Yonderland

Yonderland, shown at 6.30pm, Sundays, on Sky1 and made by the team behind CBBC's Horrible Histories, was a teatime treat, and I mention this as someone with no genuine enthusiasm for family viewing. If you didn't see the show, it probably won't help now to describe it as a cross between (if you'll forgive the paucity of 21st-century references) The Muppets, Blackadder, Narnia and Shrek. It was a bit Hobbity, a bit Monty Python and the temple of doom. Beards, village elders, rubber creatures, wizardry. It started with Debbie, a suburban housewife, being whisked through a portal by an elf she found in her larder, supposedly to save this enchanted realm from the squabbling forces of darkness - though first she needed to get to a secret scroll without having her head bitten off by the giant that lurked nearby. It was restlessly inventive in its low-tech ambition and knowing humour. Debbie was amazed at the elf's magic stick. "I'm a magic stick - get over it," it snapped, though not literally.

Three episodes in, and this new enterprise from the Horrible Histories team continues to work some excellent gags into its Jim Henson-esque interplay between humans and puppets. In the vein of Goodnight Sweetheart (filmed just off Columbia Road flower market, portal fans), modern mum Marsha bounces between her home life and the titular fantasy world.

This week, she encounters an order of religious monks who cannot tell lies. Despite the puppetry and their CBBC roots, the Yonderland players smuggle in adult gags everywhere, from some slightly obvious truths about estate agents to more surreal riffs on the origins of Little Chef restaurants. Best of all, it's affectionate cute and thoroughly loveable. The opposite of estate agents, then.

Yonderland review

It is a lovely idea, full of comic potential and playing to the strengths of the multi-talented cast. First episodes are always precarious, but Yonderland boldly negotiated all the pitfalls of exposition with imagination, wit and verve.

Fake beards, silly characters: a family classic is born

Last night on Sky1, a family television classic was born.

Younderland episodes 1 and 2 review

Sky has had a great success with its own-brand comedy in the past few years, what with Moone Boy, Trollied, and Spy (heyyy, I liked it), but Yonderland just might be the best. And you don't need Science with a big 'S' to help you understand why.

The Horrible Histories cast heads to the lushly appointed creative playground that is [y]Sky[/y], for a new comedy where their imagination is unencumbered by facts. Martha Howe-Douglas is the bewildered everywoman in a people-and-puppets fantasy that's loosely Monty Python's Life of Brian meets Labyrinth: a bored housewife steps through a portal in her larder and, reluctantly at first, embarks on a heroic quest in another realm. Here be talking sticks, foaming potions, squabbling elders and friendly giants who kill you by mistake.

Yonderland consistently takes the best of two worlds. It looks incredible but is more concerned with gags and plot; it has fun within the fantasy genre without resorting to snide spoof; and, crucially, it will make kids and adults laugh together, at the same jokes. If you don't have Sky, gather the family and descend on a household that does.

Yonderland: We wanted to raid the dressing up box

We were hardly going to go from Horrible Histories to an office sitcom, says star and writer of Sky1's new comedy Mathew Baynton

Not much sign of a sophomore slump for the Horrible Histories team, as they rekindle the endearing daftness of their crossover CBBC hit, only without having to adhere to stuff like, y'know, actual facts.

Exhausted working mum Debbie (Martha Howe-Douglas) discovers an elf in her kitchen cupboard and, with it, a portal into Yonderland and an escape from domestic drudgery. And lo, she enters a fantasy world peopled by dissolute wizards, dull-witted treemen and a bickering council of elders (HH regulars Mat Baynton, Simon Farnaby et al) who, handily, have a few quests that need completing.

Borrowing liberally from Jim Henson in both its tone and heavy use of puppets, Yonderland showcases a crack comic ensemble brimming with confidence. Indeed, the performances are generally stronger and more consistent than the writing, but there's no shortage of chuckles, and it gains momentum over the course of this opening double bill. And ultimately, such gleeful silliness is always to be encouraged.

Yonderland really was fun for all the family

Charm is not a word to be bandied around lightly but it's the one that springs playfully to mind to describe Yonderland.

Yonderland: what Horrible Histories did next

Sky1's Yonderland is a triumphant family-friendly adventure, fusing The Dark Crystal with The Mighty Boosh.