Stephen Mangan

Following on from the success of her Christmas Cracker and Easter Treat, the ebullient actress Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey) returns for another one-off chat show. It promises to be a jovial affair, with Jonathan Ross, Geordie comic Sarah Millican and the actor Stephen Mangan all joining her on the sofa, as well as music from an irrepressible Irish rockabilly star called Imelda May.

Comic Strip returns with Tony Blair on the run

The Hunt for Tony Blair premieres in Edinburgh, with Stephen Mangan as Blair and Jennifer Saunders as Lady Thatcher.

Eco-warriors are ripe for satire, and this zany mockumentary makes a decent fist of sending them up. Stephen Mangan and Rhys Thomas play two friends who want to help to save the world by becoming the first carbon-neutral, organic vegetarians to reach the Pole. It's funny in places but lacks direction.

In a comedy based on Douglas Adams's novels, Stephen Mangan stars as detective Dirk Gently, whose investigative technique is based on "an unswerving belief in the fundamental interconnectedness of all things". Happily, the switchback script here, by Howard Overman (Misfits), has a kind of pointedly whimsical quality that's pure Adams. Although there are moments when Mangan's energy overwhelms the rest of the cast, you suspect Gently's creator would approve.

Meddling with the novels of such a geek luminary as Douglas Adams is a precarious business, so it's no surprise that this reworking of his Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - first shown on BBC4 last December - had ardent fans up in arms over the deviation from its source novel. But a series has been commissioned, so all their favourite bits of the books have a chance to make it to the screen. For the rest of us there is enough to appreciate in a plot that expands from a case of a missing cat to some surreal flights of fancy. Stephen Mangan is great as the chaotic, evasive Gently, while Darren Boyd does a great line in bewilderment as an unwitting sidekick.

Stephen Mangan's not-great-but-better-than-expected turn as Douglas Adams's holistic detective actually stands up to a second viewing, so even if you watched it on BBC4, you may be surprised to find you like it more this time around.

Fans of Douglas Adams were unimpressed with this reworking of his Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency when it aired on BBC Four last year - they felt it deviated too far from Adams's original novel. Tonight, it gets its first terrestrial airing with the detective (Stephen Mangan) examining a case that links a missing cat with an exploding warehouse.

The latest sitcom from Friends co-creator David Crane stars Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig as a British couple who write a hit BBC TV show. They move to LA to recreate their sitcom for a US audience, but realise the studio execs have no intention of sticking to their original concept. Enter the great Matt LeBlanc (Friends' Joey), playing a caricature of himself, who is horribly miscast as the show's protagonist, much to Mangan and Greig's vexation. Frequent laugh-out-loud moments and a host of endearingly awful characters make this series feel like a very promising start, but Americanised one-liners fail to capitalise on Mangan and Greig's distinctly British delivery.

Episodes staring Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig (both from Green Wing) tells the story of two of successful British comedy writers trying to translate their award winning show to an American audience. Various US TV executives plug in to the process with their ideas of what the public want and how to Americanis(z)e the show, which includes the casting of Friends favourite Matt LeBlanc in the original role. The idea, on paper, is sensational but it's a shame this doesn't quite transfer into practice.

While it was engaging enough to stay tuned until the end, the laughs were few and far between. The concept was in the Gervais-Merchant-esque mould: a form of 'reality comedy' which does cause derision amongst the UK comedy hierarchy - Lee Mack for one isn't a fan - but this one was just a bit wanting in all areas.

The show has been left dangling, hinting at another series, on an interesting cliff hanger, however at this stage it's hard to tell where exactly a second series could go. For my money, the major funny areas of conversion have been covered. While it was an interesting experiment, in the end the true test of comedy is always laughter, and I'm sad to say Episodes lacked a good shot of that.