Paul Ritter

A parody 80s cop show, borrowing tropes from both US and UK police series, with some amazing cameos and a script laced with mostly weak gags. The deliberately hammy style sails too close to Toast. You can feel the good intent bubbling under but failing to surface because no one seems able to hit their comic stride. Although the two leads are very likable and tonight's opener features the unbeatable Paul Ritter as their villainous arch nemesis, an ice-cream and drug distributor, it misses by a mile. A great shame.

Radio Times review

Never play a practical joke on the fearsome Detective Inspector Vivienne Deering (brilliant Joanna Scanlan) because you will rue the day. Just watch as she almost takes flight from a massage table when she and her young oppo Dinah Kowalska have a spa day. Kowalska, who speaks fluent Polish, has a little word with a masseuse, just for a laugh. The results are hilarious and a tiny bit frightening.

This is a necessary bit of pampering as the two women take a short break from their hunt for the serial killer of Down's syndrome women. There are other problems on their raw Manchester neighbourhood, too - young men are turning up dead, as the result of a bad batch of drugs, currently being manufactured in a respectable-looking suburban semi.

Everything is done at a breathless pace, but it's worth taking a little time to appreciate the great Paul Ritter as a clever cop.

Paul Abbott's new Manchester-set police drama starts with a bang as you would expect. Dina (Elaine Cassidy) is a determined, unafraid powerhouse of policing; Joy (Alexandra Roach) is her nervy colleague; and Joanna Scanlan is Viv, their boss. It's the women who lead this, and brilliant support comes fromPaul Ritter and Will Mellor. We didn't really need another police drama but, if there has to be one, Abbott is the man for the job. It thrusts and bulges with his energy and heart while avoiding procedural cliche. A brilliant start.

Jim Rosenthal commentates on son Tom's comedy Plebs

The sports presenter is joined by Simon Callow, James Fleet and Friday Night Dinners' Paul Ritter on series two of the ITV2 sitcom.

Lou (Harry Landis) - the elderly "gentleman" who grandma (Frances Cuka) dated in series two - inexplicably reappeared in churlish fashion a few episodes back to berate her "punk rocker" grandsons among others. Now the purpose for his return is clear, with the pair's wedding providing the ideal excuse for full-blown shambles as series three comes to a close. Joyous cries of Mazel Tov seem unlikely as the couple head up the aisle, much to the dismay of Jackie and Martin (Tamsin Greig and Paul Ritter).

The third series of Robert Popper's sitcom following a dysfunctional north London brood begins with a surprise for Jackie and Martin (Tamsin Greig and Paul Ritter), as elder son Adam (Simon Bird) brings a girl to dinner. Unfazed by Martin washing dog poo off his foot in the toilet, plucky Emma fits right in. Things soon turn sour, however, when Adam's texts are intercepted by eight-year-old neighbour Katie, who makes child's play of blackmail. As usual, FND expertly treads the line between relatable and reliably potty.

Radio Times review

Within minutes of the start, Robert Popper's sitcom has contrived to get eccentric dad Martin covered in ketchup, half naked and shaking hands with his son's new girlfriend while his foot is in a toilet bowl.

This kind of wince-making farce is what Popper is good at. The confines of a sitcom where the one setting is a Jewish suburban home and the time frame is limited to the meal of the title only serves to boost his powers of invention.

Martin (Paul Ritter) is a consistently awful but just-recognisable creation. "Has anyone in your family been murdered?" is his idea of small talk with Adam's girlfriend, but he later concludes, "That Emma's a smashing female." (She is beautifully played by Sophia Di Martino, barely recognisable from her Casualty days.)

Ordinarily the comedy revolves around Adam and his brother Johnny's sparring but here Adam manages to sabotage his date himself, with just a little help from an eight-year-old neighbour. The laughs are excruciating, but they're big and real.

After something of a hiatus (the last series screened in 2012) we're back at the North London home of the bickering Goodman family for more middle-class Jewish mayhem. Writer and producer Robert Popper's sitcom may have a modest canvas - it rarely strays beyond its four suburban walls and plot development is minimal - but the show packs plenty of colourful farce into its frantic half-hour slot.

The opener of tonight's third run is no exception, hinging on a premise rife with comic opportunity. Eldest son Adam (Simon Bird) is bringing his new girlfriend Emma (Sophia Di Martino) round for dinner. As expected Mum (Tamsin Greig) has an eye on marriage potential, brother Jonny (Tom Rosenthal) sets out to embarrass and Dad (Paul Ritter) makes no attempt to curb his eccentricities.

Whilst the family dynamics are sharply observed and pleasingly quirky, this is soft-centred, amiable stuff bolstered by some top-notch performances. Ritter, as ever, is superb as shamelessly shirtless Martin, imbuing the character's oddities with pathos. A witty Di Martino also stands out, sweetly unfazed by the chaotic clan she's been invited into.

One-liners are thin on the ground but Popper's real skill is in his structuring, pulling together the episode's separate comic strands into a satisfying, climactic whole. There's no breaking new ground here and a fourth series might stretch things too far, but for now the Goodmans are still worth spending part of your evening with.

The Tommy Cooper thing, Not Like That, Like This, winningly scripted by Simon Nye, told the tale of guess who? A grand piece of ever-rewatchable television, for whom most plaudits will so rightly go to David Threlfall, who simply channelled Cooper: he made you practically smell Chiswick in the 60s, and the BBC lino, and twitch along with every bursting blood-vessel in first his nose and later heart. But very honourable mentions go to Amanda Redman and the ever-splendid Gregor Fisher, playing so against type as to surely require near-physical contortions. And to Paul Ritter, who played Eric Sykes, and got the wisest line of the night, after Cooper drunkenly explained the difference between his two loves, comedy and magic. Sykes saw a different version of two loves, Cooper being at that stage torn between wife Dove and mistress Mary. "So Dove is your comedy, and Mary is your magic." A difficult, heartbreaking man, and ditto piece of television.