The world of David Baddiel, comedian and writer

David Baddiel talks to Jessica Salter about fame, cats and feminism.

The comedians returning to stand-up at 2013 Fringe

David Baddiel, Jem Rolls, John Lloyd and Jenny Éclair return to their stand-up roots.

5 things to see at Funny In Falkirk comedy festival

Dylan Moran, Felicity Ward, David Baddiel and more.

David Baddiel: "I was in therapy for 10 years"

David Baddiel, 49, on depression, relationship regrets, and the 'fantastic' moment that inspired his comedy dreams.

David Baddiel: letter to younger self

David Baddiel reflects upon his shining moments and ditching science for the arts.

David Baddiel poised for solo return at fringe

Comedian to end 15-year absence with fortnight-long run of new show Fame: Not the Musical.

David Baddiel: Can he still stand up and deliver?

His experience of the absurdity of fame has tempted comedian David Baddiel back to live performance, he tells Veronica Lee.

Sue Perkins has become ubiquitous at the BBC in the last few years, whether eating peculiar period food or learning to conduct orchestras or telling us about Mrs Dickens/Maria Von Trapp or, as co-host of The Great British Bake-Off, making bad puns about buns. Someone, somewhere, has decided we can't get enough of her. You may have your own feelings about this. Well, here she is again, allegedly going back to her comedy roots with her own sitcom, where she plays Sara, a neurotic vet who's about to turn 40 but hasn't yet managed to tell her parents that she's gay.

Despite being kind of annoying, she has supportive friends (including ever-reliable performers Nicola Walker and Joanna Scanlan) and is able to attract hot ladies like Shelley Conn, who is charmed by Sara's rotten patter and way with extracting barbed wire from dogs' paws.

Around 50 per cent of the show is laboured animal slapstick - there is a dead cat which is lugged around to decreasing effect - and the other half is meant to be touching, as Sara wrestles with her inadequacies and her friends urge her to finally come out to her folks. It's an awkward mix. The comedy just isn't that funny and the sentiment isn't that interesting. At times I felt a bit of second-hand embarrassment and - worst of all - the show reminded me of two grim indulgent sitcoms of years past: Baddiel's Syndrome, in which David Baddiel and his mates failed miserably at doing a Seinfeld, and Rhona, in which Rhona Cameron and her mates (including Perkins' double act and Bake-Off partner Mel Giedroyc) failed at doing an Ellen. What they all have in common is that their stars aren't actually actors but stand-ups, and that the other two only lasted one series. There's a lesson there.

The return of a series that was binned after one episode last month - up against Africa on Wednesday night, it died on its backside. Now, in a less high-profile slot, it continues its exploration of the commercial end of comedy by looking at how managers and agents ensure that the nation's top comics earn pop-star bucks. Rhod Gilbert and Jo Brand, whose extremely candid interviews helped to make the first episode so engrossing, are back along with Eddie Izzard and David Baddiel.