Rufus Jones

Dead Funny is a perfectly crafted

Assisted by sundry skeletons tumbling out of closets, this deft anatomy of marriage and mirth climaxes in a melee of uproarious slapstick (no dramatist worth his salt introduces a large bowl of trifle without putting it to good use). Recommended, then, even if couples should approach with caution: there will be moments when titter ye will not; and there may even be tears before taxi-time.

Dead Funny review

Both very funny and pointedly sad, 'Dead Funny' explores how laughs and jokes and jibes can be masks - veils that allow us to sidestep looking seriously at our own lives or even properly living them. That all might sound a bit serious, and there's much to chew on here. But this is no dry, po-faced look at comedy. Johnson directs this West End revival of his own play and turns in a brilliantly timed, often hilarious and lively production that's also poignant.

Tributes following death of producer John Pidgeon

Tributes have been coming in today for John Pidgeon, who has died aged 69.

Preview: Camping, Sky Atlantic, episodes 5 & 6

Don't be fooled by the jaunty sub-Mumfords music at the start of episode 5. Julia Davis' comedy-drama comes to a head in all sorts of horrendous ways in these last two instalments.

Review: Camping, Sky Atlantic, eps 3 & 4

I was probably a bit unfair to dub this series Nighty Night On Holiday when I first heard about Camping].

The new Julia Davis comedy, Camping, about a group holiday on a camping site, hit the sodden grass running with two episodes that simultaneously amused and (deliciously) horrified.

Steve Pemberton played decent, resigned Robin, who was celebrating his 50th birthday, if "celebrating" is the right word, considering his wife Fiona's (Vicki Pepperdine) attempts at psychological castration via the medium of nagging malevolence (Fiona is the first great television monster of 2016). They and their son, Archie (banned by his mother from eating any foods "that could be vaguely homosexual"), were joined by Jonathan Cake's Adam, a recovering alcoholic, his son (a teenage masturbator), and wrung-out dishcloth of a wife, Kerry (Elizabeth Berrington). We also met recently separated Tom (Rufus Jones), cutting a tragic figure in his Topman finery and attempting to recapture his virility with "dubstep DJ" Fay (Davis), a woman determined to turn pretentious vacuity into an art form.

Camping managed to be wickedly funny while also serving as a compelling argument for losing all faith in humankind. Anyone familiar with Davis's oeuvre (Nighty Night, Hunderby) will know what I mean when I describe the characters as either wildly stressed, intrinsically damaged, irredeemably horrible or all three at once. At one point, Tom was caught in flagrante with Fay in a cubicle in a bric-a-brac shop. "Big apols!" he drawled. Priceless.

Camping review: a gloriously bleak comedy masterpiece

I'm not yet sure that it's quite up there with Nighty Night or Hunderby, but there's no better comedy around at the moment. The only pity is it's on Sky.

TV review: Camping, Sky Atlantic

I have a bit of a confession to make. I was never a big fan of Hunderby. I liked it but was not devoted to it is many were. For some reason - Blackadder excepted - I like my comedy to be wearing modern clothes. So it is feels me with joy that Julia Davis is back in the modern world for Camping.

The latest offering from Julia Davis (Nighty Night) focuses on a holiday under canvas. It's a trip to celebrate the 50th birthday of Robin (Steve Pemberton), who's married to Fiona (Vicki Pepperdine), a woman so assertive she puts the campsite kettle "out of bounds" to maintain tent-life authenticity. But can Fiona's itinerary-making authoritarianism survive the arrival of Tom (Rufus Jones) and his new partner (Davis)? A comedy that's best when it's close to the knuckle, which is most of the time.

Stag: episode 2 review

As with the last episode, the best thing about this episode is the characters, who are at first are mostly unlikable, but as their crisis grows you understand that each has their own problems.