Steve Edge (I)

Having already shown us how singer Gary Barlow was taken under the wing of Nigel Martin-Smith and how Tom Cruise was introduced to Scientology after being hit over the head with a shovel by John Travolta.

It's now the turn of Sir Elton John and partner David Furnish to be given the Star Stories treatment by Kevin Bishop and Steve Edge in the third series of the very funny comedy parodying the lives and loves of big-time celebrities and Hollywood heavyweights.

There are plenty of funny wigs and silly voices to keep us suitably entertained as Elton's life and times are revealed, beginning in the Seventies, which he spent mostly in a blizzard of cocaine, to why it's bad to be bald and the reason it took so long for him to climb out of the closet.

The BBC probably thinks it's on to a winner with The Cup, a new 'comedy' filmed in a docu-style that follows the fictional under-11s football side Ashburn United in their quest for glory. Sadly, the Beeb should note that last night's opening episode failed to live up to the hype, following in the footsteps of 2007's FA Cup final when Chelsea played Manchester United in a p*** poor match at Wembley.

The creators of The Office might well hold their heads in shame because their success could be blamed for spawning all these 'reality' comedies, which persist in following 'real people' (that would be actors) as they ape human emotions. In The Cup's case, the characters are so unlikeable, it's like watching ten David Brents awkwardly careering across the screen.

The producers must have believed they had the perfect blend: a reality comedy about football. Genius. Yet it's packed so full of cliches, it's hard to care. Bossy woman? Aggressive football coach? Pushy dad? Tick, tick and tick.

The dominating desperado dad, Terry (Steve Edge), was 'living his dream through his son' as he became more and more childish in his behaviour. This appeared to be the constant joke, that the adults' actions were constantly more juvenile than those of their children. The score, at the end of the day, was: BBC 0, Viewers 0.

The Cup tries hard to be The Office of the football field, using the same makey-uppy documentary device. Nothing wrong with that - it's a good way of getting to know characters quickly without forcing plot lines, although here it doesn't feel as fresh as when Ricky Gervais was doing it. And there are some decent performances, although Steve Edge as main man Terry stands out a bit too far perhaps. His character, a super-competitive footballing dad, is not just in your face, he's rammed right down your throat. Subtle this isn't, and that's the problem.

This is agonising. You want it to work, as it's a great idea: a sitcom set in the world of under-11s football, where obsessive parents live out their dreams from the touchlines. But it fizzles and sputters on the screen.

Steve Edge plays Bolton dad Terry, so fixated on his son's success on the pitch he becomes a sociopath, bickering with rival parents and, when things go wrong, sulking along to Del Amitri in his shed. Edge (who was in Phoenix Nights) does a good job, but the cast are trapped in a mockumentary format that keeps tripping up the comedy. Characters are forever glancing at the camera crew or explaining what just happened as if being interviewed. Done right (as in The Office), that can double the laughs, but here the comic ideas, such as Terry pestering the team coach until he has a stroke, are just too broad. Shame.

This new six-part comedy brings the ambition and style of The Office to the world of under-11s football. Steve Edge, of Phoenix Nights, plays soccer dad Terry McConnell, living his life of failed, feeble dreams through his son Malky (Ceallach Spellman). The action is all acutely observed, but the characters, in this first episode at least, are simply not likeable enough.

It's a strange little comedy this, a mockumentary about an under-11 football squad and their squabbling, competitive parents.

A host of familiar faces, such as Steve Edge from Phoenix Nights and Tanya Franks from EastEnders and Pulling, are amusing in parts but this is probably best st enjoyed by football-mad parents themselves.

Pick Of The Day: A mockumentary set in the rough and tumble world of under-11s football, this is The Office crossed with Mike Bassett: Football Manager. It's full of stereotypes from the world of rain-lashed Sunday mornings.

And casting-wise this instantly likeable Bolton-set sitcom scores a double. Steve Edge is pitch-perfect as obsessed football dad Terry McConnell with Ceallach Spellman as his tousle-haired striker son Malky.

Terry's career was ended by a busted knee - now he pours his ambition into his boy. You get the feeling though that Malky has other ideas. What I really like to do is cook, he explains unexpectedly at one point. Mostly Mediterranean...

Taking the mockumentary format into the world of under-11s football, this new sitcom shows signs of promise. Steve Edge starts as Terry, a pushy dad whose belief in his son's on-the-pitch prowess has tipped over into an unhealthy obsession.

Faced with a bad-tempered coach, his wife's indifference and a child more interested in cookery that Cristiano Ronaldo, Terry's thwarted ambitions are neatly played out and he enjoys strong support from a cast including Tanya Franks (Karen from Pulling) as the team's ballsy manager and Dominic Coleman as her browbeaten husband.

Liked The Office? Thought it could have done with more football in it? What do you mean, 'no'? Well, let's assume that you did: rejoice! Because, my friends, The Cup is here.

A pseudo-documentary on Ashburn United FC's quest to qualify for the Northern Midlands Under-11s Cup, it manages to succeed in a key area where so many other new BBC Two sitcoms have failed: it doesn't make me want to grate my face.

Starring Steve Edge (aka Mark's Nazi-loving friend in Peep Show), what The Cup lacks in originality - obsessive Sunday League dads, harassed football mums, mud being intrinsically funny - it more than makes up for with true sucker-punch jokes.

When the gynaecologist dad of the team's joint leading scorer puffs, Who needs rolling hills in the Cotswolds when you have all this? and the camera zooms to a - window-view of a grim ­Bolton building site, you groan at the on-the-nose joke - but when he follows it with the wonderfully deadpan but the move was - essential, there are more ­vaginas in Bolton, you ­realise the real punchline was just around the corner.

Or take this marvel from the co-owner of a funeral home who helps manage the league: Business was cool last year and, of course, we rely on the heat to siphon off some of the pensioners. It takes a good ear for comedy to realise that 'siphon' is the perfect word here, and what makes the line funny.

The Cup also makes good use of what we now must call the Arrested Development ­Interlude, in which the sentence My daughter is a little competitive, say, becomes an excuse for a cut-scene of the daughter putting a boot in someone's face. This makes fun, if unusual, viewing: one minute you're watching an Office-like downbeat comedy of embarrassment, the next you're watching the team coach smashing cups and telling 10-year-olds: If you lose today, you'll spend the rest of your lives in shame!

Still, it's a promising start. If The Cup can add empathy to the mix, we could be on to a winner.