Shane Richie

Bradley Walsh and pals Brian Conley, Shane Richie and Joe Pasquale team up for variety show

Entertainer Bradley Walsh and his showbiz pals are the self-styled prat pack rather than the Rat Pack as they fool around on stage.

The host of Gladiators and The Chase was joined by Brian Conley, Shane Richie and Joe Pasquale for the variety show.

Review: The Taylors and Censored

Radio 2's Funny Fortnight of comedy pilots kicked off last night with the most traditional of sitcom ideas: a clash of classes.

Joyce is positively fuming after the appalling performance by Sammy (a returning Shane Richie) at Neptunes, made all the worse once she discovers that Monty has given him a contract at Solana. Elsewhere, Doreen makes a dreadful blunder by sending off Pauline's novel to be published prematurely.

In praise of Benidorm, the UK's most under-rated sitcom

It's a funny old game, comedy. Steve Pemberton's critical accolades for The League of Gentleman, and BBC2's late night cult hit, Inside No 9, are legion. But you'll be hard pressed to read glowing reviews of his eight years starring in the ITV comedy Benidorm. In fact you'll be hard pressed to read anything glowing from sniffy critics about the hit sitcom, despite its millions of viewers, longevity and viewer-voted National Television Awards. In fact, one critic went so far as to describe the viewing public a "disgrace" for voting for it.

Shane Richie to guest star in new series of Benidorm

A production insider told What's On TV: "Shane Richie arrives at The Solana as one of a selection of fabulous cameo appearances."

Given that Giggle Beats is first and foremost based in the North East, I thought it was only right to review a Christmas comedy presented by someone from the region. Luckily The Sarah Millican Television Programme was a joyous programme.

Like the series broadcast earlier in the year - which is coming back early next - the show is a mixture of stand-up and interviews, in which Millican covers all things concerning telly. The stand-up routines are good in themselves, but this is to be expected because it's what she does best. The only problem's that because this is television, she can't be as rude as she is on stage.

However, the interviews allow Millican to be rude in a different way. In this case she gets to ask all sorts of cheeky questions to her guests (Hugh Bonneville, Shane Richie - complete with an attempt to kiss each other via a giant TV screen - and her father Philip). It puts me in mind of the character Mrs. Merton, but without the need for a comedy character. The guests know they're going to be mocked, so in a way everyone gets what they want.

The other thing I like is that the special is less gimmicky that the first series, with less reliance on props. The closest to a funny prop in this show was Sarah's Christmas outfit and some mince pies. Hopefully this more simplistic approach is continued in series two.