Peter Serafinowicz

Peter Serafinowicz to play superhero The Tick

British actor-comedian Peter Serafinowicz is set as the lead in the Amazon pilot The Tick, a new take on Ben Edlund's comic book character with an all-new cast.

10 people you almost didn't recognise in Black Books

Nina Conti as Bernard's true love, Green Wing's Julian Rhind-Tutt as the adventurer/author Fran falls for, Peter Serafinowicz's deep voice, Johnny Vegas as the sleazy landlord, or Rob Brydon as Fran's new boss. Did you notice these...?

Inside the comic world of Peter Serafinowicz

From the BBC to Hollywood, Peter Serafinowicz is conquering the comedy world. But nothing's so much fun for him as posting spoof videos online, he tells Alice Jones.

Antidote to World Cup? Peter Serafinowicz commentates

"I have to say... I really hate football," says Peter Serafinowicz at half time in his latest venture: World Cup 2014 commentary. Joined by actor, Lewis MacLeod and entrepreneur alter ego, Brian Butterfield, this is the perfect antidote to World Cup fever.

Botched suicide attempts pop up a lot in films and TV and, here, the man putting his head in the noose and kicking away the stool is Jeremy Sloane, who has lost his job and his wife all in the same day.

Coincidentally, a similar event also opens the sitcom Uncle, which starts its terrestrial re-run on BBC One tonight.

But fate has other plans for Jeremy in this six-part comedy series specially created for actor Nick Frost by Curb Your Enthusiasm producer director Robert B Weide. (Weide also directed How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, starring Frost's friend Simon Pegg.)

Mr Sloane is set in 1969 in Watford - which is just far enough from London to have missed out on the Swinging Sixties and light years away from the glamour of Mad Men.

But it all looks glorious, confident and reassuringly expensive.

Tonight's double bill sees Mr Sloane get off to a rocky start in his new job as a substitute teacher and there are scenes set in a boozer that are filled with ­realistically snappy and rambling banter.

Sloane's friends include Peter Serafinowicz as gambling addict Ross, who is at the centre of a lovely running joke about the vagaries of 1960s-style parenting, while Olivia Colman appears in flashbacks as Sloane's wife Janet.

But even this TV Bafta darling is upstaged by Ophelia ­Lovibond, as Sloane's new love interest.

With an accent that's bang on the money, Robin is a groovy American half his age with a habit of bumping into him at his most embarrassing moments.

But she finds Sloane endearing, rather than disgusting - and you will, too.

Like Nick Helm's BBC3 comedy Uncle, this period sitcom from Sky Atlantic begins with a botched suicide attempt, but (as with Uncle) the tone lightens significantly from there. Nick Frost plays the titular Sloane, a man out of time in a swinging 60s, separated from his wife and out of work, but ploughing on regardless. Created by Curb Your Enthusiasm alum Robert B Weide, it boasts a supporting cast including Peter Serafinowicz and Olivia Colman.

Radio Times review

If humanity is to survive then we must become a multi-planet species and spread out like a male passenger on the tube seat of the cosmos. With this advice delivered, Helen Keen takes us on an entirely fact-based but very funny journey through the possibilities of travelling to and living on Mars.

Keen strikes the perfect balance between presenting potentially dull facts and keeping the comic pace going, mainly thanks to the sci-fi-blockbuster-voiceover-style commentary from Peter Serafinowicz.

Review: It's more like Top Gear with geeks

An audience of maths students looked on, scribbling on their notepads. It was like Top Gear with geeks. Dara O Briain had the advantage of a degree in maths and theoretical physics, but guests Peter Serafinowicz and Kevin Bridges looked completely bewildered.

Radio Times review

The problem-solving series returns to strike terror into the hearts of the trigonometrically challenged. This opener lures you in with some frolicking, manly banter about eight-dimensional kebabs and the fluid dynamics behind a Roberto Carlos free kick. But the problem with the format is that it's very difficult to play along at home. So there are lots of shots of things being arranged on tables and students saying "Hmm" into their marker pens, but we have little idea how any of them are doing until adjudicator Marcus du Sautoy wades in to make everyone (apart from Dara) feel a bit thick.

Comedians Kevin Bridges and the terrific Peter Serafinowicz are the guests. The latter, in particular, makes little attempt to disguise his bafflement throughout.