Rachel Cooke

Reviews: There She Goes; This Country

A TV show can be written with the best of intentions, made with love, commitment and an all-star cast, and yet sometimes this isn't enough.

Dave Allen at Peace; Larry Grayson: Shut That Door!

BBC Two remembers Dave Allen in a disappointingly flat biopic, while ITV3 pays homage to the enduringly funny Larry Grayson.

Motherland's achievement: its near universal appeal

Both parents and the happily child-free will enjoy this borderline revolutionary BBC Two comedy.

It seems this is to be the final series of Mackenzie Crook's gentle, delicate metal-detection bromance Detectorists (BBC Four, 8 November, 10pm) and though I've never found it unmissable exactly, I mourn its impending departure. Being at times more of a reverie than a sitcom, it is like nothing else on television, for all that its subject - the inability of men to talk to one another, the various ways they get around the problem - is an old one.

If it is sweetly funny, it's also full of pathos, its characters never quite getting what they want, or need. And where else are you going to hear people using expressions like "purse spill"? (In the world of the metal detectorists, this is what you call a hoard that comprises only a couple of pathetic coins.)

Andy (Crook) doesn't like his new job as an archaeologist, and Lance (Toby Jones) is walking on eggshells now his daughter has moved back in. These problems, however, are as nothing compared to the news that a planned solar farm may threaten their favourite detecting spot. Will they be able to stop it? Fans will hope that as the clock ticks, they will make a discovery that will both vanquish the developers and provide Andy and the long-suffering Becky (Rachael Stirling) with enough cash to buy themselves a home. But my guess is that Crook is too much of a realist for happy endings. Don't think Sutton Hoo; think more rusty scaffolding clamps.

Back is a promising imposter comedy

David Mitchell could just stand there and pull a face - you know, that face - and I'd be happy.

Peter Kay's Car Share restores your faith in humanity

I clutch at John and Kayleigh's potential for happiness as if at straws.

The Vote was dull compared to the real election

For thrills, I would take that exit poll over Judi Dench and Jude Law any day.

No Offence: a truly good comedy drama

Set in a Manchester police station, Paul Abbott's No Offence shines with wit and human insight.

Burnt offering: Matt Berry's Toast's no laughing matter

It's as if two sixth formers had watched a few old DVDs - The Dick Emery Show, Rising Damp, the odd episode of Bottom or Alan Partridge - then written down the first thing that came into their heads.

Return to lonely town: Episodes on BBC2

Given the absence of jokes, tension, consequence - and the presence of Matt LeBlanc - what is there to keep the audience of Episodes on its side?