Steve Williams (II)

The Sitcom Story surely disappoints both the comedy fan, who wants something other than just the same old clips again, and the casual viewer who just wants the clips without the dull chat. Yet that's obviously the problem with trying to squeeze some 50 years of television into three hour-long shows.

I laughed out loud at World of Pub, many times, like I haven't laughed at a sitcom for absolutely ages. The programme is an absolute breath of fresh air, moving away from the "dark", "moody" atmosphere of other comedy programmes and just being a genuinely funny half hour.

From the awkward attempts to get a sense of time (so the Teletubbies are mentioned, as if this would send us straight back to 1997) to the clumsy attempts to tell us what's going on (when Adrian "narrates" the camera goes blurred around him, just so we get the point that the line's not been said out loud), the programme is a confused and irritating attempt to recapture past glories.

It's impossible to believe that this programme reached a third minute on television, let alone a third series. It's clearly the worst comedy programme transmitted this year, and could possibly be the worst programme full stop.

There are two more episodes of this series to come, and the big question has to be, exactly what are they going to talk about in those? Haven't we seen enough of Alan's crew setting up his stage gear and Ian laughing at nothing in particular? We know that comedy's a hard job, Alan, so can you not keep illustrating it?

After six weeks, Bob Martin has turned out to be both an amusing, sharp series, and also a massive flop for ITV. It's ironic that a series that has been one of the most truthful looks into the world of television should also be subjected to some subtle rescheduling by ITV, with seemingly every episode ending with an apologetic "Next week's programme will be at the slightly later time ..."

McGowan and Ancona are certainly talented, but it's only with stronger scripts that they will move away from being a novelty act. Surely their talents could be used more appropriately in parodies of TV programmes and films, which could then have the accuracy which other parodies would lack. But without this edge, the whole series becomes more like a showreel.