Do I detect a slightly more relaxed and free-handed atmosphere now Frankie Boyle's not around to dominate proceedings? Mock The Week still can't match 8 Out Of 10 Cats' jovial atmosphere, but it's certainly getting there. The guests all got a chance to shine, which was the main thing. Chris Addison (best known for his role in political satire The Thick Of It, but also a stand-up comedian) got a few big laughs (mainly with his suggestion that we counter a tidal wave created by the Chinese jumping simultaneously with a similar wave borne of the UK's obese children), and stand-up comedians Sarah Millican and John Bishop both made enough of an impression to prevent total domination by the regulars.

But I'm still disappointed MTW even has so many "regulars" - because what's wrong with the traditional two team captains format? It just feel unbalanced and, frankly, I've grown tired of Hugh Dennis and Andy Parsons' shtick. And it still irritates me when the stand-up round features topics designed to give the guests the opportunity to reuse their stand-up routines (I mean, "Language"? The broadness of "Politics"?), but otherwise this was a fun episode - if still something you'll have forgotten about by ten o'clock.

Dan Owen, Dan's Media Digest, 29th January 2010

Frankie Boyle's been lanced, Russell Howard's wearing specs, but it's otherwise business as usual for satirical news quiz Mock The Week; a fusion of Have I Got News For You? and Whose Line Is It Anyway?, with irrelevant scoring and a weird mix of rounds that go from sitdown quiz to stand-up performances. It's all a mere conduit for ribpoking of the week's news stories, and MTW is perhaps more consistent than its contemporaries because four of the pannelists are regulars.

The downside of that consistency is that Hugh Dennis stopped being funny in the mid-'90s and Andy Parsons has never been funny, leaving host Dara O'Briain and Russell Howard to shoulder most of the comic burden. And, like a great many modern panel shows, a lot of guests just become glorified audience members, desperate to shoehorn in paraphrased segments of their standup material. This week, Mark Watson coped well as a guest (he's a veteran of this format), Patrick Kielty had the confidence to soldier through any difficulties he encountered, and while Milton Jones sometimes struggled to recycle his material appropriately, he at least didn't just sit back and do nothing. It helps that his stage persona is a spaced-out weirdo, so his weaker moments and slipups could be forgiven as part of his "act".

Dan Owen, Dan's Media Digest, 22nd January 2010

Mock The Week may become less vicious

Dara O'Briain seems genuinely curious when asked whether Mock The Week can survive Frankie Boyle's departure. "I don't know," he says. "It could be the ushering in of a new era. We may change the theme music to, Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead and then we the munchkins will appear and sing our happy munchkin song.

Written by Dave Mark. Belfast Telegraph, 21st January 2010

The top-notch panel show returns with guests Mark Watson, Patrick Kielty and Milton Jones - but how will it fare without the savage brilliance of Frankie Boyle?

Sharon Lougher, Metro, 21st January 2010

Alas, we'll miss the dark humour of Frankie Boyle, who recently announced his departure from the programme, but this new series of the comedy panel show retains wit aplenty in the form of Dara O'Briain, Russell Howard, Andy Parsons and Hugh Dennis.

The Telegraph, 21st January 2010

Dara O'Briain presents a festive edition of the comedy panel show. The series's regulars - Hugh Dennis, Russell Howard, Andy Parsons and Frankie Boyle - offer their reflections on Christmas and review highlights from the series. There are also contributions from other nimble-witted comedians, including Fred Macaulay, Holly Walsh, Milton Jones and David Mitchell.

Daily Telegraph, 22nd December 2009

This isn't just a Mock the Week festive special - it's a piece of comedy history. Frankie Boyle has already resigned from the panel in a blaze of bile because he feels that the show - and the BBC - want to cover "celebrities meeting meerkats" rather than real news. Here we'll see how much of the sting is left in his tail as he gives one final seasonal turn - and whether, as they review the best moments of the MTW year, they'll include that Rebecca Adlington comment.

Alex Hardy, The Times, 19th December 2009

The empty chair on Mock the Week

History will recall that, late in 2009, Mock the Week faced a dilemma that many of the major panel shows have had to face before them; that is, how best to deal with the departure of one of its stars.

