Miranda Hart

The final show in the garrulous host's debut series of chat for the channel. It's a promising all-British cast tonight, led by comedienne Miranda Hart, talking about her hit sitcom and new book, a guide to growing up entitled Is It Just Me? She's joined by the acclaimed actor Michael Sheen (Frost/Nixon, The Deal), who is about to play Hamlet at London's Young Vic. Completing the line-up is the entertainingly outspoken Noel Gallagher, discussing life since he quit Oasis and performing his latest single.

Infomania: Miranda Hart

A graphic look at the comedian Miranda Hart.

Miranda Hart writes advice book for youngsters

Comedian Miranda Hart's book Is It Just Me? will be 'a rallying cry against the unexpected pitfalls and horrors of growing up'.

I really don't know what they're giving panellists before they go on this show.

The start of series five dissolves into a puddle of infectious hysteria that has more than one of the cast absolutely weeping with laughter.

I blame The Apprentice's Nick Hewer, who kicks off proceedings with a wonderfully straight-faced tale of how he and Lord Sugar like to relax after a tough day's filming in the boardroom.

He's a very welcome addition to the line-up, proving that you don't have to be a professional stand-up to get big laughs on this show.

Team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell are also joined this week by Jack Whitehall and Rebecca Front as well as Miranda Hart.

The latter is reduced to helpless tears of mirth by her own very unlikely sounding tale about trying out for QPR's women's football team. But it's host Rob Brydon's own demonstration of a cuddle jumper that really brings the house down.

While much of Would I Lie To You? would work almost as well on radio, the cuddle jumper is an item of clothing which absolutely must be seen to be fully enjoyed.

A perfect blend of innocent silliness and razor-sharp wit, Would I Lie To You? is still the perfect way to wind down for the weekend.

And this might just be the funniest episode ever.

Miranda Hart: I'm proud to be a middle-class comidienne

Comic Miranda Hart kept her ambition to be the "next Eric Morecambe" a secret from her parents for 20 years, she revealed yesterday.

Size has always been central to Ronnie Corbett's fame too - or rather, the lack of it. As if to prove the point, Matt Lucas described him as "a giant" in the introductory sequence of Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain. That sequence made this sound like a long and slightly tedious tour of Corbett's lunch companions, with the aim of presenting him as the patron saint of British comedy. In fact, it was utterly wonderful.

Miranda Hart, Stephen Merchant, David Mitchell and John Cleese were among those who shared insights into what makes comedians tick and comedy funny. The former is mainly the potential for going from bladder-wrenching insecurity to megalomania in the blink of an eye. The latter is mainly timing.

Corbett proved a superb and humble interrogator. He didn't address the decline of the sitcom and the relative rise of sketch shows, nor did he ask why so many comedies these days centre on flocks of people, rather than families, and what that says about our society. But he did remind us that contemporary British comedy is full of great talent, a useful corrective to the nostalgic defeatism of most televisual trips down memory lane.

This new ITV1 documentary sees Ronnie Corbett meeting up with some of his favourite comedians, past and present, while also looking back at key comedy moments.

As a result, this programme, on the whole, is not going to suit a die-hard comedy fan; because it covers lots of things that they will already know about, such as how The Two Ronnies came together, or the early radio history of Little Britain. This show is really more for the casual comedy observer who wants to learn more.

One thing that got me thinking, however, was that this first episode was all about comedy partnerships. However, Corbett didn't actually meet up with any double acts - just half of them, namely Miranda Hart, Stephen Merchant, David Mitchell, Matt Lucas and John Cleese (although admittedly there is a very good reason why Cleese's comedy partner was not on, seeing as how Graham Chapman has been dead for over 20 years).

If anything, this show seemed to be a comedian's version of Jim'll Fix It, with Corbett giving many of his comedians some exciting experiences. For example he allowed Miranda Hart to walk on to a stage where Morecambe and Wise had one of their greatest ever stage shows to the tune of "Bring Me Sunshine". Another segment saw Corbett getting Merchant a brand new tailor-made suit; another featured Corbett doing a Little Britain radio sketch, attempting to do Vicky Pollard - badly.

To be honest I was almost expecting Corbett to be sitting in his chair, holding a cigar and saying something along the lines of: "Now then, now then, I've got a letter from a Jim Davidson of London what says; 'Dear Ronnie, I haven't been on telly for years due to no-one liking my act because it is racist. So could you fix it for me to appear on your show?' Well, goodness gracious, unfortunately Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain does have a very tight budget, so Jim how would you like it if Ronnie fixed it for you to sing with the black and white minstrels?"

Having said all this I did like some of the archive clips that they showed, graphically onto any flat surface such as walls, clothing displays and theatre curtains. Some of them also featured clips I hadn't heard before such as one clip from The Goon Show which I found absolutely hilarious.

So, this show does contain the odd comedy laugh that you won't have heard of 50 times already, but other than that it is just a series of interviews and pleasant surprises.

Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain was short on laughs

Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain wasn't actually very funny, considering the veteran entertainer was cavorting with the likes of Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas and Miranda Hart.

If you have never seen Monty Python's parrot sketch, or are unfamiliar with Eric Morecambe's demolition of "Andrew Preview" ("I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order"), then this is for you. Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain is a handy primer for anyone who needs to work on their history of British comedy. For everyone else, it's an easy-going, if sometimes uncomfortably loose, hour of very familiar comedians talking about comedy. As Corbett is beloved of the new wave of Brit-coms - he had cameos in Extras, where he snorted cocaine from a toilet seat, and Little Britain, where he was confronted by the grotesque Bubbles DeVere - his pals are modish. So he has an odd little interlude with Miranda Hart, whom he accompanies to the Fairfield Halls in Croydon, spiritual home of Hart's beloved Morecambe and Wise. Then Corbett has lunch with Stephen Merchant, a picnic on a punt with David Mitchell and afternoon tea with John Cleese. And with Matt Lucas he tries to be Vicky Pollard, and is terrible.