Victoria Wood (II)

Jack Whitehall, recently crowned king of comedy again at The British Comedy Awards, and his theatrical-agent dad Michael return for another series of jovial joshing. Joining them in this opening episode are comic, talent-show judge and author David Walliams, and - fresh from a star turn in Victoria Wood's musical That Day We Sang - Michael Ball. Whitehall is passable as a chatshow host, but it's his father who is the star turn, kvetching away in his big leather armchair.

This year has only just got out of the starting blocks, but it is already shaping up to be quite a special one for James Corden.

He was awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours list, and in March he will be off to the US to host The Late Late Show on CBS five nights a week.

And after his perfect sitcom The Wrong Mans ended 2014 on a high, the actor is back on our screens tonight in this Roald Dahl short story.

In this adaptation by Richard Curtis, Corden plays the on-screen narrator.

He stars alongside Dame Judi Dench and, incredibly, Dustin Hoffman, who play Mrs Silver and her love-struck neighbour Mr Hoppy, who lives in the apartment above hers.

It's hardly a stretch for either of their talents, but it's rather sweet to see them both doing something so playful, and to hear Dame Judi reciting Dahl's nonsense dialogue: "Worg Pu! Ffuts Pu! Thoos Pu!"

The story is charming, but so slight, that to reveal even one detail would probably ruin it completely for any viewers who don't know it already.

But after Victoria Wood's That Day We Sang, and the return of Last Tango In Halifax, it's heartening to see that TV no longer views love as the sole preserve of the young.

Curtis has also provided Mr Hoppy with a love rival, but it's a tortoise called Alfie who will provide him with the greatest challenge.

Victoria Wood creates Moulin Rouge in slippers

The comedian's musical for Manchester began with pink ice-cream and has ended up on the BBC.

Victoria Wood attends TV version of That Day We Sang

The comedy star headed to the Vue Cinema at Salford Quays for preview of the BBC production starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton.

The Stephen Frizzle three minute interview

Newcastle's own Stephen 'Friz' Frizzle is a comedy musician who perfroms puns in song form at the piano. Why yes, exactly like Tom Lehrer, Richard Stilgoe, Victoria Wood and Amateur Transplants. But Friz is the youngest, so he has the advantage. His Edinburgh Festival Fringe show, for one perfromance only, is Harry My Cat Died.

Radio Times review

Stand-up Lucy Beaumont, the 2012 BBC New Comedy Award winner, writes and stars in this delightful sitcom pilot, a cross between a Victoria Wood sketch and a Mike Leigh film. She is Sophie, a daft ha'p'orth stuck living at home with her proud, junk-obsessed mum (Maureen Lipman).

But Sophie dreams of becoming an actress and thinks she has a shot when she gets an audition in London for "Third in the queue at Debenhams". There's a precise yet warm quality to the writing, including a rare fresh take on mishearing the Lord's Prayer, all enhanced by Lipman's peerless comic timing.

Radio Times review

Isy Suttie made her mark as devoted girlfriend Dobby in Peep Show on Channel 4. Now radio is helping to establish her as the latest in a long line of female monologuists stretching back to Ruth Draper and Joyce Grenfell.

Her good-natured observational comedy dissects romantic relationships - her own and other people's - and in the first episode of her new series she recalls her time as a classroom assistant, when a dinner lady and a teacher, both married to other people, were drawn to each other.

It comes as no surprise to read that Suttie is an admirer of Victoria Wood. Now that Wood's comic performances are rare, Suttie, like her idol a comedian and a singer/songwriter, could fill the gap.

Radio Times review

Lance Corporal Jones wouldn't have approved. Victoria Wood crunches the gears of his butcher's van as she pootles around familiar Norfolk locations for her fabulous 2000 tribute to Croft and Perry's immortal sitcom. Cast and crew chip in with glorious back-room stories (Bill "Hodges" Pertwee is especially good), and there are tantalising glimpses in home-movie footage of the actors on location.

Leicester Comedy Festival: Vote for legend of comedy

Jasper Carrott, Ken Dodd, Lenny Henry, Nicholas Parsons, Victoria Wood and Jennifer Saunders are on our comedy legends shortlist.