Lee Nelson's Well Funny People

Since binning off being a doctor to spend his career in sportswear, Simon Brodkin has made a decent living from being south London ne'er-do-well Lee Nelson. This new series showcases a few more of his characters, including his footballing stereotype Jason Bent, sleazy GP Dr Bob and a Geordie chef. In this first episode, Lee discovers the benefits of living in the dark, Bent meets his team's new Spanish manager, while the Geordie chef prepares a most unconventional duck à l'orange.

Simon Brodkin revives his divisive Lee Nelson character, as one of dozens of alter egos in a new sketch show. It's crass: a well-intentioned satire on church homophobia is slightly ruined by Brodkin playing an African preacher, in blackface; and the Nelson skit sees him pretend to be blind so he can grope a woman, a routine Benny Hill might have thought was a bit basic. Brodkin's performances, for example when he easily sustains a monologue by a gangster who's taken over a failing school, offer some glimmers.

Evidently not satisfied with the untold misery that his awful and ironically named Well Good Show inflicted on humankind, Lee Nelson has returned with a new offering to crush your will to live in the form of Lee Nelson's Well Funny People. From his racist policeman to his gangster headmaster, his Geordie chef to his African priest, and 'old favourites' Jason Bent and Chris from Kavos, this is a mindless, scattergun approach to comedy which is depressingly predictable and incredibly dated.

There's nothing wrong with using stereotypes, as long as you subvert or do something clever with them, a fact which seems to have escaped writer/performer Simon Brodkin's attention. He may have good energy and love doing an accent, but there isn't nearly enough here to redeem this latest lowest common denominator offering from BBC3.