Robert Webb

It's never too early to start feeling festive, right? The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff might be airing midway through December, but it's the perfect show to get you in the mood. From the writer who pens the popular Radio 4 series Bleak Expectations, this Dickensian spoof focuses on a shopkeeper - played by Robert Webb. Actually, the cast is perfect: Stephen Fry, David Mitchell, Katherine Parkinson and Celia Imrie are among the stars taking part. Both silly and a period drama - should be fun winter viewing.

Robert Webb and Katherine Parkinson interview

Robert Webb and Katherine Parkinson tell TV Choice more about their roles in the seasonal spoof episode of The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff.

Robert Webb: 'I auditioned for Nathan Barley'

Robert Webb has revealed that he auditioned for Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker's 2005 sitcom Nathan Barley.

Robert Webb: 'We'll do it for as long as they let us'

"I think the four of us sort of made an informal pact really, as soon as the second series was commissioned, that we want to do for as long as they'll let us."

Thank goodness for Fresh Meat, which has steadily been building its credentials as a comedy-drama, rather than straightforward sitcom. Last night, it was Vod's turn to do a presentation for her English seminar group, an assignment she started well (she'd plagiarized an Amazon reader's review of Midnight's Children to get underway) but couldn't quite sustain. "I never read it!" she yelled defiantly about half a minute in. "I got to the bit where the boy with a nose like a cucumber realises he can read people's minds and I thought, 'No, sorry, I'm not having this'." Robert Webb made a excellent cameo appearance as the needy geology lecturer and Oregon thrilled to the fact that Professor Shales's wife was being all sophisticated and soigné about their affair: "It's like something from a Woody Allen movie or something," she told Vod. "Yeah. Dirty old man and pretty young girl. I think I've seen that one." Its best jokes aren't quotable, though, because they come out of that strange amalgam of what the screen delivers and what the audience already knows and feels. Not just for students.

Dave have decided to revive their panel show Argumental, but not to revive any of the regulars who appeared in the first three series, with John Sergeant, Marcus Brigstocke and Rufus Hound being replaced with Sean Lock, Seann Walsh and Robert Webb.

The main question with this change is, "Has it worked?" Well, in terms of banter between host and panel, it does seem to be better. I think that having a comedian rather than a journalist in the chair is going to increase the laughs, simply because Lock is more used to having to improvise on the spot, as well as being used to the panel show format as a captain on 8 Out of 10 Cats.

However, I've never really been keen on Webb's appearances on panel games. It doesn't seem to be his kind of format, unlike his comedy partner David Mitchell. I also think Walsh is the stronger performer, but despite this Webb won the first episode in the series...

The main highlight of the debut episode was guest Jimmy Carr having to argue that, "There's no place for women's sport on television," while standing next to Britain's only professional sumo wrestler, which is a rather terrifying prospect. You were just waiting for her to faux-lash out at him, but instead it was Walsh who offered to fight her.

I thought it was an OK debut, but it needs a few more episodes to bed in.

Rejoining the depressingly interchangeable comedy panel show circuit, the show returns for a fourth series on Dave. As the self-professed "home of witty banter", it should really be what it does best, as witty banter is precisely what Argumental hopes to synthesise. And when the insufferable Russell Kane isn't speaking, it has its moments. Sean Lock looks comfy, having replaced John Sergeant in the host's chair, while Robert Webb and stand-up Seann Walsh take on the roles of the new team captains, replacing the outgoing Rufus Hound and Marcus Brigstocke. Jimmy Carr also guests.

Behind The Scenes of The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff

Production is underway of the new show The Bleak Old Shop Of Stuff, starring Robert Webb. We've already got some exclusive behind the scenes pictures and quotations...

The new campus comedy got almost universally rave notices for its first outing last week, but some of the novelty seemed to have worn off by the second episode. There were still a few great gags but it all felt slightly laboured, in particular the usually wonderful Robert Webb as the needy, seedy geology lecturer - a character racing headlong into bad caricature. Most of all, at an hour, it just felt too long for the random emptiness of student life. Cut it in half and there's a potentially great comedy.

Then, maybe I'm not the best judge, as I'm scarcely the target audience. From what I've seen so far, the show was either written for the under-25s or for the completely stoned. Which rules me out on both counts.