Porridge review: Kevin Bishop can't sustain the wit

It's difficult to know why this new serving of Porridge was ever cooked up.

Radio Times review

Radio Times Top 40 TV Shows of 2015, #3:

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney gave birth to two series of this deliciously rude and crude sitcom. They played an Irish primary school teacher and a US ad man, called Sharon and - yep, you guessed it - Rob, who decided to give coupledom a go when their fling ends in an unplanned pregnancy. A motley crew of hilariously hideous friends supported them, including Carrie Fisher as the mother-in-law from hell, a silkily obnoxious Ashley Jensen, and Line of Duty's Mark Bonnar, who deserves a spin-off for his deadpan ripostes. But what really marked Horgan and Delaney's baby out is its bravery: Catastrophe gleefully made comedy out of delicate issues, like Sharon's decision to take a screening test for Down's syndrome, without making light of them.

Radio Times review

It's Sharon (Sharon Horgan) and Rob's (Rob Delaney's) third anniversary, but this episode of this gloriously honest, filthy and funny comedy focuses a lot more on their circle of friends - most of whom are dipping their toes into the singleton market and finding how tough it is. Chris (Mark Bonnar) cavorts with a prostitute while his estranged wife Fran (Ashley Jensen) is finding her clingy new boyfriend a bit much.

Rob's fabulously obnoxious American friend Dave (Daniel Lapaine) is also finding things tricky with pretentious new squeeze Catherine (which may make you warm to him a bit more). It's lonely and tough out there and it's comforting when we're back in the tender bosom of the main couple.

Radio Times review

Sharon and Rob's odd life together has at last settled down, with Sharon Horgan's hormonal and pregnant Irishwoman enjoying a dinner date with an annoying ex she still seems to hanker after. We also find US ad guy Rob pursuing clandestine drinks with Chris (Mark Bonnar), the intense husband of Sharon's ghastly friend Fran (Ashley Jensen).

But despite the potential mishaps of their mild deceits, the sweetness and laughs continue unabated, with neither party showing any sign of being anything other than charming, fond, funny and understanding in this ground-breaking and grounded gem.

Despite adhering to an overused setup (two lovers cope with an unwanted pregnancy), Channel 4 comedy Catastrophe overcame its hoariness because, frankly, it was funny and well-performed by writer-stars Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney. They played, um, Sharon and Rob--middle-aged, transatlantic lovers who become expectant parents following a crazy week of passionate sex after meeting in a London bar.

Horgan's loathe to stray from her comfort zone (there's scant difference between her roles in Pulling, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret and Dead Boss), while Twitter-star Delaney's a cut-price Jason Sudeikis with added facial hair, but they work fantastically well together and have strong chemistry. I grew slightly bored once the premiere's plot progressed into a dinner party scenario with dumb homeopath Fran (Ashley Jensen) and her taciturn husband Chris (Mark Bonnar), but Catastrophe's leads are so strong that I'm aboard for the ride.

Although I hope the remainder of the series takes the story down a path that justifies the bleak title, because I don't see what's so catastrophic about these two soulmates having a child together.

The eclectic north-London family is back for a second series in this popular comedy drama from writer Marcella Evaristi. Sarah Alexander and Mark Bonnar play divorced parents Mimi and Joe, who find common ground in the trials and tribulations of their children Tom and Lucy.

In this first episode, Joe talks Tom out of garroting his mother's fictional creations, "You are a boy, boys are crap at sneaky", while Mimi bursts Lucy's inflated ego as she prepares to audition for the school production of Oliver!

At times, this squabbling suburban sitcom feels all too familiar, retreading the same tired path as the Brockman family in Outnumbered. However, the razor-sharp dialogue, disarming charm and excellent cast more than make up for its shortcomings.

More neatly observed, finely tuned comedies by Marcella Evaristi about modern dilemmas of shared parenting, starring Sarah Alexander as Mimi, the thrice-married mum, with Mark Bonnar as Dad (replacing David Tennant, who played him in the first series last year). Their two children are Tom (he'll be 11 now) and teenage Lucy, played by Finlay Christie and Phoebe Abbott (and very well too) about to get her mother's full attention in this first of six episodes. Marilyn Imrie directs, for independents Absolutely Productions. And there's more good news, in that there are six episodes, rather than the four of the first series. Make the most of them because big budget cuts seem to be digging into the schedule in ways that limit new programmes. Any day now across the whole schedule radio is repeating many more programmes than it once did. Sometimes that's not a bad thing, one person's repeat being another person's first hearing. But as Radio 4, in particular, produces more new programmes across a greater variety of genres than other networks, it is bound to restrict innovation and is already affecting how digital Radio 4 can use more recent programmes.