Unspun With Matt Forde

The British equivalent to a late-night US chatshow, reacting to events of the day, has been an elusive grail for decades. On the evidence of previous series, Unspun is not quite it, although Dave has upped the ante with this incarnation: an extended version will now broadcast on Wednesdays at 11pm.

Given his status as a resolute Blairite, Matt Forde occupies an unpopular niche in the British political landscape. What with the current dangerous tendency of people on all sides to simply hear what they want to hear, this makes him the perfect candidate to present a topical comedy show. Expect a few mangled sacred cows as Forde cheerfully upsets Brexiters and Corbynites alike.

The selling point of Forde's satirical news show is that it is recorded very tight to broadcast, theoretically encouraging both topicality and spontaneity. The nature of the format dictates that the quality is uneven, with much obviously depending on which guests are available - April's interview with Tony Blair was deservedly acclaimed - but, in general, the gulf between this and The Daily Show is unmissably vast.

Tory candidate goes viral: compared to Alan Partridge

A Tory candidate's election campaign video has gone viral after viewers compared the politician to Alan Partridge. Sir Greg Knight, who is a member of the Parliamentary rock band 'MP4' which stars in Unspun With Matt Forde, has produced a jingle backed plea for local voters to elect a "strong and stable" Government.

The UK's answer to John Oliver in format but sadly not execution (although John Oliver is surely also our own answer to John Oliver, being from Birmingham and all), Matt Forde's relatively ersatz Unspun returns for a new series of topical skewering. Guest comedians will include Oliver's former cohort Andy Zaltzman and Phil Wang, while political guests - unknown at the time of writing - will be drafted in to give their twopenn'orth.

British TV is not suffering a noticeable dearth of bumptious comics taking a sideways look at the news, but rarely are the consequences amusing. The holy grail of such television - a marque to stand alongside Jon Stewart-era Daily Show or John Oliver's Last Week Tonight - remains, on this Atlantic shore, ungrasped. Forde's effort is the latest, and - at this admittedly early stage in its development - seems unlikely to change that.