Written by Dara O'Briain. Dave TV, 1st December 2009

Dara O'Briain: 'We won't replace Frankie Boyle'

Dara O'Briain has predicted that producers will not seek a permanent replacement for Frankie Boyle on Mock The Week.

Written by Mayer Nissim. Digital Spy, 30th November 2009

'Failure of editorial control' blamed for Boyle joke

The BBC Trust has detailed the full extent of the editorial failure that resulted in a Frankie Boyle joke about swimmer Rebecca Adlington airing on BBC2's Mock The Week, which it later ruled should never have been broadcast.

Written by John Plunkett. The Guardian, 5th November 2009

Frankie Boyle, Rebecca Adlington & the limits of taste

If comedians sometimes cause offence, well, isn't that their job?

Written by Dominic Maxwell. The Times, 3rd November 2009

How Frankie Boyle came back from the dead

The Herald finally catches up with Frankie Boyle and learns the truth about his sudden departure from Mock The Week.

Written by Susan Swarbrick. The Herald Scotland, 2nd November 2009

Rebecca Adlington: Boyle's punishment 'not enough'

Rebecca Adlington, the double Olympic swimming champion, has been left humiliated by the BBC Trust's handling of offensive remarks by comedian Frankie Boyle, her agent said.

Written by Nick Collins. The Daily Telegraph, 1st November 2009

Comic hits out at BBC producers

Mock The Week star Frankie Boyle has hit out at the programme's producers for asking panellists to avoid discussing serious issues.

Broadcast, 28th October 2009

Frankie Boyle: Fierce, fearless... and funny

The foul-mouthed Glaswegian comedian is in trouble with the BBC over his joke about the swimmer Rebecca Adlington. Does he care? The Independent meets Frankie Boyle.

Written by Andrew Johnson. The Independent, 25th October 2009

Boyle's 'sexist' joke about Queen cleared by BBC Trust

Comedian's gag on Mock the Week was 'in poor taste' but 'would not have gone beyond audience expectations' for the show.

Written by Tara Conlan. The Guardian, 19th October 2009

Mock the Week 'humiliated' Olympic sportswoman

The BBC Trust has censured the BBC over a joke on Mock The Week that branded Olympic gold medallist Rebecca Adlington "very dirty".

Written by Katherine Rushton. Broadcast, 19th October 2009

Frankie Boyle leaves 'Mock The Week'

Frankie Boyle has left Mock The Week to concentrate on other TV commitments, while the show has been signed up for two new series by BBC Two.

Written by Mayer Nissim. Digital Spy, 2nd October 2009

Frankie Boyle: mocks the weak

When asked on one episode of Mock The Week to suggest a line unlikely to appear in a superhero movie, Boyle responded: "Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Whatever it is, it's heading straight for the World Trade Center." A joke where surely half the audience easily guessed the tired punchline.

Written by Alice Wyllie. The Scotsman, 27th September 2009

Joke ace Frankie taken to hospital

Comic Frankie Boyle has been forced to pull out of this week's Mock The Week show after being carted off to hospital with a mystery illness.

The Sun, 24th September 2009

I was flicking around the iPlayer this week and I settled on Mock the Week. I don't know if it was this week's or last week's or a repeat from last year. The news it's supposed to mock is so nebulous and incidental, it doesn't register as current affairs. The presenter is that moon-faced Irishman who was christened by a dyslexic priest. Whenever I see him I can't help thinking: "You really ought to be doing something better with your life." The show is a masterclass in too competitive joke-telling and trying too hard. The joke is always the same joke and the guests are always the same people wearing different ugly prosthetic Hallowe'en masks with comedy beards and character hair. It is a show of the most abject oppression. Grown-ups desperate for attention shout pathetic inanities and slight obscenities, falling over one another to garble payoffs that are more like IOUs or begging letters. If you changed the set a little and made it, say, a National Health Service waiting room, it would be easier to believe this was a documentary about special-needs ADD patients. This is only one of a whole slew of late-night comic quizzes that lack any purpose or self-belief. This isn't satire or anger; it's not even irony. It's comedic lap-dancing with ugly men.

