Red

ITV's rule would have scuppered Python & Likely Lads

Aidan Smith fails to see the funny side of banning male-only writing teams from ITV's sitcom schedule.

Edinburgh preview: The Red at Pleasance Dome

In this his stage directorial debut, originally commissioned for BBC Radio 4, Marcus Brigstocke writes and directs a bittersweet drama of family and addiction, based on his own recovery.

Mum review - the mouse that roared, and about time too

Finally it came and, lord, it was about time. A retort of only eight words, but enough to shift the power balance in Mum and, at last, relieve the viewing public's cancerous knot. For three series Cathy (Lesley Manville), a picture of forbearance in a sensible blouse, has failed to push back and let rip at the family grotesques who blithely misuse and diminish her.

Time to stop censoring comedy with manufactured outrage

Let's save our outrage for climate catastrophe and the rise of fascism, rather than diverting it into hissy fits about comedians.

Freddie Starr fans say farewell at comedian's funeral

Comedian Freddie Starr is laid to rest today, a month after his death at the age of 76.

Starr's coffin has the words "Liverpool legend" engraved on one side and "Return to sender" on the other.

Stand-ups, death & fame: Who will be remembered & why?

Yesterday, I was talking to someone about reviving the Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards - I would not be involved in them. Of course, few people have ever heard of Malcolm Hardee. Fame, as they say, is a fickle mistress. In the UK, who were the biggest and most-loved comedians of the late-20th Century?

Freddie Starr's funeral will be held in a theatre

The late comic's send off is expected to be filled with his comedian mates, cracking jokes in a theatre in his home town, Liverpool.

Gavin will be 'tired old dad' with a grown-up kid

Gavin & Stacey star Mathew Horne has revealed his character is a "tired old dad" with a grown-up kid.