Would I Lie To You?

Would I Lie to You? is a return of a series I would have bet hard cash would never be recommissioned. It's a quiz show whose only apparent point is to give part-time employment to comics whose stand-up is better sitting down, and Carol Vorderman. I thought I'd seen the end of this grisly equation of smugness, anger and pert pettiness, but I hadn't allowed for the half-life of quiz shows. The point of this one - and I use the word with a joyless laugh - is for the comics and Carol to tell us something that may or may not be a lie: "I once swallowed a comb" or "I have an irrational fear of balloons" or "My mother had no bottom". The hostage of all titles that contain question marks is that they incite answers. In this case, who cares? Who cares if you are lying? One had to go to A&E to have a Hoover attachment removed. I don't care, none of us cares. This show is neither remotely interesting nor edifying. It is science, and it is isn't entertainment. It's watching a dole queue of stupid under-achievers - except for Jo Brand, who is above criticism. She is the Florence Nightingale of sickly format and mortally wounded quiz shows.

Would I Lie To You? is yet another comedy quiz show, this one inviting the usual assortment of stand-ups and guest celebrities to tell convincing fibs. It is Call My Bluff basically, replacing words with deeds.

It is very cheap and cheerful fare that depends almost entirely on the charm of those involved. Rob Brydon is the genial host, David Mitchell and Lee Mack the suitably contrasting captains, and they are do what is required of them with frightening efficiency. But the formula pokes through like the ribs on a starving man, and I found the whole show somewhat depressing.

One thing did intrigue me, however. In a show about deception how come nobody pointed out the miraculous reappearance of a full head of hair on the recently thinning Brydon?

By and large, I'm allergic to TV comedy panel shows, a genre that seems populated by a back-scratching bunch of comedy circuit regulars who need precious little encouragement to demonstrate how amazingly witty they can be when following an autocue. But I'll make an exception for Would I Lie To You?, particularly now Rob Brydon has slipped cheekily into the chair's chair.

For one thing the format - basically spotting who's telling porkies - encourages embarrassment and absurdity rather than lame attempts at proving how cutting-edge and down with the times the panellists are. For another it allows team captain David Mitchell to be searingly sceptical with a dash of disdain for half an hour. That boy can wither for England.

Would I Lie To You 3.1 Review

Quietly becoming the best comedy panel show not called QI, Would I Lie To You? is back for a third series, complete with an unnecessary revamp. David Mitchell is particularly fantastic in gameshows of this ilk. The way he can amusingly pick apart sentences and deliver fun anecdotes is custom-made for WILTY, so he rescued this opener on many occasions.

Did Larry Lamb really once run a market stall selling hats for dogs? It was the 1960s. It was Harlow. Canine millinery was massive, he insists. True or not, from now on it'll be hard to watch his evil EastEnders' alter-ego Archie Mitchell without conjuring up an image of him lovingly tying a bonnet on to a pug. It's absurd revelations like that one which make this game such a joy.

As series three starts, Rob Brydon takes over from Angus Deayton as host - completing a dream team alongside captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell.

Comedy panel shows are, of course, only as good as the quality of the regulars and guests. this game - in which players guess whether incredible facts and embarrassing personal tales are true or false - has invited the splendid Rob Brydon to host its third series. And, with team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell, fun is guaranteed.

Say hello to a new batch of this game. Tonight's posers include whether stand-up Russell Howard used to wear underpants on his head as an anti-acne gambit and whether EastEnders star Larry Lamb once ran a market stall that sold hats for dogs. In case you're thinking that both things are clearly absurd, bear in mind that everything on the show is clearly absurd and could never have happened - yet some of it did. This series, Angus Deayton has given way to Rob Brydon as host, but the show's beating heart remains David Mitchell. He rules it as his domain; the others just make up the numbers. Tonight, Mitchell voices firm views on castles, crying and working at McDonald's.

Poor Angus Deayton has been dropped again. Rob Brydon steps into his shoes and very good he is too (much better than AD, who treated it as if he had somehow turned back time and was on the set of HIGNFY). Also good are the team captains: David Mitchell's natural habitat is the panel show and Lee Mack is naturally funny. Tonight's guests are Jo Brand and Russell Howard, providing back-up laughs, and Carol 'whaat now?' Vorderman and Larry 'do something about your son' Lamb are the straight men. It's never hilarious but it's always funny and less annoying than Mock The Week, so everyone should be glad to see it back.

Team captains David Mitchell and Lee Mack return for a third series of this engagingly funny panel game. Rob Brydon takes over the hosting duties from Angus Deayton, which should improve the laugh quotient even more. But can there be any more humorous skeletons in Mack and Mitchell's respective closets? I'm sure there will be. A bigger mystery, though, is why this has been shunted into the post-news slot, when it should surely be better off in a 9pm or 9.30pm point in the schedule.