Vicki Pepperdine

For his first dramatic acting role, comic Harry Hill was desperate to play the original Nutty Professor from Norman Hunter's children stories.

Swapping his trademark ear-skimming collars for Branestawm's multiple pairs of glasses, he's the perfect fit for the role in this one-off special penned by Charlie Higson - which we predict will be the first of many.

The Fast Show's Higson, a best-selling children's author, has added some modern touches of his own that should strike a chord with a brand new TV generation raised on sonic screwdrivers.

By far the most significant is the addition of a determined young sidekick called Connie (Madeline Holliday) who is fed up with being taught useless subjects at school.

Even though Branestawm may be the worst science teacher you could imagine, I practically cheered to hear Connie say that she wanted to learn about civil engineering.

As the Professor's inventions bring chaos to the village of Great Pagwell, Hill is joined by another Fast Show stalwart, Simon Day, as Branestawm's best friend Colonel Dedshott.

David Mitchell plays his nemesis, the officious councillor Harold Haggerstone who wants to shut down Branestawm's "Inventory" and Vicki Pepperdine is his housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop.

It's all hugely silly, but perfect family entertainment nevertheless.

Professor Branestawm: Why you should tune in

Although he's supported by a starry British cast including the always brilliant Vicki Pepperdine, Simon Day, David Mitchell and Ben Miller this is definitely Hill's big outing, and whether you enjoy it or not obviously depends on whether you actually like the former comedian turned King of Bloopers.

Advertising man and stage magician Norman Hunter first created his quintessential absent-minded professor in the 1930s, in a couple of well-loved children's books. He then took a 33-year break, reviving Branestawm in the 1970s when he knocked off a string of books of comically disastrous experiments, which became fixtures of the story-reading show Jackanory for a new generation.

Nothing much had changed: Branestawm still existed in a dreamy, madcap world where "doing science" meant blowing things up and it was understood that geniuses were exempt from normal behaviour, like dressing properly or remembering anything.

Now, science tends to mean computerised calculations and even landing a rocket on a comet does not exempt a chap from apologising for a dodgy shirt. In fact, not all scientists are even chaps. But we still have this idea - popularised by dramas like The Social Network or Sherlock - that no-one can be that clever and still be, well, "normal".

Charlie Higson, who revived another old franchise for the pre-teen set with his Young Bond books, has adapted Hunter's characters for a nostalgia-soaked family romp, nominally set in the 1930s but actually set in a delightfully artificial never-was.

Harry Hill makes his thespian debut as the eccentric academic, though it's more of a broad performance than actual acting. But he's surrounded by a capable, in-on-the-joke cast including Ben Miller, Simon Day, Vicki Pepperdine and Higson himself. A basically-modern little girl sidekick (Madeline Holliday) stands in for the hoped-for young audience, gleeful over bangs and mess but still, perhaps, getting hooked on science into the bargain.

Harry Hill stars as Professor Theophilus Branestawm in an adaptation of Norman Hunter's classic books. He's an absent-minded inventor, prone to left-field mutterings, which makes him an easy target for local businessman Mr Bullimore (Ben Miller) and councillor Harold Haggerstone (David Mitchell), who want to eject him from the village of Great Pagwell. Assisted by schoolgirl Connie, best friend Colonel Dedshott (Simon Day) and housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop (Vicki Pepperdine), will he prevail?

Five episodes in, Puppy Love remains perfectly pleasant viewing, but still feels frustratingly less than the sum of its parts. It has all the requisite ingredients of a successful modern sitcom - cheerfully complicated families, gently simmering class conflict, and fine lead turns by Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine - but it still feels too amiable for its own good. Tonight, Pepperdine's neurotic middle-class matriarch Naomi meets the long-absent brother of Scanlan's caravan-dwelling dog-trainer, with surprising consequences.

Radio Times review

As this series scampers along, it feels less like a comedy and more like a family drama with the odd moment raising a chuckle. Which isn't to say it's not a pleasurable half-hour in the company of Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine as Nana V and Naomi Singh, now reeling at the news they're about to become gran and great-gran to Eron and Jasmine's baby.

Tonight's guest spot goes to Phil Cornwell as V's grotty, errant brother, Fatdraic. He offers Naomi unexpected succour when her marriage breaks down and spikes the Rice Krispie cakes that the youngsters are smuggling into prison. Naomi and V must take swift action.

Sunetra Sarker on Puppy Love: I'm not great with dogs!

Casualty star Sunetra Sarker has a cameo in Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine's new comedy Puppy Love on BBC Four... that would be as well as making it to week 10 in this year's Strictly. So with all that good fun/ hard work in hand - how does she keep going?

Sunetra Sarker on Puppy Love: I'm not great with dogs!

Casualty star Sunetra Sarker has a cameo in Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine's new comedy Puppy Love on BBC Four... that would be as well as making it to week 10 partnering Brendan Cole in this year's Strictly. So with all that good fun/hard work in hand - how does she keep going?

TV review: Puppy Love, episode 3, BBC4

Right, I'm sticking with this like a dog with a bone. The third instalment of this dodgy doggy sitcom finds Nana V (Joanna Scanlan) more hard up than ever and Naomi Singh (Vicki Pepperdine) more snobby than ever.

The second instalment of the not-quite-happening sitcom starring Joanna Scanlan, hitherto best known for her performance as obdurately useless civil servant Terri Coverley in The Thick of It. Puppy Love recasts her as Nana V, a Wirral-based dog trainer, opposite Vicki Pepperdine - Scanlan's collaborator on NHS satire Getting On - as one of her customers. In this episode, Nana V works with police to create a Canine Responsibility Day. While the characters are well drawn, this doesn't atone for a lack of laughs.