Sam Wollaston

Vicious doesn't feel new at all. We're talking very trad sitcom here. The "sit" part is the sitting room of a grand central London flat, where the two central characters reside. There are various ways in and out of the room - the flat's main door out on to the landing, doors to other rooms. And there's a telephone (landline).

The "com" comes from the exchange of banter and one-line gags between the two principals, and from the arrival and departure of subsidiary characters through the various entrances and exits, and from the odd telephone conversation. The com is marked by uproarious studio laughter (NO! WHY? IN 2013!).

What's (a bit) interesting about Vicious is that the leads - Freddie and Stuart - are played by two grand knights of the theatre (pronounced theatar, obvs). Sirs Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi respectively and respectfully. And they're a couple. So you've got two queeny old luvvies basically playing themselves (to the extent that, although you certainly wouldn't know it from listening to them, they originally come from Wigan and Leytonstone, just as Sirs Ian and Derek do).

More like caricatures of themselves: they're camped up to the max, actual drama queens. And they're Acting with a capital A - thespian jousting. Take that darling, no you take that, ouch, you bitch. Which is rather fabulous. Something like Frasier meets Will and Grace meets Henry V. Oh, and then Frances de la Tour turns up, as their bessie mate Violet, and joins the fun.

It's just a shame that the vehicle in which they find themselves isn't a better one. It's not just old-fashioned, pre-Office TV comedy (as opposed to post-office comedy, which is something else, possibly), it's also, frankly, a bit lame. Ding dong, who can that be at the door, ooh hello, a handsome young man to see the flat above. [Turn handle that produces jokes revolving around Freddie and Stuart flirting with handsome youth, putting each other down, and trying - subtly, they think, but actually very unsubtly - to ascertain whether he's gay or not.]

And: "I've been to Oxford." "Yes, for lunch." That's the sort of thing that might be quite funny if you or I said it, in a conversation. But I want a bit more artfulness, wit and surprise from my television. Especially when it's delivered by Sirs Ian and Derek. A Greggs doughnut of a show - albeit filled with Gentlemen's Relish instead of jam, but still a Greggs doughnut.

Vicious, The Job Lot - TV review

Even Sirs Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi can't rescue Vicious, ITV's feeble, old-fashioned comedy.

You wouldn't guess that The Security Man (ITV) was written by Caroline Aherne (along with Jeff Pope). It has neither the acerbic wit of Mrs Merton, nor the look-in-the-mirror recognition and realism of The Royle Family. Instead, it's a jolly caper. Three security men are caught (literally) off-guard when they abandon their posts to watch the Amir Khan fight, and the jewellers in the mall they're supposed to be guarding is robbed. With the help of a techie nephew and some very amateur dramatics, they mock up CCTV footage of them being a bit more heroic. It's silly, and rather nice, in a comforting, old-fashioned kind of way. I enjoyed the synchronised-mobility-scooter-to-music routines. Is that really Bobby Ball (as in Cannon and ...)? It is.

It may not be fashionable to approve of anything with Ricky Gervais's name on it. But this Life's Too Short Special (BBC2, Saturday) - with Val Kilmer, along with Les Dennis, Keith Chegwin, and Shaun Williamson joining Warwick Davis - is a piece of genius. There's nothing Gervais hasn't done before. An obsession with disability: check. Fading slebs making tits of themselves to highlight the horrors of the fame game: check. More squirminess than a sack of snakes with the squits: check. But it's done with such a breathtaking boldness that it's impossible not to gasp with a mixture of shock'n'awe. I mean he gets Chegwin to revisit not just his drunkenness but his nakedness too!

Actually the funniest moment is when Les, Keith and Shaun are sharing a hotel bed, to save money. "Not while I'm reading [Sartre as it happens]," says Shaun, when Cheggers reaches down to say hello to little Cheggers, if you know what I'm saying.

Then Gervais chucks in the curveball of touchingness (the other sort). It shouldn't be surprising - he usually does - but it somehow catches you off-guard. Especially poignant if you've just watched Kavana on The Voice.

My Hero: Miranda Hart on Eric Morecambe - TV review

Miranda shows plenty of Hart in her homage to Eric Morecambe, but do we really need to see her supporting his football team?

Kevin Eldon, who's been lurking around the edges of the funniest television (Brass Eye, Nighty Night, Alan Partridge, Hunderby) for ages, now gets his own show. At 53! A victory for middle-age in a world obsessed with youth.

It's a sketch show, yes, but it's OK because he pretty much rips up the sketch show book, throws himself and his warped imagination at it, plus a healthy dollop of lunacy. The Führer with the voice of Beatles produce George Martin? Ha!

The Mimic (Channel 4) is an odd little one. Impersonation on its own, as a form of comedy, has obviously had its day. But woven into a comedy drama series - about a bit of a nobody, who becomes somebody when he becomes somebody else, so to speak - hmm, that might kinda work.

I'm not laughing very much. And to be honest I don't always know who Terry Mynott's character is being when he's doing his impersonations (Morgan Freeman good, Ronnie Corbett less so). And the whole thing is really just a vehicle for his impressions. Nor do I really buy his loser image - he looks like someone who's charismatic and handsome trying to be less charismatic and handsome by doing something weird with his mouth.

But, in spite of all of the above, it's not entirely unlikable. In a funny kind of way. Worth another look, certainly.

Ha, Black Mirror (Channel 4)! Like The Hunger Games plus The Truman Show plus The Gadget Show plus Jeremy Kyle plus Big Brother plus Dawn of the Dead plus Shaun of the Dead plus Groundhog Day plus a lot of morons with phones, all snorted into Charlie Brooker's head where it can fester and go off a bit and gather darkness ... before getting vomited out - projectile vomited - on to the screen.

I actually preferred the first one. It was more human, and felt more of an individual drama in its own right. This is more brutal and bleaker. Nastier. And still probably about the most imaginative television around right now. A big blinding flash of futuresplat.

Bob Servant Independent (BBC4) began life as a series of books and radio shows about a Dundee burger magnate taking on the world at large, and his first TV outing, in which he is standing as an independent in a local election, suggests he might have done better to stay where he was. Delusional interior worlds are much easier to create - and a lot funnier - when they are done as a series of soundscapes or monologues. Seeing Bob in the flesh diminished him, as it became increasingly difficult to see his extreme vision as absurd, rather than moronic. Still, there were some good moments and Greg McHugh (Howard from Fresh Meat), who played Anders the local radio presenter, is almost worth his own show.

Thank heaven for The Sarah Millican Television Programme (BBC2), proof that you don't have to be really horrid to be funny. Good jokes, quick wit, timing, a bunch of bawdiness, that all helps ... though speaking dead funny is obviously the main thing.

Not that it's over-cosy. "On a scale of one to 10, how creepy is [Andrew Lloyd Webber] in person?" she asks Melanie "Singy Spice" C. (Mel C unfortunately is a very dull guest and gives only asinine, on-message answers.)

I'm not sure about Sarah M's impressions - either of Nigella L or of a wolf. That's a bichon frisé isn't it? (I've just learned that one, I'm trying to get him in a lot.) Brilliant idea for a talent reality show, though Sarah - Dances with (actual) Wolves.

As for the voice, I started wondering if you slowed Millican down to about half speed (like when batteries used to run down on tape recorders), whether she would turn into Brendan Foster off the Olympics. So I did. I even learned the Garage Band programme on the computer especially, took me ages. And you know what? She doesn't. She just sounds like Sarah Millican, after a few drinks and a sex change.