An atrocious new sitcom about a self-centred wally (Rafe Spall) whose misadventures are analysed by a pair of omniscient sport commentators. It's a clumsy attempt at subverting the genre with a unique gimmick à la Peep Show. But whereas the subjective camerawork and inner monologues in Peep Show enhance the comedy, this crude device actively discourages it.

Not that it would be funnier without it. Utterly charmless, it exhibits all the worst aspects of modern British comedy, including irritating sub-The Office performances and characters behaving crassly in awkward situations in lieu of actual jokes. An embarrassing comedy from the comedy of embarrassment

Pete Versus Life (Channel 4, also Friday), a new five-part comedy drama, took one clever idea and ran amok with it. If life is like sport, then where are the commentators? And so we had Pete (Rafe Spall), an ordinary - that is to say lazy, selfish and intermittently very stupid - twentysomething. And we also had anchorman Colin (Simon Greenall) along with wise-cracking former footballer Terry (Ian Kirkby), who commented on Pete's ups and downs as if they were part of some huge, slam-dunking sport event.

This format was funniest when the pundits used flashy graphics to illustrate run-of-the-mill facts: a profile sheet on Pete's nemesis, Jake (Daniel Ings), which revealed that he could grow a full beard in three days; or a pie chart showing an irritating character's favourite topics of conversation.

In the first episode, Pete inadvertently impressed a girl when he was lying about his commitment to green causes, and had to tie himself up in knots of dishonesty to keep her interested. He was helped - and hindered - by an assortment of friends, including his flatmate Kurt (Chris Geere), who has a rigidly proprietorial attitude towards his Weetabix. It was all funny enough, though the punditry gimmick was at times pushed to the limit. Surely they're not going to follow Pete and his girlfriend into the bedroom, I thought, cringing. But they did, complete with the inevitable performance chart. Schoolboys across the land rejoiced.

Still, this was a perfectly decent comedy, with the added extra of a satire on sporting hyperbole served up on the side. But at the end of the day it will be interesting to see whether this combination has enough legs to last the full 180 minutes.

The titular Pete is a sports writer, which goes some way to explaining this latest, actually pretty funny, attempt to jazz up the sitcom format. Namely: as Pete (the excellent Rafe Spall) manoeuvres amiably, if a little weakly through life, his experiences are commentated on and summarised for the benefit of the viewer. That and the attendant graphics and stats create plenty of laughs, but there are also characters you can imagine bearing repetition. Not least Kirk, Pete's South African flatmate, and his mate Rob's pretentious girlfriend Anna - who is naming tables at their wedding reception after Oxford colleges.

The gimmick of this new comedy series by Harry Enfield writers Bert Tyler-Moore and George Jeffries is that Pete (Rafe Spall), a twentysomething aspiring journalist, has his life described by two commentators - one a mad Geordie, the other rather staid - who provide sports-style analysis and statistics as Pete copes with his dysfunctional group of friends. The opener revolves around Pete's attempts to woo an attractive eco-activist. It's very silly and occasionally crude, and whether it will stay funny as the novelty value wears off remains to be seen, but it's promising none the less.

Impressed with the pilot for last year's Comedy Showcase, Channel 4 commissioned a series for this comedy about a sports journalist called Pete (Rafe Spall). It wasn't an entirely bad move. There are pleasantly awkward moments, sharp lines and clever set-ups. Pete has no tact or emotional intelligence. Watching him bungle his life are two middle-aged sport-type commentators. They pause the action to analyse his decisions and amuse us with his vital stats, like how long he can go at it in the sack. It's a playful trick, which helps distract from the parts that don't quite work.

At the end of last year Channel 4 road tested a few comedy pilots, and this one landed a full series. Rafe Spall plays a struggling sports writer whose life invariably leaves him dazed. So far, so good - expect there's a twist: two Sky Sports-style presenters offer a running commentary on his life, complete with analysis, stats and graphics. Interesting idea, which kind of works.

Come Dine With Me has Dave Lamb. Big Brother has Marcus Bentley. Match Of The Day had John Motson and this brilliant new show has Colin King and Terry McIlroy - the world's very first sitcommentators.

Played by Simon Greenall and Ian Kirkby these two are the gimmick that turns what would have been a reasonably amusing but fairly predictable sitcom into a work of utter genius.

With meaningless statistics, on-screen pie-charts and action replays they provide a hilarious blow-by-blow commentary on sports reporter Pete (played by Rafe Spall), whose love life amounts to a series of own goals and sendings-off.

In tonight's pilot episode Pete's latest potential conquest is a girl named Chloe, who is under the impression that he cares passionately about the environment (he doesn't). And we meet all his friends - best mate Rob who's engaged to an excruciating blonde named Anna and housemate Kurt, a Zimbabwean played by Waterloo Road's Chris Geere, who's obsessed with spreading the word about safe sex.

Most promising of all is Pete's nemesis Jake (Daniel Ings) - a dashingly handsome bearded eco-warrior who has just come back from watching the North Pole melt.

And here's another statistic for you: did you know Simon Greenall is also the voice of Aleksandr Orlov in the Compare The Meerkat commercials? Make this one a regular Friday night fixture.

Pete, played by Rafe Spall, is a laddish lad making a right bollocks of his 20s. Commentating on his life - everything, including what happens when he uses a made-up concern for the environment to lure young women back to his bedroom - are a couple of very unreconstructed middle-aged sports pundits: "The hand wrapped round the old bald-headed giggle stick, it's always a magic moment."

They pause the action, interpret Pete's life with stats and graphics. They can even see into his mind; know that he thinks about Wayne Rooney when he's about to reach the finishing line sooner than he'd hoped, in the bedroom, like. I don't know why they're commentating on Pete's life - maybe it's because he is trying to become a sports journalist himself. It's just one of those things you have to run with - like that documentary that was being made in The Office.

Some of this doesn't quite come off; a lot does. It's certainly ambitious, and original. The characters are great: hapless Pete; the nightmare fiancee of Pete's best mate who's coming on the stag weekend in Amsterdam because they're not just lovers, they're best friends, too; the inappropriate commentators. And at times, in an awkward kind of way, it's very funny.

Rafe Spall interview

In a new C4 sitcom, Rafe Spall plays Pete, a young journalist who always seems to do the wrong thing.