Ian Wolf

This new studio-based sitcom pilot from Channel 4 starring Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller is best described as a decent effort, but probably not worth returning to.

While the fact that it has a live audience would be enough to make most reviewers vomit in disgust, for me the main problem with this Edwardian sitcom is that it pales into insignificance following the BBC's showing of The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff last week.

Like the latter, Felix & Murdo uses silliness and satire as a focal point for its humour - my favourite moment was the cash machine operated by a young boy inside it - but it just wasn't as good as The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. Of course, The Bleak Old Shop... has had a lot of practice - what with it first starting off on radio - and if it's given a full series it may improve, but I doubt it.

On the plus side, it was good to see Marek Larwood playing a straighter role than normal. It would be nice to see him continue in straighter acting as well as his more humorous and bonkers roles.

This week the BBC attempted to re-launch Radio 4 chat show I've Never Seen Star Wars, where guests try out things they've never done before, for television. Why they needed to do so I don't know.

The TV version was first broadcast in 2009 on BBC Four with the host of the original radio version, Marcus Brigstocke, still hosting it. This new "pilot" was hosted by Jo Brand, and I do have to say that this edition does look better than the original series. The set is much crisper and cleaner, and they kept the original theme tune from the radio series rather the altered version from the first TV series. However, they still kept the annoying musical inserts between each item. They aren't needed and they end up just get up your nose.

The guest for this new edition was Stephen Fry. In this edition his first time experiences were his first ear piercing (an experience which gave a score of 8 out of 10), putting together flat-pack furniture (1 out of 10), watching Only Fools and Horses (9.5 out of 10) and boxing (10 out of 10). My favourite section was the furniture sequence, during which he sweat so profusely his skin looked like a waterfall. He looked like Lee Evans in the middle of a gig.

I've Never Seen Star Wars was an enjoyable show, but I still don't understand why they needed to replace Brigstocke with Brand. She was a decent enough host; but so is Brigstocke and I don't think there was any need for such a change...

If a documentary's purpose is to makes you want to find out more about the subject then The Many Faces of Les Dawson was a huge success.

Dawson is one of those classic comedians that, annoyingly, I haven't paid as much attention to as I should have. That's a shame, really, because there's a lot to like about him.

The fact that he had to overcome the adversity of poverty and was selling vacuum cleaners for years and years until he became famous was new to me and an interesting segment of the show.

However, I think the thing I most like about his early career was that he appeared on Opportunity Knocks - and failed to win - but became just about a bigger success than anyone else who appeared on it. Even back in 1967, comedians were proving just how stupid and pointless talent shows were.

There were a few other fascinating factual nuggets in this show, too. The fact that Dawson's show Sez Les was the only TV show that John Cleese did between Monty Python and Fawlty Towers was a revelation. I never knew the two of them worked together until now.

Yes, he is manly known for mother-in-law gags and deliberately playing the piano badly, but there's much more to Les Dawson than that, as I've just found out.

It's odd for a new sitcom to start with a Christmas special, but The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff has. Clearly the BBC has faith in it.

Perhaps that isn't surprising. Being based on the popular Radio 4 Dickensian sitcom Bleak Expectations is already a good enough start. Throw in a cast of, amongst others, Mitchell and Webb, Stephen Fry, Katherine Parkinson and Pauline McLynn into the mix then you should end up with a wonderful piece of work.

Robert Webb plays Jedrington Secret-Past, the owner of The Old Shop of Stuff, London's leading retailer of miscellaneous odd things. The special revolves around his attempts to pay off a certain debt he owes to evil solicitor Malifax Skulkingworm (Fry) before London's three great alliterative bells (Big Ben, Massive Morris and Tiny Terry) ring in Christmas Day.

Anyone familiar with Bleak Expectations will know the sort of humour to expect. It's silly and unashamed of it. This is the only show to feature such things as a bird known as the tinsel tit, Santa Claus on a crucifix, The A to D of London and a man being arrested for crying. Some critics may think that this programme is too silly, but I say sometimes you need something silly to lift up your spirits.

My only problem with this show is that I'm somewhat perplexed by the fact that they didn't just simply adapt the original Bleak Expectations for television, rather than create a brand new project. Yes, I like Jedrington Secret-Past and Malifax Skulkingworm, but I like Sir Philip 'Pip' Bin and Mr. Gently Benevolent too. I'd love to see them appear on screen some time...

