The 50 best TV shows of 2019: No 8 - This Time

The king of bad chat and awkward mansplaining was back on a BBC sofa in one of Coogan and co's most nuanced creations.

Is This Time Alan Partridge's last Aha!?

He still makes for monstrous, relentless and shockingly inappropriate viewing. But as This Time hits the final straight, this is surely the end for Alan.

Series four of the Sharon Horgan-Rob Delaney comedy got off to a cracking start last week and doesn't let up here as Rob's sister Sidney, who has discovered religion, pays a visit from the US. Meanwhile, Fran invites Sharon to see her son in his revealing new play while Chris brings along a guest: his new girlfriend.

The second part of this profile of the 76-year-old comedian sees him back in Scotland, meeting locals for selfies, reflecting on his first trade as a "useless" welder and assessing the paradoxical character of his native country. Ross Noble, Sharleen Spiteri and Micky Flanagan contribute.

This is the first UK airing of a 10-minute British sketch recorded in 1963, which is now a German TV institution, despite being unknown over here. It is an odd mixture of slapstick and melancholy, involving Freddie Frinton's drunken butler gamely playing the parts of the long-deceased guests of his mistress at her 90th birthday party.

Episode two of the comedy of awkwardness starring and co-created by the Iranian-American writer and actor Desiree Akhavan sees Leila fumble her way into the world of straight dating. Evidently, she is not over Sadie (Maxine Peake), who has taken up with another colleague - much to Leila's unconcealed chagrin. She is forced to endure some performance art involving a tarred and feathered self-thumper, while a scene on the London Overground highlights the pratfalls of giving up your seat.

The opener of the first series of this show hosted by Barry Cryer is dedicated to Tommy Cooper, who was intrinsically funny enough to extract laughs from the corniest of puns and one-liners. Fellow comedians assess the singular act of this much imitated yet irreplaceable entertainer.

The concluding episode in what has been a fine series culminates in an episode of fast-cut, virtuoso farce, a riot of opening and closing doors and fresh domestic hells. Tonight, Stephen Mangan's therapist, Richard Pitt, is in a three-way tussle with his siblings Katherine and Jon for custody of their mum, Maggie (Celia Imrie). But where is she? Meanwhile, Jackson arrives from the US with a strange proposition and Ricky, covered in felt

Stephen Mangan stars in and co-scripts this fast-paced and funny new series about Richard, a put-upon therapist trying to make a new career by carrying out sessions online. Among his clients are a woman whose life and aspirations are defined by Instagram and an aggressive creditor who agrees to take sessions to offset some of Richard's debts. Charles Dance and Richard E Grant co-star, as does The IT Crowd's Katherine Parkinson, as Richard's partner, who is constantly accompanied by a male friend.

Can British remakes of American shows work?

Hang Ups, the new Stephen Mangan comedy based on Lisa Kudrow's original, is a rare example of the UK successfully taking on a US hit.