Tim Key

DVD review: Alan Partridge Mid Morning Matters series 2

Alan remains a great comedy creation, often sympathetic (unexpectedly bringing out the softer side of a loathsome opinion former played by Reece Shearsmith) but just as often sickeningly egotistical, politically incorrect and tyrannical, this format (which never sees Alan leaving the radio studio) works well.

Created and written by Jim Field-Smith, the creator of the wonderful The Wrong Mans, alongside George Kay, Stag follows the exploits of a boisterous gang of men on a stag party. Stumbling along as a late arrival to the hunting weekend is Ian (Jim Howick), a mild-mannered geography teacher who is totally different to the other stags celebrating the last weekend of freedom of Johnners (Stephen Campbell Moore). Ian's weekend gets off to a bad start from the get-go as he's left at the side of the road by the rest of the party before being landed with a bar bill from the local pub's stern waitress (Sharon Rooney). Events soon take a dark twist when the men are abandoned by the local gamekeeper (James Cosmo) and forced to fend for themselves in the wild. Quickly some of the party are picked off and are thought to be killed whilst the rest start to turn on each other with suspicion quickly falling on outsider Ian. I have to admit it took me a while to adjust to Stag which has none of the charm or quirky British humour which made The Wrong Mans such a joy to watch. The majority of the characters in Stag, with the exception of Ian, are initially unlikeable toffs who are described by the mild-mannered Aitken (Tim Key) as the worst kind of people. But as Kay and Field-Smith's story continues they start to reveal complexities in the characters all of whom seem to be hiding secrets of some kind. The writing duo also seem to have done their research into the sort of genre they want Stag to fit into with the general tone being that of horror thriller. There are definitely elements of both The Wicker Man and Deliverance both in the presentation of the local community and the way in which the party start to be picked off. The humour is also subtly presented with a lot of smutty, laddy banter mixed in with some genuinely funny one-liners. The ensemble cast bounced off each other perfectly with Howick brilliantly portraying the awkward outsider and the rest of the gang having excellent chemistry. I especially liked Reece Shearsmith's brief appearance as the party member who wants to escape his family as well as Borgen's Pilou Asbaek as the Danish oddball. Although I've already got an idea of how Stag is going to end I'm intrigued enough to carry on watching what must be one of the most unique TV shows of the year so far.

Stag preview

The hunters become the hunted as each one is horribly eliminated, one gobby moron at a time.

TV preview: Stag, BBC2

I don't really need to tell you much about comedy chiller Stag. The cast should be enough of a selling point. Jim Howick, Reece Shearsmith, Rufus Jones and Tim Key as well as Stephen Campbell Moore, James Cosmo and Pilou Asbaek. If you don't know some of the names you'll certainly know the faces.

Stag: episode 1 review

From the producer and director of BBC Two comedy thriller The Wrong Mans comes another series that combines dark humour with a deadly chill.

Comedians' alternative Christmas cracker jokes

Jokes from Beth Vyse, Stewart Francis, Isy Suttie, Lou Sanders, Massive Dad, Adam Riches, Joseph Morpurgo, Daphne, Tim Key, Kieran Hodgson and Rhys James.

Josh could learn a lot from Peep Show as it contains a realistic central conceit and two characters who you can believe in. Even though I've found the last couple of series of David Mitchell and Robert Webb's sitcom to be rather mediocre it's still been consistently funny. This final series opened six months after Mark's beloved Dobby departed for New York partly thanks to Jeremy with the pair not having talked since. Reunited at Super Hans' stag do it was business as usual for the passive aggressive pair with Jeremy having been hit the most now living in the groom-to-be's bathroom. Mark meanwhile has seemingly moved on and is now living with his bank colleague Jerry (Tim Key) with the pair enjoying documentaries about William Morris on a nightly basis. But it's clear that Mark doesn't quite know how to quit Jez and by the end of the episode they were back together and Jerry had literally been rolled out of the door. Judging from this opening instalment of the last series Peep Show is going out on a high with both Mitchell and Webb at the top of their game. Mitchell is particularly strong as the mentally weak Mark who knows his relationship with Jeremy is no good for him but keeps going back to him nonetheless. Meanwhile Webb hasn't really changed his performance of Jez since the first series which I think is part of the character's charm. The end scene in which Mark, Jez and Super Hans bundle Jerry into the lift was a classic Peep Show moment and I was laughing all the way through it. I'm just wondering how writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong are going to end the series and more importantly if Mark and Jeremy are ever going to get their happy ending. In my opinion Peep Show isn't a sitcom that particularly necessitates a joyous conclusion but I wouldn't be opposed to see the El Dude Brothers finally experience some good fortune.

It's three years since series eight, yet Mark and Jez must remain forever young, so as the final run starts we're only six months on from Dobbygeddon. Mark arrives at Super Hans's stag do still despising his old flatmate: he's unmoved when he then sees the spectacular low that is Jez's new gaff. Will he stick with cartoonishly cardiganed replacement bro Jerry (Tim Key), or let Jez come home? Kenco and William Morris, or Twirls and Octopussy? A relatively restrained opener but it still hums with disgustingly funny lines.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb return in the award-winning sitcom for a ninth - and final - series after a gap of almost three years. The show, set around a formerly flat-sharing odd couple, never quite attracted mainstream attention but retains a huge cult following and it is deservedly regarded as one of the best comedies around. Largely because of writers Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain's unique gift for replicating the needy, self-deluding inner meanderings of the socially awkward mind.

The story picks up six months after Jeremy (Webb) scuppered Mark's (Mitchell) efforts to persuade his girlfriend Dobby to move in with him - with resentment still festering on both sides. But with Jeremy on the brink of homelessness he soon spots common-enemy potential in Mark's new flatmate Jerry (an excellent Tim Key). Add the fact that the once reliably psychotic Super Hans (Matt King) is attempting reform in the shape of "Sober Hans", and Mark's old boss Johnson (Paterson Joseph) has wangled him a job at a payday loan-style bank - and all the elements are in place for six final episodes of tearfully funny musings on human fallibility.