The Armstrong & Miller Show

Recommended last week, recommended this week. It's the funniest thing on television at the moment. If you didn't laugh at the experimental doctor or fighting grandads from the first episode, you're even more callous and humourless than we thought.

The Armstrong & Miller Show felt more consistently funny than before. Maybe their 300 writers, including Graham Linehan and The League of Gentlemen's Jeremy Dyson, are exerting more quality control this year.

Sadly, they're still peddling those grunting cavemen and youth-speak RAF officers, in strict adherence to the post-Little Britain law that every sketch show must contain recurring characters well beyond their natural use.

Otherwise, it was an agreeable mix of more-hit-than-miss sketches, bolstered as always by having two confident comic performers at the helm. Despite a lack of truly inspired material, it's usually good for a chuckle or three.

The Armstrong & Miller Show gets a bit of flack for playing it safe and not being edgy but surely, in the light of seeing Armstrong shout up a bloke's arse in a bid to revive him - CPR hadn't been invented - and Miller teasing his nipples in a La-Z-Boy chair, that view is old hat. Not only that but they rhymed Farmer's Market with Morten Harket and followed it up with an appearance from the A-ha legend. That's class.

Sketch shows are a notoriously tough act to pull off but Saturday night's opener found Armstrong & Miller at the top of their game, with scarcely a dud in sight. Mitchell & Webb will need to pull their finger out to match them.

Television's most likeable double act return with more silly, inoffensive sketches. You don't look to these two for cutting-edge satire, or even the kind of near-the-knuckle social stereotypes peddled by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse on BBC2. A musical number mocking farmers' markets is the nearest Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller get to social satire, and great fun it is, too. They prefer the old-fashioned kind of sketch based on one comic conceit ruthlessly pursued. One of the best new arrivals is a pair of elderly vampires bemoaning what's become of the vampire world. It's a simple idea made funnier by the performances (Ben Miller's vampire accent is a joy), just as the street-talking RAF pilots play to the pair's gift for posh characters. And yes - the latter are back, and this time they've been roped into D-Day.

Armstrong and Miller interview

Our vampires struggle to fit into a new world full of young sexy bloodsuckers, says comedy duo Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller.

A third BBC series for the masters of sketch comedy. I saw them try out some material for this new series, and it was considerably more hit than miss.

The BAFTA-nominated middle-class sketch show returns for a third series. It's still the best in its class, which is nice - it's a decent watch. Or it's a damning indictment on the current state of British TV comedy, depending on how harsh you feel like being. We're feeling generous - it's a decent watch.

Well-spoken wits Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller return for a third run of their Bafta-winning sketch show. Characters include the German in-laws, roadkill cooks and old-style vampires baffled by the new Twilight generation. Best of all, the street-talking Second World War pilots turn up in Normandy on D-Day. The nature of the beast is that the humour is hit and miss, but the duo have enough charm to get away with it.

Armstrong & Miller review: from strength to strength

This exceptionally witty, sharp and endearing duo do manage to serve up something for everyone, even if the majority of their material is aimed at the comfortably off whose biggest worry in life is whether or not they've correctly separated their waste for recycling.

Alexander Armstrong & Ben Miller interview

Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller are back with a new series of their BBC1 sketch show. As well as old favourites the street-talking pilots, The Armstrong & Miller Show is packed with plenty of new characters too...