Vic Reeves

Write about what you know is the first advice you get at Creative Writing class and here comedian Jason Cook has followed it to the letter - he's penned a sitcom set in his North East hometown. Hebburn (the sitcom, not the town) is bawdy and sweet by turn, with Gina McKee and Jim Moir as parents taken aback when son Jack, who's fled for the bright lights of Manchester, returns with a big surprise on his arm.

Jason Cook has written this likeable sitcom inspired by his own upbringing in the north east of England. It is set in the real-life town of the title and pitches somewhere between The Royle Family and Rab C Nesbitt. We're talking bawdy but warm: salt-of-the-earth eccentrics, caricatures of family life and a good dose of smut.

Our young hero Jack escaped Hebburn to work as a journalist in Manchester; when he returns it is to introduce his family to Sarah, a PhD student he married in Las Vegas. "Hebburn's where dreams come to die," he warns Sarah as they arrive. Even where the comedy feels broad (when Jack's mum learns that Sarah is Jewish she panics and cuts holes in buns with an apple corer to make bagels) it comes off, thanks to a strong cast that includes Gina McKee and an understated Jim Moir, aka Vic Reeves.

In new sitcom Hebburn (BBC2), young Jack returns to the family home after some time working away. He's brought new wife Sarah with him. They got married on the spur of the moment ... Hang on, this all sounds familiar. Yes, it's not dissimilar to that other new BBC sitcom Cuckoo. So Cuckoo has a girl bringing an American hippy back, and Jack's a boy, bringing a Jewish girl from York home to Hebburn on Tyneside (haway the lads).

But in both much of the humour centres on the families not seeing eye-to-eye on everything with the new arrivals. And again, it's fairly traditional family sitcom fare - neither brave nor original. Vic Reeves's presence (he's the dad) doesn't bring a touch of the surreal you might hope for from him. But it's not real either; these people don't behave or speak like real people, they behave and speak like a sitcom family.

Oh it's OK, I suppose. There are some decent performances. I like the way they make bagels, with a bread roll and an apple corer. I'm pretty sure that's the only time I actually laughed though. Hebburn Meh-burn.

Another month, another family-based sitcom, but at least this one has a whiff of authenticity having been written by Geordie stand-up Jason Cook, based on his own experiences growing up in the North East. The six-part series tells the story of the Pearsons, a working-class family from Hebburn, who "aren't common, you know". Jack (Chris Ramsey), the Pearsons' only son, has returned home from Manchester, and is hoping to break the news to his parents that he has married a middle-class Jewish girl called Sarah (Kimberley Nixon). Mum Pauline (Gina McKee) and dad Joe (Jim Moir aka Vic Reeves) aren't sure how to react, and begin using an apple core to hollow out bread buns to make "bagels". Vicki (Lisa McGrillis), Jack's sister, isn't afraid to speak her mind, but it's her brother's rough-around-the-edges ex-girlfriend Denise (Victoria Elliott) who looks set to be the most memorable character. The humour can feel a little leaden, but the awkwardness arising from class differences and the uncertainty about what it means to have a Jewish girl around the place is amusing: "I'm fine working on a Saturday," Pauline quips, "but I'm not sure Joe could deal with being circumvented."

Video: Gina McKee and Kimberley Nixon on Hebburn

Gina McKee and Kimberley Nixon tell us about having fun on the Tyne with their new BBC comedy, Hebburn.

They also talk about working with comedians Jason Cook and Vic Reeves.

Hebburn is a fairly warm-hearted new sitcom written by stand-up comic Jason Cook. Set in the unremarkable town of Hebburn, South Tyneside, where Cook grew up, it revolves around a close-knit working-class family headed by Vic Reeves (billed under real name Jim Moir) and Gina McKee. He's affable and blokey, she's overbearingly well-meaning in the way sitcom mums almost always are.

Rounding out the brood are comedian Chris Ramsey - who looks like Stan Laurel moonlighting as a member of One Direction - as the prodigal son awkwardly introducing his "girlfriend" (Fresh Meat's Kimberley Nixon) to the family. But unbeknownst to them, the pair secretly wed in Vegas. Oh no! Apparently.

There's also a daffy gran prone to inappropriate outbursts, and a tart-with-a-heart sister. So no, it won't win any awards for originality (if indeed such awards existed). And that's Hebburn's problem: although it's packed with gags, they're mostly rather obvious and unremarkable. Cook - who also appears in a supporting role - can't resist all the usual cheap tracksuits and fake-tan jibes, and even throws a cheesy pub singer in for good measure. Tinged with pathos and black comedy, it's amiable enough, and nicely performed - especially by McKee, reminding us that she's capable of delivering much more than the frosty types she's usually cast as. But it isn't remotely distinctive or original.

There's no getting around the fact that this is a monumental feast of backslapping: a two-hour, self-loving parade where Channel 4 tells itself just how wonderful and influential it is. Which is pretty insufferable if you think about it. Luckily for Channel 4, it does have a lot to cheer about.

This was the channel, after all, that gave us Green Wing and Spaced, Peep Show, Brass Eye and Father Ted. And we should be forever grateful to C4 for giving Harry Hill his TV debut with The Harry Hill Show (1997-99), which figures in the foothills of the top 30, voted for by members of the public.

Elsewhere Dom Joly, from Trigger Happy TV, bemoans the albatross of the giant mobile phone gags, where he yelled "HELLO!" into a fake mobile ("I really hate it [now]. I hate it with a passion uncontested. It's my Emu"), and Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer reveal they filmed their Big Night Out 20 minutes after leaving the pub.

C4's Funny Fortnight continues with Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer gleefully churning out... yes, a reworking of Shooting Stars. Which means more exuberant, absurd chaos from its batty quizmasters, guests ranging from the classy to the inane (Eddie Izzard to Chelsee Healey, with This Is England's Thomas Turgoose gamely occupying the middle ground), and Dan 'Angelos Epithemiou' Skinner keeping score in a new guise: as a middle-class Viking. Hell, why not.

Vic & Bob: We blackmailed Simon Cowell

As part of Funny Fortnight, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer return to Channel 4 with an anarchic new show bringing together Eddie Izzard, Simon Cowell and Dr Christian Jessen. They kindly agreed to tell RT.com all about it, and left us more confused than ever...

Shooting Stars may have been cancelled, but Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer are convinced there's still humour to be wrung from the surreal panel show format. Their contribution to Channel 4's Funny Fortnight is this characteristically fantastical quiz show in which Eddie Izzard and other star guests face unexpected questions as they compete for prizes. Impersonations and new sketches are part of the mix in a comedy half hour highly likely to garner a new fan base for these veteran kings of comedy.