Ralf Little

The much-loved Royle Family is back for another Christmas special, so reserve your place on the sofa. In The Golden Eggcup, it's the wedding anniversary of Jim and Barbara (Ricky Tomlinson and Sue Johnston) and Antony (Ralf Little) makes a welcome return to the fold. Being a dutiful son - and the only one with a job - he provides the cash so that they can celebrate in style, but the crucial question is what they'll do with the money - blow it on the holiday of a lifetime or a buy a wall-to-wall HD television set. After the glorious, bittersweet episode The Queen of Sheba, The Royle Family has set itself impossibly high standards that combine acute observation and unforced humour with a deep humanity. Essential viewing.

Sheridan Smith stars in the hit ITV comedy based in a holiday resort.

You can take the girl out of Two Packets of Lager and a Pint of Crisps, but you can't take the, er, lager and crisps out of the girl... Indeed, in tonight's edition of this sunny sitcom, Sheridan Smith concocts the sort of prank that she'd normally play on Will Mellor or Ralf Little. However, with neither of them around, she stitches up a gullible Martin, who ends up legging it through a tourist attraction in the nip...

Lucy Davis and Ralf Little to star in ITV1 rom-com Married Single Other

The Office star Lucy Davis and Royle Family actor Ralf Little are to appear in new ITV1 romantic comedy drama Married, Single, Other - the first show to begin filming in Leeds since the commercial broadcaster announced it was mothballing its Yorkshire studio complex.

Filing clerks Danny (Ralf Little) and Shay (Carl Rice) share a long cherished dream to run their own record company. Danny's gran dies, leaving him £10,000, and before she is cold in her grave they have set up Shady Music. Their first job is to recruit talent to the label and what better way than to hold a Battle of the Bands night?

All this occurs within the first ten minutes of Massive, cutting to the chase with commendable brevity. Nothing kills a new sitcom quicker than a wade through exposition in episode one.

And to its credit, Massive succeeds in keeping up a cracking pace for its full 30 minutes. We see the pair bicker over their musical tastes, strut around in their new capacity as entrepreneurs, rent rat-infested offices and stop at bus stops to ask Jim Morrison lookalikes if they can sing.

It's all very entertaining and good-natured, with several good moments. Little and Rice work well with each other, and Johnny Vegas is on hand to lend comic support as Shay's kleptomaniac dad. Actually, I think I may have seen a bit too much of Vegas lately, which is ironic since he's clearly lost a lot of weight.

According to The Radio Times, Massive is a 'hip' new sitcom about Mancunian mates setting up a record label. But I am well past 40 and a dedicated Radio 3 listener, and there wasn't a single pop reference here I didn't get - what sort of a definition ofhipnessisthat? The mates are Shay and Danny, played by Carl Rice and Ralf Little, who evidently hasn't been deported to the Moon in reprisal for Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps after all. We have a sorry excuse for a legal system in this country. Damian Lanigan's script has a sprinkling of good lines, mostly delivered by Johnny Vegas, as Shay's thieving dad. Prison's all right, he said. Couple of years, read a book, do some sit-ups and out the other end. But too many of the jokes are predicated on the assumptions that fat girls are unattractive but frequently gagging for it, and that alcoholics do the funniest thing.

In this hip new sitcom, Johnny Vegas plays a small-time crook called Tony. We first see him crawling into a bedroom, fingers outstretched for his slumbering son's wallet. Amusing as it is to watch Vegas squirm around on the floor, the role of hapless ne'er-do-well isn't exactly new to Manchester-based comedy... In this insalubrious flat, however, dreams can come true: the son awakes to find best mate Danny (Ralf Little) has inherited £10,000. The pair decide to set up a record label and everyone, from Tony's cider-swigging wife to the estate agent, wants to be signed. There's some great facial gymnastics from wannabe rapper Swing but, apart from that, this opening double bill doesn't quite hit the mark. Let's hope it's simply a question of fine-tuning.

That two of the stars of this new music business comedy had been in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Ideal doesn't bode well. And yet on the strength of the double-episode opener it looks quite promising. Likeable chancers Danny (Ralf Little) and Shay (Carl Rice) bonded over indie rock band Oasis and now dream of opening this century's version of Factory Records. When Danny is left £10,000 in his nan's will, the pair set out to fulfil their dreams by setting up Shady Music. In a disused fish warehouse with furniture nicked from an orphanage by Shay's dad, Tony (Johnny Vegas), they begin by trying to sign their first band - and their options are very limited.

Does Massive hit the right note?

An interview with Ralf Little and Carl Rice.

Got the post-holiday September blues? Then can I recommend a new TV double act to put a smile on your face? Along with the rest of the cast who star in upcoming BBC3 Manchester comedy series Massive.

Ralf Little and Carl Rice play Danny and Seamus, best mates since they bonded over Oasis in 1994. The on screen chemistry between Ralf and Carl gives the six-part series a head start.

The first two episodes are not to be missed. Just some of the delights include Johnny Vegas as Shay's petty criminal dad Tony. Plus Beverly Rudd and Faye McKeever as Droylsden bun-shop divas HearKittyKitty.

Created and written by Damian Lanigan, Massive is yet another burst of fresh air from BBC Comedy North.