Ricky Gervais

If you've decided to spend New Year's Eve on the sofa, this feast of funny will see you through a hefty chunk of the evening. Earlier this year, two dozen of the nation's finest comics performed at London's O2 Arena to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital. They included Bill Bailey, Alan Carr (both backed by Stomp), Ricky Gervais and Catherine Tate. Not that it'll affect your viewing experience at home but, in case you're interested, this comedy extravaganza (first broadcast in April) was the self-proclaimed biggest stand-up show in UK history.

Tis the season to be jolly. But not even the ­prospect of wallowing in a bath of mince pies and brandy could make me feel charitable about Accidental Farmer.

Ashley Jensen, so excellent in Ricky Gervais's Extras and Ugly Betty, has hit the buffers hard with this pitiful affair, which has no ­original DNA and not much in the way of comedy, drama or believability.

Jensen - playing Erin the high-flying ad executive who decides she wants a family only to find a naked woman in her ­boyfriend's wardrobe - exerts revenge by buying a farm with her ex's credit card. As you do. Less likely still, she decides she wants to be a farmer.

Cue scriptwriter cliche hell. There was just one good line. When discussing what to name a pig, a child pipes up with: 'Peter Andre?' That elicited a snort. From me, not the pig.

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It's hard not to like Ashley Jensen, the Scottish actress who was catapulted to fame when she played Ricky Gervais's accident-prone best friend Maggie in Extras. Blessed with an open face, a slightly awkward manner and a wry sense of humour - much like Martin Freeman, her male equivalent in The Office, in fact - she's fast become a popular hit with audiences and a shoo-in for TV producers looking to cast a sympathetic female lead. So it may come as a surprise to viewers of this sitcom pilot episode to find her playing a high-powered ad executive called Erin, who has a penchant for shouting things like, "Unless the answer is yes, I don't want to know!" Glimmers of vulnerability appear, though, as she finds her boyfriend Mike (Raza Jaffrey) in bed with another woman and goes on a vengeful spending spree with his money - buying, among other things, a dilapidated farm which, in a moment of blind inspiration, she decides to actually take on. And so Erin arrives in Yorkshire to meet Olive (Jean Heywood), her cantankerous sitting tenant; Clive (Michael Hodgson), the ale-soaked local handyman; Judith (Sylvestra Le Touzel), her horsey neighbour; and a cast of other bucolic types. The result is a sitcom that, given a bit of spit and polish and a generous BBC One budget, might just inherit The Vicar of Dibley's mud-flecked crown.

After her stints on US sitcoms Ugly Betty and Accidentally On Purpose, Ashley Jensen is back on UK soil - in every sense.

In this comedy pilot, she stars as Erin, a high-flying control freak advertising executive whose perfect life unravels when she discovers her boyfriend is a cheating git. Drunk, hurt and in possession of his credit card, she buys herself a run-down farm in Yorkshire. As you do.

Initially, a hungover Erin wants to get out of the purchase, but when her ex mocks her ability to make it as a farmer, she decides to prove him wrong. Armed with designer wellies and hand sanitiser, she heads for a new life in the country and, hey presto, another duck-out-of-water comedy is born.

It's a slow start, not helped by the fact that Erin is a horrible cow (of the human variety). But when she meets her new octogenarian sitting tenant, Olive, things quickly pick up. Joined by a cute comedy piglet and stereotypical TV country types (bar Olive, who is wonderfully refreshing) Erin becomes softer and more likeable and the overall result turns out to be a rather jolly show.

Jensen made her name starring opposite Ricky Gervais in Extras, but don't expect anything like the same kind of edgy humour here.

Even so, this pilot shows promise so don't be surprised if the Beeb ­commissions a full series.

Actress, writer and now, presenter: Ruth Jone, co-creator of Gavin & Stacey, hosts a light mix of chat, music and larks. It's going nationwide this Christmas after debuting in Wales last year. Music comes from indie-rock milquetoasts the Script, while places on the sofa are reserved for Ricky Gervais, Will Young and Miranda Hart.

There's no Gavin & Stacey this Christmas, but as a consolation we are offered up this new mix of chat, music and sketch comedy from the sitcom's co-creator Ruth Jones, aka Nessa. Her guests will include Ricky Gervais (without whom, it seems, no chat show is complete), Miranda Hart (of BBC Two's Miranda) and pop crooner Will Young.

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