There is a moment at the start of all of these shows when the compere introduces the teams to the audience. As each name is spoken, the person to whom it belongs knows that they're in close-up and reacts with a little cameo of hilarity. They'll do a small gurn, make a gesture, as a reaction to their own names. It's such a pitiful moment of insecurity, such a naked insight into despair and neediness.

What humorous little mime do you pull when you hear your name called? Perhaps we should all work on one in front of the mirror, so when we're introduced to new people we can flash a surprised guffaw and point our fingers like invisible revolvers, or make a show of glamour and run our hands through imagined big hair. And then people who didn't know us before would know right away that we're really, really, very, very funny.

A. A. Gill, The Sunday Times, 20th September 2009

What more could you want from a panel show than the brilliant Frankie Boyle and Andy Parsons? Well, probably just one more thing - the sharp and sure David Mitchell, always a hoot on these sorts of things. His fellow guest is the likeably down-to-earth Sarah Millican.

Sharon Lougher, Metro, 17th September 2009

Mock the Nation

Dara O'Briain, a buttery-faced man with a smugly malicious manner, presides over panellists without a political idea in their little heads.

Written by Nick Cohen. StandPoint, 2nd September 2009

See how Gordon Brown's mouth falls down after he speaks? See how Dawn French is fat? See how Scottish people are smack heads? What about some celebrities? Don't they get DRUNK? See children? Aren't they sexy? See cricket? Isn't it boring? See stand-ups? When they guest on Mock The Week, don't they get to choose a round that allows them to recite a big chunk of their stand-up routine?

Mock The Week grows ever more popular, being the sole mainstream comedy satire show not peopled by authority figures and old favourites whose laughs grow more grating by the week. It is The Frankie Boyle Show, of course. While the others flail around him fighting, often pointedly, for applause, he can deliver the audience into a paroxysm of frenzied self-congratulation merely by suggesting that John Prescott is fat/Gordon Brown has one eye/David Cameron is posh.

Of course, the comedians (Boyle in particular) are capable of wit. But that's not the main outcome of the show. It's not about laughs. It's a show about concision, speed and nastiness. Get a clear run on the mic before anyone else and suggest that MTW stands for Mediocre Television Spamfilter and you'd get a laugh just for having replaced an initial with a rude word.

The most telling point is the guest comedians. Whether total rubbish (Gina Yashere) average (Jon Richardson) or brilliant (Stewart Lee, who described his own appearance thus: 'I must have looked like a competition winner, who'd won a prize to sit silent on an unfunny topical quiz show') they never make any impact. They're always less important than Andy Parsons. Think about how that must feel.

tvBite, 2nd September 2009

Tory leader David Cameron loves satirical show Mock The Week, according to its host. Irish comic Dara O'Briain, 37, revealed: "David Cameron said, 'Oh I love that Mock The Week show' and I was like, 'Really?'"

The Sun, 11th July 2009

Mock the Week is cold-blooded comedy combat

Seeing Mock the Week up close and personal reveals just how insanely competitive it is. But is this the future of the panel show?

Written by Jimi Famurewa. The Guardian, 10th July 2009

Other than the editor and owners of The Daily Telegraph, the only folk actively praying for the expenses ballyhoo to continue are Dara O'Briain, Russell Howard, Frankie Boyle, Hugh Dennis and that bloke who looks like Matt Lucas' character out of Krod Mandoon (Andy Parsons). Let's hope they make the most of it as guests Frank Skinner and Gina Yashere join the teams.

What's On TV, 9th July 2009

The funniest thing that's ever resulted from this show is definitely Newsnight having to repeat Frankie Boyle's joke about the queen. The repetition is absolutely hilarious. She's shouting at him by the end, and he's her boss. Anyway, this week will see Frankie Boyle try to make the sickest joke about Jacko, Hugh Dennis doing a rubbish impression, Russel Howard letting himself down by gooning and Andy Parsons delivering lines in a really irritating "de-de-DEE, de-de-dur" fashion. Of the guests, Frank Skinner will be laconic and Gina 'Did I mention that my parents are Nigerian?' Yashere will be practically edited out. Really, it's not awful.

tvBite, 9th July 2009

Frankie Boyle Interview

The Radio Times dares to quiz Frankie Boyle, the mocker-in-chief.

