Sheridan Smith

He's part Betjeman, part Meldrew and part stand-up comic gunning for his audience. There can't be many Dr Henry Pickerskills alive and working now in the education system because his brand of tough love, rough justice and abrasive shafts of wit directed at his pupils would probably breach the Human Rights Act.

The Pickerskill Reports is back with more of Dr P's ironic stories of life long ago at a boys' boarding school whose ethos is one in which normal laws don't apply, let alone what would then have been fanciful libertarianism. Dr P arrives in his classroom like Dirty Harry. Nemesis of bullies, alleviator of the torment of those he calls his "spirited iconoclasts" and a complete enigma to his headmaster who, somewhere in the recesses of his brain, knows that his English teacher is running rings around him.

The head is portrayed as militaristic but feeble-minded by Mike Sarne, the actor and director who has covered much ground since he tried to persuade Wendy Richard to Come Outside in the 1962 pop song. Making a guest appearance in the first episode was Sheridan Smith, also showing her versatility as an aristocrat playing at gender politics. Ian McDiarmid, as Dr P, brings a dryness of delivery and impeccable timing to the role while clearly relishing Andrew McGibbon's sardonic and entertaining script.

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Steve Coogan is currently showcasing his inner pain to great comic/dramatic effect in BBC2's The Trip, playing himself. In the first of this double bill of one-act plays he does the same as a Russian character created 125 years ago: a man who's supposed to be lecturing on The Dangers of Tobacco but is so consumed with animosity towards his mean and controlling wife, he talks only of her. The script unravels the speaker skilfully (he's good, Chekhov) but to come alive it needs a performer who can put all his bruised heart into it: Coogan makes the crescendo of bitterness and disappointment scarily real. The Proposal, a fast, talky farce, approaches the same theme from another angle, and has another bravura performance: Mathew Horne as a nervous suitor asking for the hand of his neighbour, Sheridan Smith. They're long-term friends, but the years have caused a build-up of tiny resentments more suited to a marriage.

A double bill of Chekhov: in The Dangers Of Tobacco, Steve Coogan plays Nyukhin, a husband who should be delivering a lecture of the harmful nature of tobacco (even though he smokes). However, he keeps slipping off topic, telling the woes of his life, his regrets, yearnings and the misery inflicted by his domineering wife. In The Proposal, Mathew Horne is a nervous hypochondriac who has come to ask his neighbour's hand in marriage. However, he becomes embroiled in a petty squabble with the neighbour (Sheridan Smith) and her father (Philip Jackson) which threatens his life.

A successful season of short farces by Anton Chekhov draws to a close with a double bill. The Dangers of Tobacco is a monologue in which the hen-pecked Nyukhin (Steve Coogan) is forced to deliver a lecture on the dangers of smoking by his domineering wife. Instead, Nyukhin digresses to bemoan his lot and complain about his "petty, evil miser" of a wife. Better is The Proposal, a witty take on marriage. It finds wimpy hypochondriac Lomov (Mathew Horne) seeking the hand of his neighbour Natasha (Sheridan Smith) from her father (Philip Jackson), until it all disintegrates into a bout of one-upmanship.

In the months since Jonathan Creek was last on our screens, writer David Renwick seems to have spent a lot of time with the Sherlock Holmes casebook. Guest Paul McGann remarks on the "lingering air of Victorian mystery" and he's not kidding. From spooky stories about people succumbing at precisely predicted times of death to Jonathan discerning sidekick Joey Ross's (Sheridan Smith) current occupation from the redness of her fi ngertips, this one-off special has the defi nite feel of a Baker Street consulting room about it. Not that this makes it any less enjoyable. Indeed, all the hoodwinking and sleight of hand will keep you on your toes right up to the big reveal. Alan Davies remains extremely likeable as the duffel-coated sleuth, his delivery of those twisted lengths of explanatory detail being so good that he even gets the opportunity to do it twice over. The only flabbiness in the plot comes from the appearance of Adam Klaus: Stuart Milligan brings a wolfish smoothness to the part of the high-profile magician, but his subplot goes nowhere and detracts from an otherwise well-burnished brainteaser of an episode.

Alan Davies ('Jonathan Creek')

After the huge success of the 2009 New Year special 'The Grinning Man' it seemed inevitable that it wouldn't be long before Alan Davies put on his famous duffle coat for another Jonathan Creek mystery. Written and directed by show creator David Renwick, the forthcoming Easter special 'The Judas Tree' will see Sheridan Smith re-teaming with Davies to investigate events at a house called Green Lanterns. We caught up with the show's leading man to find out what we can expect.

A spooky Easter treat for Alan Davies fans with this one-off outing from the sporadic murder mystery series. Once again magic consultant Jonathan Creek (Davies) is inveigled into joining forces with psychic investigator Joey Ross (Sheridan Smith) when a young woman (Natalie Walter) working for a famous crime writer (Paul McGann) appears to become possessed by a vengeful spirit from Victorian times. As ever this is more howdunit than whodunit, with the convoluted plot very much designed to keep you guessing all the way to the end.