Nancy Banks-Smith

Johnny Vaughan's much abused sitcom 'Orrible (BBC 2) is quite good in parts and Ricky Grover, a species of homicidal egg, a continual delight. This week's scheduled episode has been reshuffled on the ground of a tactless explosion. Some shows are not so much unfunny as unlucky.

Hamilton, you feel - and it is a fellow feeling - watches a lot of terrible television with furious fascination.

I must caution publicity against sticking their thumb in a comedy and pulling out the plums for a trailer. Luckily there were plenty of plums in Life As We Know It. If a touch on the tart side.

The Office (BBC2) is a very funny spoof documentary series, though more "Ouch!" than "Ha, ha!" It turns on a fine performance from Ricky Gervais as Dave, the egregious manager of an office in Slough that is under threat of closure ("Did I not want to hear that, Jenny!") Dave swings from cliché to catchphrase with the grace of an orangutan.

It is about an East End pub for East End people, and is not unlike The League Of Gentlemen though not in the same league. I'm not fussy. I liked it.

Monarch of the Glen is 100% tartan flannel. The Highlands are heart-stoppingly lovely. The castle looks as if it is twirled out of barley sugar. Even the new ranger is beautiful, particularly when diving naked into a pool by a waterfall.

Like an elephant out for an evening amble, you could unsuspectingly fall into the elephant trap of Human Remains - An English Squeak (BBC2), the first of a six-part series.

This series is the last bottle in the cellar, something to be savoured. I just wish the audience didn't laugh so loudly over the lines. As Wodehouse once said, and I hope you're not accusing him of being a grump, "I could have endured televison with more fortitude if they had not laughed so much all the time."

Which brings me smoothly to Fat Friends (ITV) by Kay Mellor - a short series about people in a slimming club. There is a quite distinctive feel about it. It is cosy, domestic, acutely observed, touching and looks dead easy.

Keith, like the duckbilled platypus, is funny, endearing and wholly unfitted for life on this planet or any other.