Patrick Smith (I)

Fans of Douglas Adams were unimpressed with this reworking of his Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency when it aired on BBC Four last year - they felt it deviated too far from Adams's original novel. Tonight, it gets its first terrestrial airing with the detective (Stephen Mangan) examining a case that links a missing cat with an exploding warehouse.

You'll never look at Tom Wilkinson in the same way again after seeing him gyrate as a stripper in this lovable British comedy. Set in Sheffield, the film follows six men who, depressed and out of work, decide to form a male dance troupe in order to raise funds. And they're willing to reveal, quite literally, all.

Four episodes in and this sitcom continues to polarise opinion: some critics think it's subtle and rewarding; others have argued that it lacks zest. In tonight's instalment, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan's characters - a writing duo whose British sitcom is being remade in LA - are forced to travel to a remote bar to pick up a drunk Matt LeBlanc, who's the star of their show. Be warned: the language is very rude.

Misfits: a typically British surprise hit

Patrick Smith explains why E4's comedy drama about Asbo superheroes has won over critics.

The excellent Little Crackers series continues with two more autobiographical comic shorts. First, at 9.00pm, Jo Brand takes us back to 1972, a time when fondue sets were all the rage and the comedian was a hormonal teenager sulking because her parents had moved house. Then, in the second of tonight's instalments at 9.15pm, Bill Bailey plays a modern-day Scrooge who finds himself trapped in an underground car park.

Al Murray, the Pub Landlord, stands up for Germany

The comedian best known for his Pub Landlord persona tells Patrick Smith why he's presenting a serious BBC Four series about Germany's cultural past.

The relentlessly deadpan comedy about life on a geriatric ward continues and as ever there are some uneasy and touching moments amid the scatological humour. In tonight's penultimate episode of the series, a graduate nurse causes friction between Den (Joanna Scanlan) and Kim (Jo Brand), and Beedy Fyvie (Lindy Whiteford), who has been travelling from Scotland to visit her dying mother, is once again pushed aside by the dismissive management staff. Elsewhere, Pippa (Vicki Pepperdine) suffers the humiliation of having to reapply for her own job.

Vexed, BBC Two, review

August is the cruellest month for a TV critic: barren and empty. Most of us are outside in the sun and the canny people who make TV know it. So you can imagine my relief when the promising-sounding Vexed (BBC Two, Sunday), a new three-part comedy drama about a detective duo, appeared in the schedules.

Even at its height in the Nineties, Shooting Stars was an acquired taste: some found it gloriously surreal, others thought it annoyingly puerile. Nowadays, though, it feels dated and superfluous. Still there are some enjoyable moments, mainly involving the lugubrious scorekeeper Angelos Epithemiou. Tonight, hosts Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer and captains "Ulri-ka-ka-ka" Jonsson and Jack Dee are joined by Strictly dancer Brendan Cole, cultishly incompetent football pundit Chris Kamara, war reporter John Simpson and Tulisa from pop group N-Dubz.

Though it's perhaps not tickling quite as many funny bones as it once did, the semi-improvised sitcom is still compulsive viewing.