Hugh Bonneville plays Dr Norman Wilfred, eagerly awaited lecturer at an annual scientific meeting on the Greek island of Skios. But someone else turns up, passing as Dr Wilfred. This charming chancer is Oliver Fox (Tom Hollander). Meanwhile, Dr Wilfred is stuck in a remote villa with Georgie (Janie Dee), who has been sweet-talked by Oliver into spending the weekend with him, and no luggage. The script is by Archie Scottney, from the novel by Michael Frayn, the cast (which also includes Stacy Keach and Joanne Whalley) is as grand as you'd expect from those independents Jarvis & Ayres.

Amongst the programmes over Christmas this week included a dramatisation of David Walliams' children's novel, Mr. Stink.

The story follows a young girl, Chloe (Nell Tiger Free), the eldest daughter of a vile right-wing mother (Sheridan Smith) who wants to become an MP, and whose main policy is getting the homeless off the streets in any way possible. Chloe encounters a tramp, who goes by the name of Mr. Stink (Hugh Bonneville), so called because of his terrible odour.

Mr. Stink's only companion is his dog the Duchess (Pudsey, the winner of Britain's Got Talent), and so Chloe becomes friends with him and eventually persuades him to move into her shed - all while trying to avoid the wrath of her mother.

It's no surprise that this and indeed all of Walliams's children's books have a heavy influence from Roald Dahl. Much of the humour in Mr. Stink's visual, which for a pre-watershed children's comedy isn't a surprise, but it was good. It ranges from Chloe's younger sister Annabelle (Isabella Blake-Thomas) taking part in a historical re-enactment society dressed in full medieval armour, to both of them giving Mr. Stink a full makeover. There are also the throwaway comments in the show, such as Stink claiming that he is "lice free, but no stranger to worms."

In terms of a children's comedy, this seems to tick all of my boxes. It's inoffensive, it's witty, and it's not too childish so adults can watch it without feeling embarrassed. No doubt that more Walliams novels will be adapted for future Christmases.

Given that Giggle Beats is first and foremost based in the North East, I thought it was only right to review a Christmas comedy presented by someone from the region. Luckily The Sarah Millican Television Programme was a joyous programme.

Like the series broadcast earlier in the year - which is coming back early next - the show is a mixture of stand-up and interviews, in which Millican covers all things concerning telly. The stand-up routines are good in themselves, but this is to be expected because it's what she does best. The only problem's that because this is television, she can't be as rude as she is on stage.

However, the interviews allow Millican to be rude in a different way. In this case she gets to ask all sorts of cheeky questions to her guests (Hugh Bonneville, Shane Richie - complete with an attempt to kiss each other via a giant TV screen - and her father Philip). It puts me in mind of the character Mrs. Merton, but without the need for a comedy character. The guests know they're going to be mocked, so in a way everyone gets what they want.

The other thing I like is that the special is less gimmicky that the first series, with less reliance on props. The closest to a funny prop in this show was Sarah's Christmas outfit and some mince pies. Hopefully this more simplistic approach is continued in series two.

Gigglebox weekly #70

This Christmas Ian Wolf encounters a pong, kissing via TV and two doses of Hugh Bonneville.

At times this faux fly-on the wall documentary seemed like an actual fly-on-the-wall documentary as the hapless personnel on the Olympic Deliverance Committee lurched from one crisis to the next in ways that mirrored their real-life counterparts. Hugh Bonneville has never been better than as the charming, well-meaning boss Ian Fletcher and Jessica Hynes was brilliantly awful as dead-eyed, pin-headed PR officer Siobhan with her memorably daft ideas - like combining the Olympics with the Diamond Jubilee. Jubilympics, anyone?

Hugh Bonneville on playing curmudgeonly tramp Mr Stink

The Downton Abbey actor joins Sheridan Smith, Johnny Vegas and Pudsey the dog in BBC's festive adaptation of David Walliams' children's story.

David Walliams's book about a homeless man who is befriended by a lonely young girl, Chloe, was written with kids in mind, so it's stuffed with references to bottoms, belches, farts and smells. But there's some subtle moralising and tackling of prejudices.

Sheridan Smith is fabulous as a potential MP whose politics are slightly to the right of Hitler, while it was genius to cast Hugh Bonneville as the odoriferous Mr Stink and BGT's Pudsey as his canine companion. Funny and heart-warming, it even has a cameo from Walliams himself.

Chloe Crumb is that most common figure in redemptive childrens' fiction - the lonely outsider. Her mum's an unbearable aspirant MP, her dad's downtrodden, her sister's a goody-two-shoes and she doesn't have any friends. Soon, she's befriending pungent gentleman of the road Mr Stink and learning all sorts of life-lessons as a result. The underlying message - everyone's got problems and we could all use a little extra kindness - resonates with the season, even if the regular fug of CGI miasma wreathing Stink fails to compensate for the absence of Quentin Blake's wonderful illustrations in David Walliams's source book. Some of the dialogue is too trite to be entirely explained away by the target demographic - 'I realise now how important family is,' declaims Sheridan Smith as the pushy mum towards the end. But it's elevated by spirited performances from Smith, Johnny Vegas, a game Hugh Bonneville as the titular tramp and particularly, newcomer Nell Tiger Free as Chloe.

Mr Stink (BBC1, Sunday), adapted from David Walliams's kids' book, proved that winning a TV talent contest doesn't always mean immediately disappearing into obscurity. It stars Britain's Got Talent winner Pudsey - a half-decent performance, though he has a tendency to overact. The standout stars are Sheridan Smith as a slightly Nadine Dorriesy mum and the remarkably natural Nell Tiger Free (child actors have to have names like that) as young Chloe. Is that really Hugh Bonneville - Lord Grantham - in there, behind the beard and the stink?

Anyway, it's lovely - funny, warm, with a bit of a message (it's nice to be nice to people) but also some wickedness. And while so many kids and family shows are nostalgic, this feels contemporary; the nasty kids on the bus talk like real nasty kids on the bus.

David Walliams stars in this family comedy, adapted from his own children's book, joined by a weighty cast including Hugh Bonneville, Sheridan Smith, Johnny Vegas and Pudsey - not the charity bear but the dancing dog who won this year's Britain's Got Talent. Bullied, lonely Chloe (Nell Tiger Free) is ignored by her politician mother (Smith), so invites local tramp Mr Stink (Bonneville) and his faithful hound Duchess (Pudsey) to stay in their garden shed. Chloe soon discovers there's more to her aromatic guest than meets the eye. Or indeed nose.