Radio weekly #7 - Mark Steel's in Town

This week saw the return of the multi-award winning stand-up radio series Mark Steel's in Town, in which the socialist comic performs some specially tailored stand-up to the locals of a particular town.

This panel show is returning for its eighth series, the fourth to feature Victoria Coren as host. The series began with guests Mark Steel, Christopher Biggins and novelist Jessica Berens (whom I've never heard of).

For those not familiar with the show, in each programme the guests talk about a normally held assumption and argue against it. In this week's edition the statements they had to argue against were: "Pantomime is an outdated art-form,", "Drunken displays on our nation's streets are a sign of national shame," and "It would be nice to live in a house like Downton Abbey."

While Biggins is obviously passionate about pantomime, not surprisingly it was Steel who was the funniest on the programme, especially with his idea of doing a panto version of King Lear. Berens seemed to add little to the programme, though. Obvious solution - have more comedians and less novelists. Not much else to be said.

Marcus Brigstocke's upper-class student twit has been on Radio 4 for nearly a decade now. Things have changed over the years since he first arrived on air, though. Gone are the days of ex-public school idiot Giles Wemmbley Hogg (two ms, two gs) causing chaos around the world, with him now running his own travel agency GWH Travvel (mix up at the printers) in his native Budleigh Salterton.

The first episode of the fifth series sees Giles running for mayor in an election manipulated by American entrepreneur Donald Crump (I wonder who that could be a reference to) who plans to destroy the town and turn it into a seven star resort. Despite thinly-veiled satire, Giles is a great character. His idiocy appears to know no bounds, from being unable to put on his Velcro strapped shoes, or selling his car because he couldn't get around a bollard in a car park.

The situations depicted are also highly amusing. The opening scene takes place on the local golf course, which, due to budget cuts, is being shared by the TA, resulting in spontaneous appearances of new bunkers. It seems that the show has won the right to return.

Gigglebox Weekly #28

This week Ian Wolf encounters something wetter than the sea at Weston-Super-Mare and Stewart Lee's idea of hell.

At this point I should say that not only have I never watched this programme before, but I've never watched or listened to any of Chris Moyles' shows (for that matter I've never listened to Radio 1). As a result I was somewhat hesitant at watching Chris Moyles' Quiz Night, but as there were no other new comedy programmes on I had to make do.

For those who have also never seen the show before, each edition features Moyles taking part in a quiz against three celebrity guests. The audience beforehand vote for who they think will win and those who pick the winner win a share of £1,000 (on this week's edition the money won by everyone equalled £21 each). The player who comes last has to sing out the show.

When I spotted the panel which consisted of Jason Manford, Jeremy Clarkson and opera singer Katherine Jenkins, I thought that as a panel it was okay, although I can't help but think that it sounds like Stewart Lee's idea of hell. Anyone who saw the first episode of his Comedy Vehicle will testify.

However, the other guests who appeared during the questions, including Britney Spears, Robbie Williams and the Sugababes, took it down to the level that I expected from Moyles - cheap and rubbish. This show isn't something that I'd watch again.

Sky1's latest sitcom offering comes from the team who helped make The Royle Family what it was. Shame it seems the magic has gone.

The Café is set in a... well you can guess where, but this particular establishment is located in Weston-Super-Mare and is called "Cyril's". Despite this, there's no-one called Cyril in the show. The main characters are the owner of the café, Carol (Ellie Haddington), her daughter and wannabe writer Sarah (Michelle Terry, who co-writes the series with Ralf Little, who also stars in the series), and Carol's mother Mary (June Watson).

However, this is just the start. There are 13 main characters.

Now, I don't mind there being lots of characters in a sitcom. Green Wing, for example, had a minimum of 14 regular characters in it at any one time. However, you can't make the characters fully rounded if the episodes are just half-an-hour (minus advertising time), compared to the hour-long episodes Green Wing had. There are some interesting characters, like Kieran the living statue (Kevin Trainor), but it's a bit of a mess.

But the main problem with this show is that it just isn't funny enough. It comes across as overtly sentimental, and while this programme does have the odd laugh now and then, what this show really needs is less characters and less drama.