Stuart Heritage

PM's promise of The Good Life invites taunts

Shouldn't the prime minister have thought of a more appropriate sitcom to repeatedly reference during his manifesto launch - given that Richard Briers also starred in Ever Decreasing Circles.

Sport & comedy: TV marriage that will sadly never end

ITV's new panel show Play to the Whistle is the latest banter-chasing blend of sport and comedy, following A League of Their Own, Big Break and countless others. But while everyone on screen enjoys themselves, for audiences it's televisual carbon monoxide.

Brian Pern review

If there's a funnier show than Brian Pern: a Life in Rock, I'll be staggered.

Why Dapper Laughs is not going away any time soon

Instead of slipping into obscurity as he should, Daniel O'Reilly will probably turn up on the next reality TV show - because now we all know who he is.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Fans of Matt Berry saying the word "yes" in a loud voice will be heartened to discover that the sitcom that harnesses his powers more potently than anything since The IT Crowd is returning for a second series. A full-throated, over-enunciated riot - and they'll probably try to get everyone they know to watch it, just to make sure there's also a series three.

Sky1's big attempt at a mainstream sitcom is now in its fourth series. This is partly down to solid writing, but it's mainly because Trollied has an ensemble large enough to absorb cast changes. Jane Horrocks and Mark Addy have gone, and in their place come Stephen Tompkinson and Miriam Margoyles. It's hard to fight the sensation that Trollied is basically Waterloo Road with a deli counter, but it's likely to deliver regardless.

When it aired as a one-off in February, Danny Boyle's comedy-drama Babylon looked like the sort of thing that deserved to come back as a series, and now here it is. The joy of Babylon is watching the various strands of the Metropolitan Police yank and bristle against each other as they attempt to stay on top of constantly evolving events. A police procedural that is much more than the sum of its parts - The Thick of It with truncheons, basically.

Martin Clunes has suggested that next year's series of his bewilderingly long-running ITV comedy-drama Doc Martin will be the last, because the writers have run out of ideas. This won't do, so here are five new plots that should be right in its wheelhouse: 1) Doc Martin pulls a face at a sheep, 2) Doc Martin pulls a face at a cow, 3) Doc Martin thinks he sees a boat in the distance but it's just a rock so he pulls a face, 4) Doc Martin can't find his glasses and then pulls a face when he realises that they've been on top of his head all along, and 5) Doc Martin pulls a face at a goose. You're welcome for the new series, ITV.

Cuckoo: why swapping one star for another doesn't work

The BBC3 sitcom replaced Andy Samberg with Taylor Lautner, but as Two and a Half Men and Midsomer Murders have proven, TV shows rarely survive a serious personnel change.

Luxury Comedy gets funnier the more it apologises

The Mighty Boosh star's first solo series was a flop, but self-awareness (and a hammer) are saving series two from sinking under the weight of its surrealism.