The Toll review

Toll booth man with no name fights back in jokey Welsh western.

Iwan Rheon talks Misfits USA remake

Game of Thrones star Iwan Rheon has been speaking about the US remake of E4's Misfits.

Preview - Vicious: A Year

ITV doesn't produce many sitcoms, but when they do they tend to pull in the viewers. Most TV critics may not be fans of Vicious, Benidorm or the revived Birds of a Feather, but the public like them.

What are the cast of 'Misfits' doing now?

Here's a look at what some of those cast members are doing now, just over two years since the show ended...

Stuart and Freddie's nuptials loom. By default, the best man duties fall to Ash (Iwan Rheon), their gormless neighbour who bears an uncanny resemblance to Game Of Thrones sadist-in-chief Ramsay Bolton. Can Ash pull off a decent stag? (Probably best not to let him arrange the wedding.) While the critical reaction to ITV's broad sitcom has been cattier than any of the sniping between acid queens Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, the second season has seen a subtle improvement in quality without abandoning the constant venom.

Radio Times review

Loathe it or love it (and I'm in the latter camp), Vicious is back for a second run. It's been a long time coming - it isn't easy coordinating the diaries of this stellar cast. Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen are back chewing the scenery as bickering couple Stuart and Freddie, with Game of Thrones' Iwan Rheon as their doe-eyed neighbour Ash and Marcia Warren upstaging all as the forgetful Penelope.

Tonight, their voracious best pal Violet (Frances de la Tour) panics when her long-absent sister Lillian pays a visit. Violet pleads with Stuart to butch up - it's a struggle - and pretend to be her husband. Mirth ensues, not least because Lillian is played by goddess of camp, Celia Imrie.

Two acting legends, Misfits standout Iwan Rheon and the promise of flamboyant bitchiness galore - so how exactly did Vicious go so wrong? It could've been fabulous, but instead we were left with an awkward, stilted and - worst of all - tame sitcom that felt like it'd escaped from the 1970s.

I am a great supporter of this out-and-proud, vulgar and loud sitcom, so it's a shame to report that this festive edition is below par.

Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen's characters, Stuart and Freddie, do little but swish and snipe, and Iwan Rheon is completely wasted as gormless neighbour Ash who, inevitably, bungles their Christmas dinner. So it's left to the women in their lives to save the programme.

Frances de la Tour is in top gear as Violet the man-eater who's recently become a masseuse, while Marcia Warren butts in with the best lines as the forgetful Penelope, who suddenly remembers something very important.

Few new shows split opinion as neatly as Vicious did this year. Some thrilled to the waspish bitching and wilful campery of live-in lovers Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi, best chums Frances de la Tour and Marcia Warren, and strapping neighbour Iwan Rheon; others derided it as dated, offensive and tacky.

This Christmas special won't change anyone's minds. The stars deliver gags as creaky as their limbs but with irresistible relish; there's some half-arsed slapstick; Rheon is underused; and the action never leaves the confines of the flat. In truth, it's a little underpowered this time round. De La Tour and Warren waltz off with the best lines and the wholly familiar narrative - a botched Christmas get-together - doesn't add much to the occasion. But the indulgent and sofabound may enjoy a few chuckles here and there.