Jod Mitchell

The political satire continues. Nicola Murray MP (Rebecca Front) needs to find a celebrity to publicise a new "Healthy Choices" campaign. But Steve Fleming, the PM's new fixer (played with diabolical glee by David Haig) has competing priorities, demanding massaged crime figures for an urgent press briefing. When Murray's team bungles both tasks, spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) is incandescent. Stuck between Tucker and Fleming, Murray can only ask, "Could you two tell me in which order and from which direction I'm going to be shafted?"

Pick Ups - Series 2, Episode 1 Preview

The cab office-based sitcom returns for its second series. The employees of Irwell Cars are engaged in a ferocious turf war with their principal rivals, Pat the Butchers Cars. The conflict involves making fake calls, flattening tyres and other dastardly antics. Today, Lind (Lesley Sharp), the radio operator, tries to charm the unsavoury and all-powerful licensing officer, while Dave's (]Phil Rowson) marriage plans are complicated by an encounter with a former lover. The series features guest appearances from Mark E. Smith, Suranne Jones and James Quinn.

The start of the new series of this sitcom is neatly timed, considering the recent announcement of lottery funding for the restoration of part of Bletchley Park, the epicentre of Allied decoding efforts during the Second World War. In the series, which is set at the complex during the war, the feuding among the code breakers is rampant. Archie (Tom Goodman-Hill), a revolutionary socialist, clashes with Charles (Robert Bathurst) over a long-held grudge, while the young maths prodigy Gordon (Fergus Craig) attempts to keep the peace.

Eight years after Douglas Adams's death, Book at Bedtime unveils the sixth story in his Hitchhikers series. The story, titled And Another Thing... has been written by Eoin Colfer, the author of the Artemis Fowl books. Colfer was granted the honour by Jane Belson, Adams' widow. The announcement of the new book outraged some Hitchhikers fanatics but delighted many more. It is fitting that the fiction should debut on Radio 4: Adams's sci-fi adventures of Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect originally began as a comedy series on the station in the late Seventies.

The game show in which panellists aim to conceal truthful statements within falsehood-strewn speeches returns for its fourth series, with David Mitchell as its sardonic host. This raucous first episode was recorded at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The panellists - Rhod Gilbert, Adam Hills, Shappi Khorsandi and Reginald D Hunter - touch upon ingeniously weird topics such as whether Rudyard Kipling invented the game of snow golf (by painting his balls red so that they may be seen against the icy whiteness), and whether Edward VII had a golf bag made from an elephant's scrotum.

Who could have foretold, when The Office was first aired in 2001, that Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's comedy series would go on to be shown in 80 countries, "break" America and win a Golden Globe award? Tonight, BBC Two delights Wernham Hogg fans with a re-airing of the entire first series (six episodes). The programmes are interspersed with interviews with the cast, including Ricky Gervais, Mackenzie Crook and Martin Freeman. Comedy bigwigs - Richard Curtis and Ben Stiller among them - also offer their thoughts on the inimitable series.

Michael McIntyre is uproariously funny. He is also very nice. That he manages to be both simultaneously is testament to his talent. Tonight, his touring stand-up show is recorded in Belfast. Patrick Kielty, a local, is the "headline act". Fellow comedians Neil Delamere, Jeff Green and Kerry Godliman also take turns.

Bearing in mind the topical nature of this play, I'm not surprised it's a last-minute affair: at time of writing, the cast was to be confirmed. What we do know is that it's an adaptation of a Julian Gough story depicting an encounter between a young, Irish orphan, Jude, and a Somali with a degree in market economics. The economist explains how he lost a fortune in the "virtual goat market". What ensues is a humorous appraisal of the glories and the hazards of market forces.

In this new four-part series, comedian Jesse Griffin brings Wilson Dixon, his "outlaw country singer" persona, to London audiences. Griffin may be familiar to listeners as the founding member of the Australian comedy trio The 4 Noels. Here, Dixon performs tracks from his "first album" and from his compilation of love songs, titled I Love You But I Also Want to Hurt You. The appeal lies in Dixie's mix of redneck drawl and his acute observations of everyday life. Listen out for his assessment of the differences between life in Britain and his native Cripple Creek.

The comedy returns for five episodes. Vera (Patricia Routledge) is preoccupied with the recession, and experiences a slow-down of her own: her computer isn't working and she resorts to pen and paper. In her response, Irene (Prunella Scales) recounts "the solar panel episode", in which Vera mistook her device for a sun lounger, with shattering consequences. Vera has stopped watching the news for fear of hearing about financial catastrophe, too. "Even the Today programme has a question mark over it," she says. "I listen with earplugs at the ready."