Ruth Jones (I)

A misfit rambling club is the setting for this new three-part comedy and its strong cast bodes well. Heartache, hiking and punch-ups are promised in the series, which opens with Bob (Mark Heap) facing a battle of wills with Christine (Ruth Jones), the newest member of his cherished rambling club. She's been barred from another club and arrives with a GPS and all the latest kit and Bob soon spots a rival. Each week reveals a new crisis.

A three-parter promising "lovely views, stolen kisses, packed lunches and punch-ups": each episode shows us one day trip taken by a group of squabbling ramblers. It should be fertile comedy ground, and the cast is superb: Lark Rise to Candleford's master of elongated suffering, Mark Heap, stars as group leader Bob, with Gavin & Stacey's Ruth Jones playing Christine, a new member just arrived from Barnstaple. If that weren't upsetting enough, she's got a GPS and fancy hiking socks...

There's a whole clutch of matey comedians, including Rob Brydon and Lee Mack, who seem to do nothing much except appear in various combinations on comedy panel shows like this. Would I Lie to You?, however, an update on Call My Bluff, is the most enjoyable format. David Mitchell and Ruth Jones also appear - their trick seems to be to tell their tall stories with deceptive incompetence, which is why the biggest-seeming lies turn out to be true - except for when they don't.

Ruth Jones interview

Ruth Jones is perhaps best known for starring in and co-creating romantic comedy Gavin & Stacey. Now Ruth turns to the British countryside for laughs in The Great Outdoors, about a misfit group of ramblers.

Difficult question: How do you make James Corden's World Cup Live even worse?

Answer: Get ­England's ragtag team of total losers to remove ­themselves from the tournament. What an empty exercise ITV's shapeless shambles has become now that manic cheerleader Corden can no longer hero worship Stevie G, Lamps and the rest of that rabble.

"Why can't we in Wales support ­England?" asked studio guest Ruth Jones. ­"Because they're out," deadpanned Rob ­Brydon. But fair play to ­jaunty Jim. He saw the ­absurdity of his ­predicament. "I feel like an idiot," he roared. "I've got a World Cup show... I've released a record!" All based on the ­delusional belief that Fabio's feeble flops ever stood a chance.

Corden's a likeable guy with a mouth as big as his waistline. But he doesn't appear to know much about ­football. Before the humiliating German rout, he told C4's Alan Carr: "I genuinely believe we're going to win this match." Perceptive.

Ruth Jones as Hattie: are you enjoying biographical TV?

The Gavin & Stacey star is to play comic actress Hattie Jacques in the latest biopic for BBC4.

Ruth Jones to play Hattie Jacques in BBC biopic

Ruth Jones, the Gavin And Stacey star, will play Hattie Jacques, the Carry On comedy legend, in a BBC biopic.

For this two-hour bonanza in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Children's Charity, Channel 4 recently assembled 24 of Britain's best comedians to perform in front of a live audience at the O2 arena in London. So - deep breath - Jack Dee, Andy Parsons, David Mitchell, Fonejacker, Jack Whitehall, Jo Brand, James Corden, Jason Manford, John Bishop, Kevin Bridges, Kevin Eldon, Lee Evans, Mark Watson, Michael McIntyre, Noel Fielding, Patrick Kielty, Rich Hall, Rob Brydon, Ruth Jones, Sean Lock, Catherine Tate and Shappi Khorsandi take turns on stage to make it the biggest live stand-up show in British history. If that's not enough for you, Alan Carr and Bill Bailey perform with Stomp and Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Johnny Depp provide additional sketches.

Channel 4's Comedy Gala, The 02, London

There was a curious mix of something old, something new, something borrowed (such as BBC stars Catherine Tate, Rob Brydon, James Corden and Ruth Jones) and plenty of blue for this mammoth charity gig housed by a venue that was once itself a standing joke when it was the Millennium Dome.