The Radio Times, 8th July 2009

The topical comedy show returns for a new, 13-part series. No matter how funny it gets or how outrageous resident panellist Frankie Boyle tries to be, for comedy value it'll be hard to beat Newsnight's Emily Maitlis relaying one of Boyle's ruder lines - which modesty prevents from repeating here, but is available on YouTube - to BBC director general Mark Thomson.

Scott Matthewman, The Stage, 6th July 2009

Interview: Dara O'Briain

Dara O'Briain tells The Daily Telegraph that Mock the Week doesn't discriminate against women.

Written by Andrew Pettie. Daily Telegraph, 2nd July 2009

Jo Brand - I won't do Mock The Week again

"I don't do Mock The Week any more and neither do some male standups I know who have tried it once. We just didn't like the prospect of having to bite someone's foot off before they let us say something."

Written by Jo Brand. The Guardian, 10th June 2009

Hugh Dennis Interview

Digital channel Dave chats to the king of topical comedy Hugh Dennis about a talking fromage frais, extreme mid life crises and cockamaniacs. Yes, cockamaniacs.

UKTV Dave, 12th May 2009

Never mind the other panellists... here's Frankie Boyle

The Guardian says that acerbic standup Frankie Boyle is the not only saving grace of Mock the Week, he is also the antidote to the smug and anaemic world of primetime comedy

Written by Hazel Davis. The Guardian, 3rd September 2008

For an extra point, why are panel games so popular?

Written by Serena Davies. The Telegraph, 10th July 2008

Delighted to say that Mock the Week is back on Thursday!

For newcomers - it's a sort of Have I Got News For You mixed with Whose Line Is It Anyway?, recorded in front of a studio audience the same day, and features the crushingly funny Frankie Boyle and Andy Parsons along with various others, including regular captain Hugh Dennis.

Quintessential Comedy, 5th July 2008

Ironically, before the BBC started advertising the fact that 'Thursdays are Funny', they really were, with comedians Frankie Boyle and Russell Howard in blistering form on Mock the Week.

The Guardian, , 8th October 2007

You know what? I've been thinking that TV is complete garbage for ages... and then I realised... I've been watching, and laughing, and enjoying, Mock The Week.

Dara O'Briain, the wonderful, affable giant of a host, is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He looks and sounds for all the world like a bloody nice bloke. That is until he shoot you down with his heat seeking wit.

Same goes for Frankie Boyle. Boyle seems to be more at ease on the telly now, but hasn't lost his (f)ire. He can still pull out the jokes that make you wince and laugh simultaneously, but thankfully, gone are the 'rape' jokes. He's stopped trying too hard.

The rest of the gang are, in fairness, bit part players. That may seem a little unkind, but only Ed Byrne gets a look in when Frankie and Dara go off on one.

mofgimmers, TV Scoop, 31st August 2007

A more inane panel game you are unlikely to find - unless you catch the dire News Knight on ITV1, and I'd advise catching hepatitis instead - Mock the Week is a show you don't even laugh at contemptuously.

Rather, as Dara O'Briain, Hugh Dennis, Frankie Boyle, Andy Parsons and Russell Howard wade through it, as if through thigh-high excrement, it's a show to sit slack-jawed in front of, awestruck at its dearth of humour, charm and originality. Still, at least Ben Elton isn't in it.

Gareth McLean, The Guardian, 9th August 2007

It's great to have Mock the Week back. I love the show's lack of slickness and it's the ideal vehicle for Frankie Boyle who seems strangely restricted on News Knight with Trevor McDonald.

Dek Hogan, Digital Spy, 16th July 2007

Off The Telly Article

Mock the Week achieves something quite impressive - it manages to get every toe-curling feature of panel-based programming into one half hour show. Including over-reliance on the concept; thinly disguised scripted material; and a complete lack of anything topical to say.

Written by John Walker. Off The Telly, 24th June 2005