Defending the Guilty: overstuffed with stereotypes

A new adaptation of Alex McBride's memoir is not quite as funny as it thinks it is.

Eric, Ernie and Me, written by the estimably witty Dundonian Neil Forsyth, was the tale of market trader Eddie Braben's breakdowns as he rose and rose from scribbling gags on paper bags to giving us what many rightly think of as the television of the 1970s, the M&W Christmas specials.

Stephen Tompkinson was pitch-perfect as Braben, but the standout find was Mark Bonnar as Eric Morecambe. Flawlessly, he began to inhabit the soul of Eric, but slowly, moving from hesitant to comfortable, as indeed the clever script had Eric and Ernie move, under clever Eddie's tutelage, from vaudeville gagsters to two pals taking the gentle rip out of each other on primetime TV: the 1977 special was watched by 28 million.

Interestingly, Eric, as played by Bonnar written by Forsyth, came across as the reactionary scaredy-cat; Ernie Wise as the ebullient, exuberant, travel-loving hoofer. What a lovely programme, rewatchable often, if only for Braben's finest gags.

Mark Bonnar interview

TV star Mark Bonnar reveals how he captured comedy legend.

Stephen Tompkinson and Mark Bonnar interview

Stephen Tompkinson and Mark Bonnar on starring in a touching BBC4 drama celebrating Morecambe & Wise writer Eddie Braben.

The enduringly likable panel show trundles cheerfully on. This week's guests for the good-natured fib-fest are Stephen Mangan, Mark Bonnar, Sheila Hancock and Anita Rani but, as ever, the show truly hits its stride when Lee Mack and David Mitchell lock horns and engage their counterintuitive comic chemistry. There are vanishingly few things we can rely on in today's bewildering world but it seems this programme is one of them.

TV review: Porridge, Episode 2, The Cake, BBC1

You know what? I still think it's an odd decision to reboot this classic, but this second episode isn't too bad at all.

Porridge, revived, is sadly thin gruel. Oh, it's fine enough, and a good cast, and Kevin Bishop is great as Norman Stanley Fletcher's cheeky-chappie grandson Nigel. But sainted writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais are eightysomething, surely, and it shows. As soon as Cyrano de Bergerac was mentioned (by Mark Bonnar, nicely channelling Fulton Mackay), I could just hear something like "doesn't he play for Spurs?" Sure enough... "Didn't he used to play for Watford?" Cue orgasmic studio audience laughter, and the non-joys of being 15 all over again.

Porridge review - send for the sitcom police!

The original Porridge creators return with a weak, watery throwback to the Ronnie Barker classic. This isn't a sequel, it's a forgery ... bang 'em up this instant.