Vic Reeves

Vic and Bob plan hit 'like no other'

Shooting Stars will not return on another channel, hosts Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer confirmed last night. Instead, they are working on a secret comedy show "the like of which has never been seen".

Vic Reeves is on a mission to provide answers to curious questions. He has a library staffed by a team of fact-finders, including Tyger Drew-Honey (Jake from Outnumbered). Today, the team work out if dinosaurs could ever return to roam the earth, whether animals can be superheroes, and if robots will ever take over the world.

Created by Dan Skinner, comic character Angelos Epithemiou is an anorak-clad, bespectacled, burger van-owning misfit who permanently lugs round a Sainsbury's carrier bag. He found cult fame as a panellist on recently axed BBC gameshow Shooting Stars and now moves to Channel 4 for this solo vehicle, executively produced by Bob Mortimer. Rather reminiscent of Vic Reeves or Harry Hill's early offerings, it's a surreal, cartoonish show packed with slapstick, music, magic and celebrity send-ups.

The 4th best programme of 2011 according to the Radio Times.

This fond look at the early struggles of Morecambe and Wise was no broad-brushstrokes biopic. Rather, it was an accumulation of lovely detail: the down-at-heel venues, the pushy parents, how the double act evolved. Writer Peter Bowker even had room for the duo's harmonica-tootling stooge, Arthur Tolcher. The very definition of "affectionate", Eric and Ernie was a series of revelations: that Vic Reeves ought to take more straight roles; that funny can flip to poignant without being crass; and that Daniel Rigby's Eric wasn't just an uncanny impersonation - it was a stunning performance, full stop.

Axe for Shooting Stars is no joke

The Beeb's axing of Vic Reeves' and Bob Mortimer's bonkers TV gameshow has left fans stunned and angry.

Preview: This is Jinsy (Sky Atlantic)

If Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer made The League Of Gentlemen, it may have resulted in something similar to Sky's latest homespun comedy, the peculiar This Is Jinsy. Or perhaps if Terry Pratchett was asked to write a lighthearted version of The Wicker Man?

The third pilot in the Comedy Showcase series, The Fun Police is a studio based sitcom (featuring live laughter, to the shock and mortification of professional TV critics) about an inept health and safety department.

It's a more traditional sitcom in the style of shows like The IT Crowd, albeit with more unusually daft humour. The pilot sees Leslie (Rhys Derby) taking over as head of health and safety in the town of Brightsea after one of his work colleges, Neil (Jack Doolan), put their boss in a coma after accidentally falling on top of her.

The best way to describe The Fun Police is that it's 'enjoyably silly'. Leslie, for example, instead of coming up with a press statement about the accident spends his time ordering new furniture and designing a new mascot to make health and safety more fun. Another character, Toni (Katy Wix - who seems to be in at least one Channel 4 pilot per week at the moment) is an over-zealous officer with a robotic hand, paranoid about the dangers of the sea and helium balloons. This pilot also featured a cameo from Vic Reeves (credited under his real name Jim Moir) as an egotistical town planner driven mad by the power to name streets.

The Fun Police is full of ideas and is certainly a fun show. Not every joke is a cracker, but it certainly made me laugh and I for one would think it would make a good series if given the chance.

Fans of Flight of the Conchords will be very pleased to see the band's inept manager Murray (Rhys Darby[/o]) starring in this new pilot that could have been written especially for him.

He plays Leslie, head of a team of health and safety inspectors, and his blend of naive enthusiasm and shocking ideas are pure Murray.

The Fun Police was written by Matt Morgan, who was Russell Brand's straight-man sidekick on his BBC Radio 2 and there are a lot of very funny ideas in this.

I especially like Katy Wix as an inspector obsessed with shutting down the sea on safety grounds. She does have a point.

Vic Reeves is in it, too, as a town planner, although for some reason he looks like he's come as Keith Lemon and he's credited by his real name of Jim Moir.

Commission a series of this one please, Channel 4 people. I'd like to see more.

Vic and Bob plan to revive On the Buses

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer are planning to revive much-loved 1970s show On The Buses.