Ballot Monkeys

10 satire shows we need back on our TV screens

It's fair to say that we don't have much satire on TV at the moment. So, are we really beyond satire now? Have things become too surreal? Well, I'm not so sure. In no particular order, here are ten shows that I think need a revival in these turbulent times.

Channel 4's commitment to cutting edge comedy continued with this satirical take on the campaign leading up to May's general election. Writers Guy Jenkin and Andy Hamilton employed the same technique they did during Drop the Dead Donkey and wrote some of the more topical jokes on the day that the episodes were filmed. This gave Ballot Monkeys a very relevant edge and what's more it was very funny to boot with special mention going to Ben Miller's frustrated Lib Dem supporter and Sarah Hadland's awful UKip member. Ultimately Ballot Monkeys wasn't just one of the funniest sitcoms of the year it was also one of the most inventive.

With three days to go before polling day, we can presumably expect events in the election battle bus sitcom to grow ever more frenetic. But in a controlled way, because Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin perfected the knack of dropping topical material into the mix at the last moment back in their days writing Drop The Dead Donkey; while the likes of Hugh Dennis, Ben Miller and Sarah Hadland can be relied on not to fluff their lines. Continues and concludes tomorrow and Wednesday.

Ben Miller interview

Hopefully it'll be another way that people can engage with the democratic process. Much as I respect Russell Brand's point of view, I'm in the opposite camp to him about voting.

Hugh Dennis interview

Sometimes I do think that politicians are only in it for themselves, but actually as I've got older I've started to feel less cynical about them.

Sarah Hadland interview

If it gets people talking and interested in politics that would be great. Satire is a tremendous way of getting people engaged with politics.

Kathleen Rose Perkins interview

I've been following Ed Miliband on Facebook. Maybe I'll get honorary citizenship after this, and at the next election I can vote!

Ballot Monkeys was sharp, as would befit a writing credit for Andy Hamilton, and thus trumped and trumps ITV's Newzoids so far. Again served by a great ensemble, it was hampered only by being so close not only to topicality but to truth. Stronger, Fairer, Nicer is the slogan on the Lib-Dem battle bus and a blistering Ben Miller couldn't better negate any of those adjectives. The Tory bus has Hugh Dennis as the head of something involving "delivery", although you were invited to set your watches back to 1954 as a bereft "women's spokesman" had to crane her neck against the bus-rack just to be heard past his dullard alpha shoulders. Labour? Just constantly worried about the reaction on the doorstep to happy warrior Miliband. Andy Nyman's Ukip press officer is not so much fighting Twitter storms - most of them engendered by the bus's other occupants - as engaged in a Sisyphean bout of Whack-a-Mole. If only politics could be this much fun. If only Labour hadn't sold everyone down the river. Adapted to the paradigm contiguities of a modern vibrant age. Sold everyone down the river.