Steve Pemberton

The best comedy of the week was to be found over on CBBC, where series four of Horrible Histories made its debut (confusingly, BBC1 is currently showing series two).

Based on the cheerfully bloodthirsty books by Terry Deary and Martin Brown, it plays a bit like Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time, if you replaced the visiting professor of history from Queen's College, Oxford, with a talking rat making jokes about wee.

There have been plenty of bloody revolutions featured in Horrible Histories, but the team's most recent coup was to reunite The League of Gentlemen for the first time in a bronze age. Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith turned up as craven Hollywood execs keen to panel-beat the messy lives of historical figures into award-bait biopics, and while Gatiss's American accent was pretty duff, the bickering spark between the three gentlemen remained.

Recruiting the league should not distract from the tireless efforts of the core cast, particularly Jim Howick, who has matured from being an off-model David Mitchell into a gifted comic actor in his own right. But ultimately, the highlight of this first salvo of new shows was a prancing Charles Darwin explaining the ch-ch-changes of evolutionary theory via an exquisite David Bowie pastiche. Horribly good.

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Interesting fact: in the late 1630s, as part of the war effort against the Scots, womens' urine was collected from church congregations for use in the production of gunpowder. This is grist to the mill for Horrible Histories, back on CBBC for a fourth series. And isn't that Steve Pemberton, Mark Gatiss and Reece Shearsmith, AKA The League Of Gentlemen, joining in the fun? Which just goes to show how much credibility HH enjoys these days.

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From start (By the Sleepy Lagoon drifts over Jan and Mick as they discuss toes) to finish (Con te partirò swells over a jubilant pool party), this episode is an unbridled joy. The second penned by Steve Pemberton, it subtly gets under the skin of the broad characters.

Madge turns cougar with her young "Muslamic" catch Mohammed, Gavin is trapped with Noreen, Sam gets off with the most unlikely bloke, and Trudy (too old) and Michael (too young) try to crash an 18-30 booze cruise.

Plus, Siobhan Redmond guest-stars as the coach of an Olympic swimming team. Think an ultra-brusque Miss Jean Brodie and you'll be halfway there.

One of the finest episodes of this series to date, scripted by Steve Pemberton. Led by a fearsome martinet of a coach, members of the British Olympic synchronised swimming team turn up at the hotel, with a fawning Joyce prepared to eject guests from the pool to accommodate them. Elegant they may be but, as Tim Healy's down-to-earth transvestite has it, they're "thrashing about like a bag of cats in a canal" beneath the surface. While it's not exactly Pinter, it's ITV fun at its best.

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Steve Pemberton (the show's Mick Garvey) takes over writing duties for this week's hilarious dose of sun, sand and smut.

As it's the first episode not written by creator Derren Litten, I'd like to thank Steve, on behalf of all women, for making Mateo pool lifeguard and putting him in red Speedos and baby oil.

Meanwhile, Mick's not at all happy when his father and layabout brother (ably played by David Bradley and Shaun Dooley) arrive for a raucous stag do.

And no, it's not just because it's going to be in fancy dress.

Fans should note this is the first episode in five series not written by show creator Derren Litten. It's by Steve Pemberton, and Benidorm scholars - should such a body exist - will be scanning for any discernible difference. If anything, there's an upsurge in vulgarity and word play, including a hitherto unimagined double entendre for Botticelli.

Pemberton, who's slimmed down since last year, is on good form as northern everyman Mick Garvey. Tonight, Mick's dad and brother turn up, an unsavoury duo played by David Bradley and Shaun Dooley. A stag-do bar crawl ensues with the Garveys, plus Kenneth, Donald and Liam in some outrageous outfits.