Roisin Conaty

Greg Davies's amiable sitcom reaches the penultimate episode of its third season. The sound of the Star-Spangled Banner fades into the background as Dan's discovery of his adoption certificate sinks in and his mind wanders to the life he could have led. A good time to escape from the squalor of his adoptive family and take to the beach with Jo (Roisin Conaty) - a trip that also appeals to Brian's children, at least when the only other option available is a dull day out with their fastidious father (Mike Wozniak).

TV preview: Man Down, C4

Good to see Greg Davies back as helpless, hapless, hopeless giant man-child teacher Dan. There are some nice new treats in the supporting cast too, but they have to have pretty big personalities to stand a chance of competing with Davies. Luckily they are.

Women take the comedy throne at Channel 4

Game of Thrones aside, it is the women who catch the eye in Channel 4's forthcoming comedy line-up.

This week's new live comedy

Previews of Rob Newman, Paul Foot and Roisin Conaty.

Great comedians can make anything funny. Eric Morecambe bleeding a radiator or Les Dawson reading out AutoTrader would be hilarious by default, but could modern standups work that same magic when, say, eating an entire watermelon or emptying a bathtub? Dave's new panel show hinges precariously on that premise, with a quintet of comics - this week including Frank Skinner, Tim Key and Roisin Conaty - performing acts at the behest of titular taskmaster Greg Davies. In practice, a premise unlikely to tickle the titter glands of many.

Radio Times review

As a civilisation, we're starting to realise that asking questions about news or trivia from behind a desk isn't the best way to wring semi-improvised laughs out of moderately popular comedians. Far wiser to make them do something less restrictive, where the thing itself is funny before anyone starts. So we come to this fun new jolly, where titular Taskmaster Greg Davies - flanked by the show's creator Alex Horne - awards comics marks for eating as much watermelon as they can in a minute, emptying a bathtub without pulling the plug out, or painting a horse while riding a horse.

The comfortingly familiar guests are Frank Skinner, Josh Widdicombe, Roisin Conaty, Romesh Ranganathan and Tim Key. Skinner is a good weathervane, since he's been around far too long to bother laughing politely at unfunny jokes. Here, he laughs a lot.

The second series of Greg Davies's crude, clever comedy continues to deliver, despite the hole left by Rik Mayall. This week, Davies's world-worn protagonist Dan is horrified to discover that his former school bully has the lead role in a play that he is attending with his students. Cue group therapy and a lesson in resilience from Aunt Nesta (Stephanie Cole). As per, disaster-prone pals Jo (Roisin Conaty) and Brian (Mike Wozniak) get into a variety of scrapes, too.

Greg Davies and Roisin Conaty interview

Before the press launch for the new series I caught up with Greg Davies and Roisin Conaty to find out more about what's in store. Here's what they had to say...