Radio Times review

Stand-up Lucy Beaumont, the 2012 BBC New Comedy Award winner, writes and stars in this delightful sitcom pilot, a cross between a Victoria Wood sketch and a Mike Leigh film. She is Sophie, a daft ha'p'orth stuck living at home with her proud, junk-obsessed mum (Maureen Lipman).

But Sophie dreams of becoming an actress and thinks she has a shot when she gets an audition in London for "Third in the queue at Debenhams". There's a precise yet warm quality to the writing, including a rare fresh take on mishearing the Lord's Prayer, all enhanced by Lipman's peerless comic timing.

Sightseers is 2012's most delightfully sinister romcom

Natural Born Killers meets Mike Leigh's Nuts In May in Sightseers, a nimble, rug-puller of a romcom. All hail one of the best British films of 2012.

If you're disappointed there's no Dragons' Den tonight, take comfort in Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's version, which is almost as good. Other highlights in an undeniably patchy edition (the ongoing Canal Five sketch is a stinker) include Whitehouse's remarkable transformation into a physically accurate Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm and their take on a Mike Leigh film that has Morwenna Banks doing a superb impersonation of Alison Steadman in Abigail's Party.

Funniest sketch of the night award goes once again to the Minor Royals with Enfield politely asking a homeless man who's sleeping rough whether he's doing his Duke of Edinburgh.

The return of the series in which the interviewee becomes the interviewer in the following week's programme opens with the writer, actor and comedian Jeremy Front asking questions of the writer, actor and comedian Rebecca Fron. Fans of the recent and superb Incredible Women series will know that the brother and sister have already proven their comedy worth as a Radio 4 double act, but this takes it to a more intimate level with discussions about their shared memories. Jeremy soon realised that his younger sister was ripe for ribbing and began years of mental torture involving a pixie and Ken Dodd. He's heard all of Rebecca's anecdotes before, but we haven't, so he's kind enough to encourage her to let rip. The Mike Leigh audition story is truly hilarious.

Black Pond review

Funny and surprisingly moving, this languidly surreal comedy cross-fertilises Mike Leigh and Chris Morris. It also rehabilitates the wonderfully lugubrious Langham's career.

My Heroes and heroines: Tim Key

Comic poet Tim Key talks about some of his personal heroes including Mike Leigh, Harold Lloyd and Andy Murray.

Fix yourself a plate of fish fingers and a glass of wine: the Stevensons are back. Not that anyone will notice much: when this quietly brilliant comic-drama about the minutiae of a marriage ran in 2010 it caused barely a ripple, but those of us who loved it, loved it.

If you're coming to it fresh, don't expect Terry and June. The inspirations are nearer Mike Leigh or Alan Bennett: closely-observed human foibles with a vein of tragedy just below the surface. Val (Dawn French) is a cookery teacher. Roger (Alfred Molina) was a horticulturalist until he lost his job. Buried in their past - but ever present - is the memory of a child who died as a baby.

Tonight they're just back from a wedding, and we follow the usual niggles and shared jokes, their views on old songs, the correct timing of meals, Sunday papers, and the best way to unpack. Roger is haunted by the prospect of his employment tribunal while Val might be up for the deputy headship. It's that kind of show.

The Jewish youth group that made Sacha Baron Cohen

Mike Leigh was a member - and so were David Baddiel and Sacha Baron Cohen. How did a club for 'hippy Jewish scouts' become a hothouse for the entertainment industry?

Abigail's Party is routinely found in the upper reaches of those "best ever TV drama" lists and quite right, too. Mike Leigh's suburban satire, little more than a filmed stage play when it was first broadcast as a Play for Today in 1977, is painfully brilliant. And it belongs entirely to Alison Steadman as Bev. Ah Bev, castrating monster and Demis Roussos devotee who, during the course of one memorable night, sails through a terrible drinks party like a Dreadnought with a hostess trolley. It is one of the great television performances. Bev is both grotesque and hilarious, with her nasal drone and towering lack of sensitivity ("Ange, can you take a little bit of criticism?"). Steadman earlier discusses Bev, and other characters from her remarkable career, with Mark Lawson. She's nice, modest and a complete professional.

Sadly the final episode [of series two] is a bit of a let-down, after what has been an exceptionally strong series. Surely the difference between an ongoing soap and a sitcom is that the latter should offer us some resolution (however temporary) at the end of each episode, and especially in the final show of the run?

With a third series clearly in the offing, the producers have been at pains to keep the storylines open for development, with the result that we're rather left hanging in the air. In fact, some might say the plots have started to flag a bit lately, with the unlikely reappearance of Kelly - who would surely be giving the place a very wide berth after her betrayal at the hands of Mateo last year - and the inexplicable introduction not only of her mum but Gavin's too.

But niggles apart, series two has been a terrific success. With sharp, laugh-out-loud (and/or reach-for-your-hankie) scripts from Derren Litten, superb casting and excellent performances all round, at its best it's been on a par with the work of Mike Leigh, and that takes some doing. It's also been notable for what it hasn't got: no fancy camerawork, no special effects, no unwarranted music, no laughter track.

So hats off to all concerned. My towel's already on the sunbed in anticipation of the next run.