Ryan Sampson

Video: British Comedy Awards interviews

Sara Shulman interviews Johnny Vegas, Steve Coogan, Jack Whitehall, Vicki Pepperdine, Joanna Scanlan, Tom Rosenthal and Ryan Sampson at The British Comedy Awards.

Jessica Hynes leads from the front as Margaret in this jolly suffragette sitcom. A woman whose scientific mind and political aspirations are racing ahead of her fellow stitchers in the Banbury Intricate Craft Circle, Margaret is eager to embrace the modern world of 1910. A recent convert to the suffragette cause, can Margaret convince her circle to square up and join the fight for women's votes? Rebecca Front, Vicki Pepperdine and Ryan Sampson lend varying degrees of support.

Let's face it, it's not exactly a golden age for British sitcoms. So when a half-indecent one stumbles along, let's hope it's given time to grow.

As Plebs bowed out last night, I found myself hoping this wasn't the last we'd seen of Shredder, Copier and Water Boy ('Man! Water Man!').

Though the closing episode, Saturnalia, didn't have anything to match my favourite moment of the series - Doon Mackichan downing a banana - it did leave the door gaping open for a second run as the hapless Marcus (aka Copier) still hadn't bagged himself any Cynthia action. You feel for the boy, you really do.

That's down to Tom Rosenthal's endearing turn as Marcus, which started off dangerously close to Inbetweener Will but has happily grown to fill out his own tunic.

Marcus could come off as a whiny whinger but Rosenthal's everyman likeability makes you root for him. With Joel Fry's Stylax, he turns Plebs into a (funny) spin on Two And A Half Men. Only with a short bloke (Ryan Sampson's terrific slave Grumio) instead of a fat kid.

I've caught up late with Plebs, Sam Leifer and Tom Basden's comedy about three also-rans in Ancient Rome, which turns out to be a likeable enough affair, though you never entirely feel that they get out of second gear when it comes to the writing.

I did laugh aloud when the lads' landlord indignantly accused them of "Thracism" for wanting to get rid of a Thracian tenant he'd foisted on them, but I think that was partly because the line was delivered by the wonderful Karl Theobald. Also effortlessly funny, even when saying nothing at all, is Ryan Sampson as Grumio the slave. Shades of Baldrick - the dimwit's dimwit.

A family magazine is no place to describe the grisly goings-on in tonight's episode. Suffice to say that it seems ancient Romans also suffered sexually transmitted infections and it may be a while before you want to eat rhubarb again.

Once again Marcus is in his beloved Cynthia's bad books and Grumio gets all the best lines (or perhaps it's Ryan Sampson's superb deadpan delivery), while Stylax tries to turn on the charm at a highly inappropriate moment. Cat lovers may want to keep a cushion handy for the final scene.

A playful disregard for historical accuracy and some strong comic turns, most notably from Ryan Sampson as dimwit slave Grumio, make Rome-com Plebs a more enjoyable watch than its ropey-looking trails suggest. Plus, Danny Dyer pops up in an episode. Get up to speed on the ITV Player.

The gimmick of this sitcom, which is ribald without being too dumb, is that it's set in ancient Rome but blatantly has 21sdt-century sensibilities. Tom Rosenthal (Friday Night Dinner) and Joel Fry (who superbly played dimwits in Twenty Twelve and Trollied) are Marcus and Stylax, two losers with dead-end administrative jobs and a chronic lack of fmale attention. With rubbish slave Grumio (Ryan Sampson) taking the place of a feckless pal, they could be from any modern comedy, but transferring the tropes to a period setting gives this one another layer.

Plebs focuses on three no-hopers in the form of office boys Marcus (Tom Rosenthal) and Stylax (Joel Fry) and their slave Grumio (Ryan Sampson). Marcus is a bit of a dreamer and when an attractive new neighbour Cynthia (Sophie Colquhoun) enters his life he falls head over heels in love. The only problem is that Stylax wants them both to go to an orgy and that means trying to convince Cynthia to come with them.

Cue a lot of comic misunderstanding, awkward silences and a very kinky cage game. I believe Plebs was conceived when someone said 'why don't we try and make an Ancient Rome version of The Inbetweeners.' Plebs is filled with the crude humour and obvious jokes that you would expect from an ITV2 sitcom. As much as I like Tom Rosenthal he has been saddled with playing 'the awkward one' which means he has to make a lot of sad faces when Cynthia goes off with another man. Meanwhile Joel Fry, who is so great in Trollied, is the 'horny one' and is always trying to get off with someone while avoiding the advances of his boss (Doon Mackichan). In fact the best performance comes from Ryan Sampson as the bewildered Northern slave Grumio who is forced to route through the bins to find food for his two masters.

While Plebs isn't awful it still felt like a sitcom that was developed with a key demographic in mind rather than just simply created by a talented scriptwriter. In fact, while the state of British drama seems to be very healthy indeed, I don't think there's been one really good UK sitcom since the start of the year.

Maybe it's the fact that togas are just so darn saucy but there's something irresistibly comical about Ancient Rome. In the noble tradition of Up Pompeii!, Plebs (ITV2) is the latest sitcom to play the old Empire for laughs. And titter I did.

It could afford to up the raunch factor, with opening episode The Orgy surprisingly shy of flesh. But Tom Rosenthal's central character, Marcus, makes a sweet prude amid a sea of debauchery and his servant Grumio (Ryan Sampson), surfing a wave of northern camp, is a guaranteed scene-stealer. 'You never see a dog with a towel,' he observed of his drip-dry post-shower regimen. Fair point.

The cultural connection between Ancient Rome and classic ska and reggae is lost on me, but oddly it's an inspired one, with tunes such as Double Barrel by Dave & Ansel Collins giving the action a sun-kissed spring. And any show that chops Danny Dyer's head off has to be worth a second look.