a congregation of women of 60 with hip problems," replies Nigel (Miles Jupp), the lay reader, pointedly.

Just to make life worse, Adam's highly admired headmistress Ellie (Lucy Liemann) has a hunky new member of staff who, it appears, is more than just her work colleague - causing some very unvicarly jealousy to raise its head. And some unvicarly language. "Is it me, or is Mr Feld a bit of a d---?" demands Adam when his patience runs out. As usual, this series proves more charming and whimsical than actually funny, but Tom Hollander as the bumbling Adam is a class act.

In and Out of the Kitchen is irresistible. This is a sly comedy by and starring Miles Jupp. He plays a cookery writer who so closely resembles a real one, much read and seen, that it adds an extra frisson to every radio adventure yet makes it unlikely he will ever transfer to TV. The spoof recipes would deserve a health warning if they weren't so blissfully silly. Only one show to go. Don't fret. Radio 4 is soon to have even more repeats.

Inner-city vicar Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander) is perturbed when his vulpine archdeacon appoints a young female curate. And Abi (Amanda Hale) is so clever and enthusiastic that both he and Nigel (Miles Jupp) dislike her on sight. When she piously declares she wants to say a prayer before the meditation class, Nigel adds, helpfully: "It's just fat mums doing yoga."

Adam knows such thoughts are ignoble, but he can't help himself. Soon Abi is a big hit and Adam's world falls apart. It's another sweet episode of this soft-centred comedy held aloft by the wonderful Hollander. The scene where he joins in a children's service while tripping on ecstasy is a sight to behold.

Cookery writer and fusspot Damien Trench headed for Umbria and ended up on Bodmin Moor in the latest edition of Miles Jupp's comedy-with-recipes, In And Out Of The Kitchen - fast becoming my guilty pleasure.

A welcome second series for Tom Hollander and John Wood's gentle, exquisitely observed comedy about the quietly determined, morally conflicted vicar of a rough East London parish. Hollander is superb as the diminutive Rev Alan Smallbone, who tonight finds himself an unlikely nominee for a heroism award. There's a terrific supporting cast led by Olivia Colman, Miles Jupp, Hugh Bonneville and Ralph Fiennes.

Thanks to having young children, I'm more familiar than I'd like to be with the early work of Miles Jupp, known to vast legions of minors as Archie the inventor in Balamory.

Since then he's been busy establishing himself as a regular radio presence, and on the evidence of In and Out of the Kitchen, life after CBeebies superstardom should hold no fears.

It purports to be the diary, written for publication, of a somewhat minor celebrity chef, Damien Trench. Radio 4 comedy generally leaves me deeply disappointed, but this was a delight, beautifully written, and unafraid to bite the hand that feeds it. "Washing up with Radio 4 this morning there was a terrific documentary about socks, their origins and their uses - quite a heavy topic in the wrong hands but delivered with a very light touch. Well done BBC!"

We follow Trench as he makes an awkward contribution to another radio doc, about French beans, while back at home he and his partner are seeing in the New Year by finally committing to each other. "We've been umming and ahhing about it for a while but we've decided: we're to go ahead with our extension ... Anthony is determined that we move our relationship on to the next level." I know I say this a lot, but you should hasten to the iPlayer.

If Fanny Craddock is no longer available, to console us we have the daily ramblings of cookery writer Damien Trench. Written by and starring Miles Jupp, In And Out Of The Kitchen is a delicious comedy that goes from pokerface to hilarious as Damien - Mr Pooter meets the Galloping Gourmet - recounts his cuisine-centred diary.

Be warned, this isn't the real thing however much it sounds like many a TV show these days. Written and presented by Miles Jupp, it's a pretend diary of things cooked and eaten across a year by Jupp's imaginary writer, Damien Trench. It's supposed to be a diary of good food and good company, "however grisly or gristly". As it starts at New Year, the first recipe is for an explosive hangover cure, the first topic is New Year's resolutions. Damien's is to retain his professional integrity. Anthony, Damien's partner, wants to lose weight.

The third Comedy Lab pilot of the series is a mockumentary tackling the issue of disability, an issue rather important to me as I suffer from Asperger's syndrome.

Rick and Peter begins with T4 presenter Rick Edwards (whom I'd never heard before) becoming an internet sensation following a YouTube montage clip of him repeatedly mocking the disabled. As a result he's ordered by a Channel 4 executive (Miles Jupp) to attend a school presentation given by Hollyoaks and Cast Offs star Peter Mitchell, who is paraplegic and confined to a wheelchair.

In terms of mockumentaries, it's not the most innovative ever made. Many shows have covered the supposedly nasty (albeit fake) attitudes of a celebrity. And it also features other guest stars like Nicholas Parsons and Giles Cohen in self-deprecating roles, but this idea has been implemented numerous times in shows such as Extras.

However, my main problem with Rick and Peter is actually the relationship between the two. Since Rick mocks the 'mind disabled' rather than the 'leg disabled', surely the character should be made to do something with someone with a more relevant disability?

The problem with that, of course, lies with TV networks' obsession with the visibly disabled. I know that I'm 'mind disabled', but I look normal - and TV doesn't like that. It seems to me that unless you have a disability in which you look different (missing limb, dwarfism, etc.) or require some sort of, for want of a better term, hardware (wheelchair, white stick, hearing aid) you'll not get a look in on TV because they'll be asking: "How can the viewers tell you're disabled?"

In the end all that happens is that we get comparisons with Rain Man, which is inaccurate because he's a savant and most autistic people are not. Either that or it's Tourette's syndrome and you get someone swearing their head off, which again most Tourette's sufferers do not do. If we don't do something odd we don't get a look in, which really frustrates me. In terms of my disability, the only one I can think of appearing in a British sitcom was one of the children in the Jasper Carrott sitcom All About Me, which is widely regarded as being one of the worst sitcoms ever made. Plus that child is somewhat overshadowed by the main narrator of the story, a boy in a wheelchair suffering from cerebral palsy.

I don't think that Rick and Peter will get a full series, but if it does I hope they cover all ground when it comes to disability, not just what you can see.