Suranne Jones

Swerving onto Jonathan's sofa tonight is Formula One driver Jenson Button, who hasn't been having the best of seasons on the track. He may prefer not to dwell on his restaurant venture in Harrogate, either, which was forced to close recently due to poor business.

More cheerful, then, to discuss his love of triathlons - Button hosted his own recently as part of his fundraising efforts on behalf of Help for Heroes.

Also dropping by is Ray Winstone, whose macho remake of The Sweeney (he plays Jack Regan, of course) opens in cinemas soon. Best of all, the wonderful Suranne Jones talks about her role in Sky1's spoof cop drama A Touch of Cloth, which starts tomorrow at 9pm.

Every cop cliché drama you've ever seen reports for duty in this forensically observed and daftly funny send-up by Charlie Brooker. Some of the puns are arrestable offences but terrific performances from crime-cracking duo Suranne Jones and John Hannah, who have both served time in 'proper' cop shows, keep the plot on track.

He may not be to everyone's taste but there's no doubting that Jonathan Ross can still attract the big names. Tonight, the ebullient chat show host is joined by tough-guy actor Ray Winstone, who discusses his new film The Sweeney. F1 driver Jenson Button and actress Suranne Jones - who stars in Charlie Brooker's spoof A Touch of Cloth, which starts on Sunday - are also in the studio. The music comes from R'n'B girl group Stooshe.

Charlie Brooker has said that the original intention of this two-part detective spoof was as a parody of Inspector Morse. What we have now is a comedy with the witty worldplay of The Naked Gun in which the lead cop is almost as screwed up as the criminal he's chasing. Clever casting ensures that the two leads, John Hannah and Suranne Jones, have TV detective series history (in Rebus and Scott & Bailey respectively) and here they play washed-up, alcoholic DCI Jack Cloth and DC Anne Oldman, who has a secret to hide and whose every instinct is inevitably proved to be wrong; there's a nice performance too from Julian Rhind-Tutt as police chief Tom Boss. With every possible joke wrung out of a storyline involving a sword-wielding serial killer there's a sense of overkill, but A Touch of Cloth is still often very funny.

Charlie Brooker is back and this time he's sent up your favourite detective series in two-part spoof A Touch of Cloth, which we here at Digital Spy already consider to be one of the funniest shows of the year.

John Hannah and Suranne Jones play DCIs Jack Cloth and Anne Oldman respectively, two coppers trying to connect the dots as series of murders take place in their alien world of c**k jokes, cringeworthy puns and incestuous corpse romancing. It's silly, silly stuff - maybe too silly for some - but the gags per-min rate is far above anything else on television right now. We promise you, something in A Touch of Cloth is bound to make you smile, even if you hate yourself for doing so.

Suranne Jones mocking herself in new comedy cop role

Actress Suranne Jones had her work cut out in her latest role in a spoof police drama - she was mocking herself.

Radio Times review

"The motivation behind A Touch of Cloth was simple," writes the show's creator Charlie Brooker. "Along with my co-writer, TV Burp's Dan Maier, I wanted to create the silliest programme we could muster, but disguise it as the most serious. Writing this was a joy: we all sat round a table attacking our favourite clichés and lobbing in as many extra gags as possible."

The result is a deadpan spoof of detective shows like Messiah and Luther, starring John Hannah as DI Jack Cloth and Suranne Jones as DC Anne Oldman. Expect lots of moody glances, disturbing flashbacks, gruesome crime scenes, and bits where a maverick cop battles with demons. Inner demons, not actual outer demons, obviously. Inner demons are cheaper to shoot - you don't need CGI.

We're half way through Tony Pitts's blackly comic series, about a strange seaside place where odd people live. At three in the morning someone is screaming. It's the kind of thing that happens in Shedtown down by the bay, where dogs arrive as parcels in the post. It's a bit like Under Milk Wood with touches of Father Ted. And it's curiously addictive, the vivid, dreamlike script given life by a marvellous cast, including Suranne Jones, Ronni Ancona and Johnny Vegas as Colin (a thoughtful melancholic). Tonight: a puppet show about 9/11.

The cab office-based sitcom returns for its second series. The employees of Irwell Cars are engaged in a ferocious turf war with their principal rivals, Pat the Butchers Cars. The conflict involves making fake calls, flattening tyres and other dastardly antics. Today, Lind (Lesley Sharp), the radio operator, tries to charm the unsavoury and all-powerful licensing officer, while Dave's (]Phil Rowson) marriage plans are complicated by an encounter with a former lover. The series features guest appearances from Mark E. Smith, Suranne Jones and James Quinn.

John Godber and Jane Thornton's comedy is about starting a new business. Hope (Suranne Jones) has just left her successful businessman husband and is sleeping on the spare air mattress of old school friend Jodie (Susan Cookson) while her divorce comes through. Jodie is a workaholic, Hope relies more on the wine bottle. Together they're starting a sandwich shop in East Yorkshire. Jodie knows every variety of bap, bun, loaf and stottie cake. Hope doesn't. No wonder they're nervous as they await the arrival of their first customer.