Tom Allen (I)

A freshly minted comedy classic here, as the third series of Mark Evans's Dickensian spoof gets a full commercial release following its Radio 4 run. While strictly speaking it's a literary parody, keen scholars shouldn't expect too much in the way of donnish wit: the focus here is much more on balls-to-the-wall silliness with flourishes of surrealism. Bleak Expectations chronicles the struggles of orphan turned wealthy wastepaper-basket magnate Pip Bin (played by ebullient, talented newcomer Tom Allen) against the villainous activities of his legal guardian and tormentor-in-chief, the inappropriately named Mr Gently Benevolent (a who-knew comic performance of genius from Buffy's one-time mentor Anthony Head). While the show cocks plenty of snooks at costume-drama cliches, bigger laughs come from outlandish moments like the succession of bizarre and ineffectual inventions offered up by Bin's nice but useless engineer sidekick, Harry Biscuit.

Third series of Mark Evans's artful Dickens parody in which old Sir Philip (Richard Johnson) recalls his inventive youth and rise to fame when he was young Pip Bin (Tom Allen), struggling against cruel blows of fate supported only by eternal optimism and innate stupidity. It's full of in-jokes, references to other comedies and much merry sport with neologisms and circumlocutions. It also, smartly, simultaneously both conjures and makes fun of a Victorian world of seances, temperance movements and murky crime. Dazzling cast. Slick production.

A comedy short from up-and-coming stand-up Tom Allen. In Who Is Tom Allen? the polite young man in question muses on his past life as a fashion victim called Janet. Definitely one to watch.

Last August a six-part comedy series began on Radio 4 that captivated most of those who heard it - and the people who didn't like it were just plain wrong. Written by Mark Evans, Bleak Expectations was a wonderful pastiche of Dickens - the two novels cannibalised for the programme title for a start - as well as other Victorian costume dramas, spiced with surrealistic devices such as underwater squirrels and a raft made up of trained tuna. Evans worked on the admirable principle of throwing so many jokes at the listener that even if they missed, some most would get through and, at times, listening to it was exhausting.

And now it's back. One doesn't want to spoil the tension by detailing any aspect of the plot but those who feared that we had seen the last of Gently Benevolent because Anthony Head, who played him, had more glamorous parts to play on TV need fear no longer. Richard Johnson again plays the elderly Sir Philip Bin, and Tom Allen his younger, accident and grief-prone self, while Geoffrey Whitehead plays all six members of the sinister Sternbeater family.

Chapter Three, incidentally, even has a guest star - David Mitchell. When the greats of modern comedy queue up to take part in your show in any capacity, however small, you know you're up there with The Muppets and Extras.