Jane Simon

Among the celebrity couples being predictably skewered tonight are Cheryl and Ashley Cole, Katie and Peter, Phil 'n' Fern, and even Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman.

You could never accuse this show of being lazy - but as Kevin Bishop's hairstyle changes almost faster than your brain can keep up, the sense of urgency about all these rapid-fire sketches is in danger sometimes of over-riding the sense of comedy.

Still there's plenty in the mix tonight to raise a smile, including Gok Wan, Billie Piper's next project, Diary Of A Call Centre Girl and a news story about transfer deadlines for soap stars featuring a cameo from former Corrie star Bruce Jones.

Back in 1993, Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer cornered the market in surreal self-indulgence with their infectious take on the celebrity panel show. After a one-off special last December to mark its 15th anniversary, Shooting Stars is back again with a full series and a mix of old and new faces.

In the special, Jack Dee took over the mantle of grumpy team captain as first patented by Mark Lamarr and he returns once more opposite Ulrika Jonsson. Surprisingly perhaps, given that his own star has now eclipsed the hosts, Matt Lucas is back behind his drum kit as George Dawes with the scores.

The new, regular addition to this series is a character called Angelos Epithemiou, who's introduced as an ordinary member of the public and burger-van owner but, in reality, is comedian Dan Skinner.

Otherwise, the familiar catchphrases are dusted off, the Dove From Above flies again and The One Show's Christine Bleakley draws the short straw this week as the object of Vic Reeves' disturbing attentions.

Did Larry Lamb really once run a market stall selling hats for dogs? It was the 1960s. It was Harlow. Canine millinery was massive, he insists. True or not, from now on it'll be hard to watch his evil EastEnders' alter-ego Archie Mitchell without conjuring up an image of him lovingly tying a bonnet on to a pug. It's absurd revelations like that one which make this game such a joy.

As series three starts, Rob Brydon takes over from Angus Deayton as host - completing a dream team alongside captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell.

Yes, that is Amy Nuttall in the opening titles tonight. The former Emmerdale and Celebrity Shark Bait star arrives at Babylon as the hotel's latest employee. Well, that's her story anyway. When Ben assumes she's the new receptionist she doesn't bother to correct him, even though the combination of her candy-pink lipstick and Ugly Betty-style braces make him recoil so squeamishly you'd think she was wearing a hat made out of used teabags.

But if he thinks her dress sense is bad, just wait till he sees what hotel owner Sam (Nigel Harman) is persuaded to wear at a baby shower tonight. Oh, Nigel, is this really what you signed up for?

Also checking in tonight is Hugh Dennis, who plays a comedian and an old flame of manager Juliet. And just to underline what a small world acting is, Hugh's on-screen daughter in Outnumbered is played by Ramona Marquez - the real-life daughter of Martin Marquez - Babylon's barman Gino.

Gino's overflowing with wisdom tonight as the hotel is the setting for the funeral of an Italian painter who was one of Babylon's most treasured guests.

As his widow and ex-wife trade black looks, the corridors of Babylon ring out with terrible Italian accents.

But then believability was never this show's forte - which could explain why Scottish actor Clive Russell is cast as the Italian corpse in another five-star farce.

This new series from the Comedy Connections people has a rather misleading title.

Despite the efforts of presenter Clive Anderson and three other scriptwriters to find the funny side of different TV formats this is a fairly straight run-through.

It would certainly benefit from less of Clive's awkward links and more of what we really want to see, the clips which cover all the bases from an ancient show called Top Town right through to today's The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and John Sergeant doing his Stiffly Come Dancing thing.

Among the gems tonight is ex-Corrie actress Debra Stephenson doing impressions of judges Amanda Holden, Cheryl Cole and Dannii Minogue.

And Les Dennis reveals that the clapometer on Opportunity Knocks was operated by a couple of prop men pushing a lever to pretty much wherever they liked. A generation is collectively gutted.

This is the perfect sketch show for people with a short attention span or for anyone who is too busy to watch TV or go to the movies. Here are all the shows you meant to get around to watching, brilliantly held up for ridicule by Kevin Bishop and co.

In the opening programme of Kevin's new series, still in the channel-surfing format, he does the dirty on Frost/Nixon and Horne and Corden, offers a genius Gok Wan impression, mocks The Secret Millionaire and (in the blink of an eye) pieces together Michael Jackson: What Really Happened. Plus about a hundred others. You could never accuse this show of not giving you value for money.

And if, like me, you dutifully sat through the entirety of Channel 4's Red Riding series, trying to stay awake on the basis that it was dark and Northern and therefore must be somehow good for you, consider the final sketch tonight to be your just reward.

Anarchic live comedy trio We Are Klang transfer their oddball humour to the screen in their first TV series which sees them playing members of inept Klangbury Town Council (actually Stalybridge, Greater Manchester).

"Anarchic" and "oddball" are of course euphemisms for "Sorry, I just don't get this."

Their fans from the comedy circuit might be curious to see it - and based on the fact that the studio audience mostly seemed to be enjoying themselves, they do appear to have fans.

One musical number in which they rip off Flight Of The Conchords' unique selling point works pretty well. But otherwise we must conclude that bearing a passing resemblance to a fat Rik Mayall is now apparently enough to get you your own comedy show on BBC3.

The only time you ever need to engage your brain during Hotel Babylon is to try and guess whether the famous faces you see checking in are going to be playing themselves or just acting.

Just hours after her 10-year run on This Morning comes to a tearful end today (we predict), Fern Britton is back on our screens as a team captain (together with Jason Manford) on a new TV trivia quiz hosted by Steve Jones.

Not quite as leftfield as Charlie Brooker's You Have Been Watching, on C4 - this is actually good fun with some cleverly inventive rounds in which the panellists show off their telly knowledge.

Bonus points tonight go to Laurence Llewellyn Bowen, for pointing out that their studio desk looks like a giant red toilet bowl. "We're like germs under the rim," he grumbles, accurately. And a prize to the wag responsible for providing us with a (possibly unintentional) shot of Steve Jones posed neatly between the nipples of a bare-chested James Corden.

In his alter ego of thespian Nicholas Craig, Nigel Planer's brilliant luvvie spoof pitches in to the BBC's Grey Expectations strand with a hilarious masterclass in the art of elderly acting. The clips he uses are mostly ancient, but the combination of the script by Christopher Douglas and Nicholas Craig's impeccable delivery guarantee that by the end of the hour even your teeth will ache from non-stop laughing.

For any actors about to embark upon an old role in a Dickens or a hospital drama, there is invaluable expert instruction here from Craig in all aspects of the craft, from the bronchial wheezing, the limping, the hobble, dirty old men (or women), how to fall over and that particular regional accent they will be required to master known as "Oldshire."

Even on the subject of animals, Craig's advice will be invaluable. "It's very important that if an actress is given a pet, she goes completely mental over it."