Morgana Robinson

Preview: Morgana Robinson's The Agency, BBC2

Morgana Robinson has been on the cusp of fame for a few years now. She had her own character-comedy show The Morgana Show six years ago and since then has been cropping up in shows such as House of Fools, The Windsors and Charlie Brooker's Wipe programmes where she did a mean Russell Brand.

There were more laughs in The Windsors than there were in the frankly bizarre Flowers. The Windsors comes from team behind the long-forgotten Star Stories and imagines the royal family as the stars of a Dallas-style soap opera. Obviously some of the jokes are quite obvious such as everybody fawning over Pippa Middleton's arse and Fergie (Katy Wix) being a complete embarrassment to the entire royal family. However there were some gems among the myriad of gags most notably the Middletons gypsy heritage which Kate (Louise Ford) is still proud of to this day. The bizarre soapy elements of The Windsors also lend a sense of ridiculousness to the show which is keen to demonstrate the fact it doesn't take itself too seriously. The main thrust of the plot is that Charles and Camilla (Harry Enfield and Haydn Gwynne) are worried that the line of succession is going to skip a generation as Wills and Kate are much more popular than they are. Camilla's plot to take down Kate by getting her to dress as a pirate during a military amputee ball was an inspired gag as is the central plot thread of the Duchess of Cornwall attempting to have another child. Other highlights included Harry (Richard Goulding) not being able to differentiate between the many blondes he's been linked to and Wills' (Hugh Skinner) need to become a helicopter pilot again. But my favourite characters was the frankly clueless sisters Beatrice and Eugenie (Ellie White and Celeste Dring) who attempted to start an online make-up tips business to make some much needed cash. Although The Windsors didn't always hang together it did a good job at both creating larger-than-life versions of our royal family and at the same time staying true to its soap opera spoof style. The majority of the cast looked like they were having a good time and I was particularly fond of W1A's Hugh Skinner's performance as the affable William who tried to balance his duty with his love of flying. In fact the only person who slightly spoiled the show for me was Morgana Robinson who, despite being a fine impressionist, was a bit out of place here in her role as Pippa Middleton. While nobody should go into The Windsors expecting the next big comedy hit it's good to have a bit of satirical fun on the box once in a while. Additionally I feel that Channel Four have definitely made the right decision by putting it on on a Friday

The Windsors, Channel 4, review

There's some mildly subversive satire in there if you look hard enough.

Review: The Windsors

There are some neat, if not side-splitting, lines and enjoyably daft premises, but the show never really takes off. A lot of the scenes have a touch of the Spitting Image about them for sure - but what works as sketch doesn't necessarily sustain for a full narrative.

Preview: The Windsors

The Windsors isn't going to win any awards for subtlety and the writers certainly aren't going to win any knighthoods, but if you like seeing royal poshos royally sent up this should put a smile on your face.

Radio Times review

Whatever horrors the world has endured over the past 12 months - war, pestilence, terrorism and Piers Morgan's new presenting gig on Good Morning Britain (only kidding, Piers), then we can always be sure of some traditional comforts. One is that Charlie Brooker and friends will extract some comic mileage in his now-traditional end-of-year round-up.

Joined by contributors Doug Stanhope, Morgana Robinson (complete with her extraordinary Russell Brand impersonation) and Diane Morgan as the fabulously vacuous pundit Philomena Cunk, laughter appears guaranteed. Page Three and Cecil the Lion may all have died this year, but smart, sassy satire is alive and well on BBC Two.