Bob Mortimer

We were big fans of the Vic Reeves / Bob Mortimer comedy 'quiz' show and, although this revival made us laugh, it didn't make us feel the need to march on the BBC demanding that it is reinstated to the schedules.

While we're on the subject of wilful stupidity, BBC2 was celebrating the legacy of Shooting Stars, the Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer game show. Shooting Stars: the Inside Story was an engaging retrospective, which made it clear how much fun everybody had at the time (and wasn't Ulrika pretty?). It made me annoyed at not having watched it more regularly. But then along came All New Shooting Stars, a strained attempt to revive the fun, with everybody looking older and tireder, and a depressing sense that entertaining the audience came a long way down the list of priorities.

All New Shooting Stars, a one-off special, was an object lesson in never going back. Vic and Bob seemed like their own fathers. The only recognisable celebrity was Jack Dee, who, with a blue tit balanced on his head, stood nose to nose with an opera singer giving Nessun Dorma plenty of welly. Any trembling or precipitation of the tit would indicate failure and cost him a beautiful pillowcase. To watch Dee crack into a smile was joy enough for one night.

Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer first hosted their anarchic celebrity quiz show in 1993. The first of two programmes marking the show's 15th anniversary tonight is a documentary about the making of it - and, like Shooting Stars itself, the film is funny, eccentric and a little self-indulgent. Interspersed with interviews with some of the celebrities who found themselves subjected to Reeves' and Mortimer's particular kind of comedy (which veered from the surreal to the mildly offensive), the presenters themselves play various crew members reminiscing about their time working behind the scenes. This is a suitably unique way to contemplate a programme which Martine McCutcheon calls 'bizarre' and of which Larry Hagman said, "I've done some loony shows in my time but this is certainly the one."

Shooting Stars launched the career of Matt Lucas - who played scorekeeper George Dawes before he went on to global fame with David Walliams in Little Britain - and latterly also co-starred the often self-confessedly drunken comic Johnny Vegas.

The Best... Shooting Stars moments

The Radio Times picks its eight favourite moments from Shooting Stars. Each is accompanied by a clip.

Never Mind the Buzzcocks: Bob Mortimer

Mortimer might be the first serious contender for Bill Bailey's captaincy and his sweet demeanour, mixed with occasional amazement of how ridiculous this quiz really is, could make him a hit. However, his reluctance to show off any musical prowess could turn him into Amstell's stooge, which I'd hate to see happen to such a respected entertainer.

Shooting Stars back for one-off special

BBC Two has confirmed that comedy gameshow Shooting Stars is to return for a Christmas special and a festive 'best of' compilation special has also been ordered, featuring behind the scenes gossip and out-takes.

There has been heated debate on internet forums this week regarding the BBC3 programme When Comedy Changed Forever. This one-off, 60 minuter put forward the thesis that modern television comedy owes an enormous debt to Vic Reeves Big Night Out. Taking this assumption as its intellectual starting point, the rest of the programme was then bolted round the idea, and presented to us via some ugly graphics that were meant to denote the different ages of TV comedy as distinct geographical locations.

Being more 'daft' than 'dark' (good news for anyone who enjoys laughing at jokes), [and] containing admirably stupid performances and hilariously baffling visual asides, Catterick is the most promising new series so far this year.

Over six enjoyable episodes it's only really now that Messrs. Higson, Reeves and Mortimer have finally laid to rest the ghosts of the past, and it could be argued that they leave R&H(D) stronger than when they found it. Its continuation is a must.