Shane Richie

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.

Ian Wolf, Giggle Beats, 31st December 2012

Lee Mack's All-Star Cast is a total mess, albeit quite an enjoyable one. The show is an unwieldy composite of comedy, celebrity chat, sketches, stand-up, lookalikes and participation from the studio audience, elevated to the all-star status of the title.

That it works at all is largely down to the heroic efforts of Lee Mack, who grabs the somewhat feeble format by the throat and runs with it, firing off witticisms as he goes.

But there are times when sheer charm and bravado are not enough. As an interviewer Mack is absolutely terrible, suffering from a bad case of Jonathan Ross syndrome, in which a host is so busy thinking up a smart response that he doesn't actually listen to the guest's answer. No great loss when the guest is Shane Richie, going into tedious cod Cockney overdrive, but Henry Winkler may have had something interesting to say about playing The Fonz in cult TV show Happy Days.

Instead he was called upon to judge various competitions and provide a cameo in a shambolic sitcom-style sketch, acting beside the plank that is Ulrika Jonsson. Ulrika needn't prepare her BAFTA acceptance speech quite yet, but she threw herself enthusiastically into the part and proved fair game for several barbed gags at her expense.

Which is All Star Cast's other strength. It may never be accused of being slick and polished, but it does generate surprisingly large quantities of cosy goodwill.

The Stage, 28th June 2011