Ruth Jones (I)

Very British Problems - very funny!

This summer I am on the lookout for funny shows to help balance the rest of my responsibilities. At the same time, I have expanding my viewing options by looking into programs from abroad. I have recently run across the perfect mix of the two in Very British Problems.

Binging: Gavin and Stacey

You've finished The Wire, Breaking Bad and The Killing but you're still hungry for more boxsets. Fear not, Standard Issue writers are on the case with some gems you might not yet have seen. Vix Leyton tips her Welsh hat to Ruth Jones and James Corden.

Ruth Jones: No more Gavin & Stacey

"I can promise you absolutely that there are no plans to make one," says Ruth Jones after her co-creator James Corden revealed he'd "love" to do a special of the hit comedy.

Much like ITV's Doc Martin, this Welsh valleys-based comedy starring Ruth Jones is a reliable source of gentle laughs, U-rated drama and the odd celeb cameo. Indeed, while Martin Clunes and pals were joined by Sigourney Weaver last year, Robert Plant rocked up in the fictional south Wales town of Pontyberry last week. Things are a little less starry tonight, as the winners of forgotten reality contest Last Choir Standing come to Aunty Brenda's aid. Elsewhere, Stella tries to contact on/off flame Rob, and Michael is forced to compromise.

Radio Times review

Ruth Jones, here on writing duty, moves things along big time in an episode of ructions and revelations. Her title character is in London on a work trip and pays a surprise visit to Michael (Patrick Baladi). A big decision beckons, until a bolt from the blue scuppers everything.

Elsewhere, the Pontyberry mayor (Hi-de-Hi!'s Ruth Madoc!) pegs out in a council meeting, with ambitious Aunty Brenda waiting in the wings; Bobby has a drunken fling that has professional repercussions; and Jag makes a surprising discovery about his cleaner. In common with the best instalments, it's a delicious mix of sad and funny.

Ruth Jones's comedy-drama opens for its fifth series of slightly ridiculous storylines and panto-esque characters. Stella is being ridiculously tolerant of the fact that her current love interest, Michael, is fathering the lovechild of Beyoncé, whom Aunty Brenda refers to as the local Jezebel. Nadine is preparing to christen her daughter, while her dopey husband, Karl, is stuck on a train. Meanwhile, there's a new undertaker in Pontyberry as Ivan Schloss (Fresh Meat's Tony Gardner) comes to town. It's pleasant comfort telly.

Radio Times review

Star/co-creator Ruth Jones calls another Welsh favour this week. After cameos in previous series from Lord Kinnock, presenter Gethin Jones and rugby star Scott Quinnell, Andy Fairweather Low gets to busk in a pub! The Wide Eyed and Legless singer is the kind of delightful aside at which this post-watershed Pobol y Cwm excels.

The crux of the episode is expectant vamp Beyoncé applying a financial squeeze on the rueful Michael, while comedy linchpins Bobby and Brenda tussle for the same ndertaker's job. Their interviewer is the enigmatic Ivan Schloss (the usually excellent Tony Gardner, here with an uncomfortable accent). If it's all a tad overplayed, the feel-good factor conquers all.

Stella review

Ruth Jones's Stella returned to Sky1 for its fifth series to restore our faith in humankind. The wholesome comedy isn't laugh-out-loud funny, but it is warming and comfortingly down to earth.

Radio Times review

Before I started watching this I thought, "I wonder if they'll add some sleigh bells over the thrashy theme music" and I'm delighted to say they have. There's also a spangly snowflake backdrop and several Christmas-themed claims/tales/festive fibs.

To wit, "These are two of the best gifts I was given last Christmas," announces David Mitchell, flourishing a top hat and magic wand and prompting all of us to try to picture what Christmas Day might be like at the Coren Mitchells.

But the best prop arrives when Bill Bailey introduces a pet bird called Jacob, that he claims he once smuggled into the cinema with him. The fact it's a cockatoo is heroically ignored, even by Lee Mack: no pre-watershed-unfriendly gags here (although why Mitchell's enthusiastic mime of church bell-ringing gets a laugh might take some explaining). Kelly Holmes, Jo Brand and Ruth Jones add to the mendacious merriment.

In which mostly grumpy and sometimes quite old celebs reflect on the problems that ensue when leaving the house to go to work or the shops, or even to head out on holiday or for a jolly. In more detail, that means the likes of James Corden, Jonathan Ross, Ruth Jones and Stephen Mangan discussing the guilty thrill of buying a cheap round down the pub, the seething anger that underpins making tea for office colleagues, and performance anxiety - when packing shopping at the supermarket.