Olivia Colman

The Kumars are no longer at number 42. Indeed, they are not even at the BBC anymore. After an eight-year absence, their chat show has been revived by Sky1, relocated to a room behind a minimart and provided with Daniel Radcliffe, Chevy Chase and Olivia Colman as inaugural guests.

The trouble is, I still don't get it. Obviously, it's subverting television conventions. True, nobody else seems to have a problem with the absurdity of the set-up. But to me and my far-too-literal mind, it doesn't make any sense. How come the Kumars have a chat show in their home?

Despite being incomprehensible to me, I find the show entertaining enough, especially if the guests play along with their hosts and don't try to compete with them. Chase looked lost, Colman couldn't contain her amusement and Radcliffe was charm personified, and effortlessly witty with it.

They'll be rolling out the red carpet tonight as a stellar cast of talent drop by for a chat. Michael Fassbender talks about his role in 12 Years A Slave, Idris Elba reflects on stepping into the shoes of a legend in Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom and there's a chance to get the inside track on punchy comedy drama Girls from US actor/writer Lena Dunham. Completing one of Graham Norton's most diverting line-ups are national treasure Olivia Colman and rockers Keane.

After eight years away from our screens, the British Indian family returns to treat the famous faces of today to some amiable nose-tweaking. Despite the action leaving the cosy confines of No. 42 (and the BBC) in favour of the box-strewn surroundings of the flat behind Ashwin's shop in glitzy Hounslow (and Sky1), the appeal of smushing on to the couch with Sanjeev, Ashwin and Ummi et al hasn't dimmed, with tonight's opener playing host to Daniel Radcliffe, Chevy Chase and Bafta-bagging Olivia Colman.

Back after a seven-year absence, the Kumars return with some top-of-the-range acting talent dropping in on their downsized Hounslow home for a dysfunctional family grilling.

With Olivia Colman holding her own against an onslaught of inappropriate questions from Sanjeev (Sanjeev Bhaskar), Daniel Radcliffe getting his cheeks tweaked by Ummi (Meera Syal) and US comedian Chevy Chase quivering under the gaze of new landlady Hawney (Harvey Virdi) we're all set for the chuckles to pick up right where they left off.

Well, apart from the fact they're now on Sky, not the Beeb, so let's hope they haven't left too many of their old fans at home alone.

Radio Times review

Remember the Kumars? You should, because their BBC show The Kumars at No 42 (which ran from 2001 to 2006) was one of a kind, steering a path between Asian sitcom and cheeky chat show that occasionally teetered on the edge of shambles, but mostly paid rich dividends as celebrities squirmed in Sanjeev Bhaskar's hot seat and the ad libs zinged.

Since we last saw them, our fictional family have fallen on hard times, with Sanjeev, Dad (Vincent Ebrahim) and Ummi (Meera Syal) now living above Dad's gift shop in Hounslow. That hasn't affected the quality of their celebrity visitors, however, as Daniel Radcliffe, Olivia Colman and Chevy Chase pay a call.

Justin Chubb and Chris Bran interview

As series two begins, we talk to the men whose strange little creation attracts guest performances from the likes of Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman and Derek Jacobi.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb have lost none of their comedy momentum: the series continues as energetically as it started last week. This time, the running sketch is Mitchell as the "Radio 4 sommelier", with suggestions for a wine that will augment the most laughs in each section of the show. The most unexpected hilarity comes in a scene set in a tavern close to Count Dracula's castle where the endless list of vampire lore - ward them off with water, crucifixes, garlic etc - is given a very funny new twist.

A final word of praise for the wonderful Olivia Colman, whose skills as a comedy actress are put to good use.

TV Preview: Ambassadors

Ambassadors is genuinely top quality television. Just one thing missing. I guess Olivia Colman was too busy to join in.

Graham Norton may have been made more family-friendly of late, but the dildo-brandisher of the past still capers somewhere at the back of his consciousness; his chat show remains peppered with arch humour, and sycophancy is earned by guests rather than doled out to all, as with Jonathan Ross. Tonight's instalment is a best-bits clip show, in case you missed his sparring with Hollywood heavyweights Tom Cruise, Michael Douglas, Amy Adams and Will Smith, plus UK talent such as Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Psychobitches (Sky Atlantic) finished its first series last night (following last year's pilot), and anyone who says television doesn't make inventive programmes any more should watch it.

Set in the office of a modern-day female psychiatrist, who is confronted by some of history's most famous, unusual or bonkers women, it is surreal, but gloriously different.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the idea was pitched. "We'll have Eva Braun going to see the psychiatrist, and Joan of Arc, of course... Funny? Yes, of course it'll be funny! I know - we'll have Mother Theresa too. Hilarious!"
And, unlikely as it might seem, it works.

The characterisations are as inspired as they are off-the-wall. Last night, Sam Spiro gave an hilarious rendition of Jackie Kennedy as a female version of Columbo the detective, and Zawe Ashton played a madly feline Eartha Kitt. Frances Barber's over-the-top version of Catherine the Great was annoying but Harry Enfield gave a brilliant impersonation of "Mrs Alfred Hitchcock" looking disturbingly like Mr Alfred Hitchcock dressed in women's clothes. And Julia Davis was beautifully ditzy as Mary Pickford, the silent film star. "That's seven times now," she complained to the psychiatrist, "that men have tied me to railway tracks..."

The scripts (by a team of writers) are clever, but the whole thing is held together by Rebecca Front, who plays the psychiatrist with a perfect mixture of assurance and bafflement. I know that Olivia Colman has been officially anointed as the nation's new favourite actress, but for my money Rebecca Front is up there. From The Day Today through Alan Partridge, The Thick of It and Lewis to Psychobitches, she is always excellent.