Sharon Lougher

Karl Pilkington's star has risen since the first series of this Hanna-Barbera-style animation set to his podcasts with Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, mostly thanks to his excruciatingly funny Sky1 series An Idiot Abroad. There is an allusion to that new-found fame in this opener, in which Pilkington explains his latest, splendidly baffling film pitch that starts as a Frankenstein thriller and segues into a lesbian drama, and which Gervais and Merchant waste no time picking holes in. A lo-fi treat, as ever.

Jimmy Carr has said that Ofcom has set up a panic room in anticipation of this live hour of mirth on Channel 4 - a joke, ostensibly, though the evening will undoubtedly be juicy with Carr, David Mitchell, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne at the helm. The same quartet hosted C4's excellent Alternative Election Night and it looks like more or less the same set-up: intelligent and funny chat with bright-spark guests discussing current affairs, plus interviews and topical comedy. Bring it on.

Hattie Jacques's career as a comic actress saw her appear in 14 Carry On films and build a long-term working partnership and friendship with Eric Sykes. But this focuses on her marriage to Dad's Army star John Le Mesurier, which was interrupted when she had an affair with a cabbie and moved him into the marital bed, with Le Mesurier moving into the attic room upstairs. That Jacques and Le Mesurier remained on good terms is testament to Jacques' magnetic, scrumptious warmth, which actress Ruth Jones captures here beautifully.

Last year it looked like curtains for Lee Mack and Tim Vine's brightly lit one-liner-thon. But lo, it's back - and a jolly good thing too, for this flatmates sitcom is a cheesy guilty pleasure. In this opener, staid old Tim goes clubbing, which of course leads to disaster - he returns to Lee's wearing the wrong coat, which happens to be full of drugs.

Tim Minchin interview

Aussie musical comic Tim Minchin tells Metro how self-mockery, science and Roald Dahl shape his work on the eve of his arena tour.

Only Fools And Horses went downhill when Del and Raquel had a baby; will the same happen to our beloved Peep Show? Not likely, judging by this new series opener. While Mark (David Mitchell) waits anxiously in hospital for the birth of his unwanted progeny with Sophie (Olivia Colman), Jeremy (Robert Webb) swiftly gets over Elena when he meets Zahra, whose boyfriend is in a coma. Noooo!

Last week's episode was metaphorically dark; this one is literally dark, as nurse Kim (Jo Brand) is on the night shift. Some clever plot twists mean Sister Den and Dr Pippa also manage to find themselves in B4 outside their usual hours: Den proves to be more trouble than she's worth and Pippa believes she's discovered a major medical event, before it collapses spectacularly around her ears. As ever, this contains some flashes of true comic brilliance.

Three episodes were simply not enough for the first series of Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine's beautifully observed black comedy set in a NHS geriatric ward. Now it's back with a series that's twice as long, opening with the three once again running around straitjacketed by pointless protocol as a pongy homeless woman is wheeled through the doors of B4.

This second series of the show in which comics and TV personalities riff off mad inventions and ideas from the audience works so much better in
its new informal, chatty format.

Tonight, the pair deciding what's brilliant and what's not comes in the irresistible shape of Tim Minchin and Alexei Sayle, who have great chemistry and have a fine old time finding mirth in the general bemusement. What's a genius, Tim? 'A genius is a nuts person who turns out to be right.'

Irene (Maureen Lipman) and Vera (Anne Reid) resume their barbed exchanges as this ultimately rather sweet comedy drama returns. This time, Irene has wound up in the Australian outback, while Vera's on the warpath to get custody of granddaughter Sabrina.