Pam Ayres

Come 2005, it will be 30 years since the versatile poet and comedian got her first break on Opportunity Knocks! but more recently the only TV appearance which readily comes to mind was a brief, suitably witty ditty on receiving her MBE. All the more reason then that her fans will welcome the new four-part Radio 4 sketch show Ayres on the Air, each episode tackling a subject no doubt dear to sixtysomethings' hearts. The first deals with the humiliations that come with inevitable physical deterioration and though, for example, her ode to the Wonderbra hardly creates a storm in a D-cup - many jokes are signposted way ahead - there is an endearing cosiness to the material, its delivery and pace. Both Geoffrey Whitehead and Felicity Montagu are also solid stooges off which to bounce her style of comedy.

Pam Ayres is back. Ayres on the Air focuses on ageing, in a selection of unfunny monologues and unfunny sketches. Luckily, for the recording, Ayres's entourage took the sensible precaution of flooding the place with laughing gas.