Ricky Gervais

And I'm afraid I wasn't too impressed with another new sitcom, The Job Lot, which came on straight after Vicious. It had the air of The Office about it, following the lives of those working at a job centre in the West Midlands. But it was nowhere near as good as Ricky Gervais' classic series.

The show was about work - or the lack of it - and the characters in the office and their relationships - or lack of them - and, though it started with the Morecambe & Wise song Bring Me Sunshine, it did anything but. It left me as disillusioned as the employers.

In fairness, the performers were likeable enough, such as Miranda's Sarah Hadland's turn as neurotic Trish, and Russell Tovey as Karl, the frazzled manager.

The one shining light in an otherwise average sitcom was Jo Enright, brilliantly irritating as Angela, an unsmiling jobsworth and borderline psychopath.

Sadly, two vital ingredients were missing from the half hour show - laughs and the plots, both of which are pretty important when it comes to making good TV. Add to that the annoying background music and I've got another reason not to tune in again.

Ricky Gervais won't appear in the US Office

Ricky Gervais has dashed hopes he would appear in the US version of The Office's final episode.

Kerry Godliman interview

Kerry Godliman charts her rise from stand-up to her own Radio 4 show - via Ricky Gervais.

It is with relief that I can report that Ben Elton's new comeback series is hilarious! It is a classic situation comedy with great jokes and ... and funny characters who ... who ...

No. I'm sorry, it's no good. You see, it really is no good; in fact, it's a stinker. David Haig plays Gerald Wright (hence the title!), an annoying man who wants everything done a certain way. It's a perennial sitcom trope, done beautifully by Richard Briers in Ever Decreasing Circles, for instance, or 
decently by Chris Barrie in The Brittas Empire. He's a health and safety inspector for a local council, the department "that introduced the static seesaw and the horizontal slide [and said] babies must wear helmets when breastfeeding near the swings".

But what makes it a stinker are the jokes, which feel as though when the BBC moved out of Television Centre they found an old box at the back of the cupboard labelled "Leftover Sitcom Gags 1973". They are ancient, is what I'm saying, they have whiskers on them.

The main running joke involves Wright trying to wash his hands under a bathroom tap and soaking his trousers, and then someone coming in and thinking he's wet himself, and then shoogling about under a hand dryer and someone else coming in and thinking he's doing something filthy. And this happens three times.

Haig tries to make things sound funny by stretching and emphasising certain words - not a stammer, but a sort of word-mastication which would be excellent for someone trying to practice shorthand or audio typing dictation, if anyone still does that nowadays.

The show's token nod to modernity is that Wright lives with his daughter and her female partner (played by Beattie Edmondson, daughter of Elton's old chum Adrian - how cosy). He has to buy a present and they suggest a shop called Girl Shack - wait, Girl Shack? In 2013? I take it Chic Chicks or Trendy Togs or Burdz Boutique were all taken?

Finally, there is the catchphrase: "Don't get me started!" which Wright says when particularly exasperated. This is very nearly "Are you 'avin' a laugh?" from Ricky Gervais' spoof sitcom When The Whistle Blows. Sorry, Ben: this isn't 
the one that's going to win over your critics.

Doc Brown: 'I'm an accidental comedian.'

The former rapper on his standup act, working with Ricky Gervais and why Margaret Thatcher ruined his research.

Sadly, it looks as though there will be no second series of Life's Too Short, but my favourite comedy of 2011 enjoyed a last hurrah, thanks to a one-hour special that addressed many of the faults, and played to the strengths, of its first run.

Gone were the gratuitous physical humiliations visited upon star Warwick Davis, along with the David Brent mannerisms bequeathed him by writers Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

Instead, Davis was given free rein to explore the comic potential of his complex, conflicted and constantly embattled character. Rosamund Hanson provided scene-stealing support as dippy secretary Cheryl.

Extra helpings of guest stars playing either unflattering or unsympathetic versions of themselves were also served up. Shaun Williamson, Keith Chegwin and Les Dennis all made a welcome return - "Three Z-list celebrities make one D-list celebrity," encouraged Davis as they embarked on their All Star roadshow - with a surprise appearance from the former Hollywood star and one-time screen Batman Val Kilmer.

With an enthusiasm that bordered upon self-flagellation, Kilmer portrayed himself as a slightly deranged fantasist and maniacal con man who raises, and then shatters, Warwick's dreams of a sequel to Willow.

Painfully poignant, beautifully played and constantly inventive, this one-hour special conclusively proved that Life's Too Short's own end was also premature.

Doc Brown interview - working with Gervais regularly

Well, I'm working with Ricky Gervais regularly now. We meet up once every couple of weeks and that will hopefully develop into something huge.

It may not be fashionable to approve of anything with Ricky Gervais's name on it. But this Life's Too Short Special (BBC2, Saturday) - with Val Kilmer, along with Les Dennis, Keith Chegwin, and Shaun Williamson joining Warwick Davis - is a piece of genius. There's nothing Gervais hasn't done before. An obsession with disability: check. Fading slebs making tits of themselves to highlight the horrors of the fame game: check. More squirminess than a sack of snakes with the squits: check. But it's done with such a breathtaking boldness that it's impossible not to gasp with a mixture of shock'n'awe. I mean he gets Chegwin to revisit not just his drunkenness but his nakedness too!

Actually the funniest moment is when Les, Keith and Shaun are sharing a hotel bed, to save money. "Not while I'm reading [Sartre as it happens]," says Shaun, when Cheggers reaches down to say hello to little Cheggers, if you know what I'm saying.

Then Gervais chucks in the curveball of touchingness (the other sort). It shouldn't be surprising - he usually does - but it somehow catches you off-guard. Especially poignant if you've just watched Kavana on The Voice.

Actually the series finale was just a bit too long

Ricky Gervais's maligned mockumentary Life's Too Short came to a belated end with an hour-long special that started off well enough but ultimately ran out of steam.