The reception to Simon Day's mock-history of guitar music has been mixed, with some critics praising the series for its skewering of BBC Four music docs and others feeling that its on-the-nose parody comes at the expense of actual, y'know, jokes. Still, it's hard to be entirely dismissive of any series that features a guest appearance by Vic & Bob's freewheeling folk duo Mulligan and O'Hare, expressing their belief that the synthesizer is only good for "calling the pigeons home".

Why you must all watch the Life of Rock With Brian Pern

It is very low budget and was sold to the BBC as essentially a clip show with a bit of comedy tacked on says Simon Day. It is much more than that, of course, but even this apparent shortcoming actually helps because there are occasional moments when you are not sure what is from the archive and what has been shot for the show.

A second outing for the spoof rockumentary that makes you wish its creators hadn't sat down after watching The Rutles or This Is Spinal Tap and thought: "Well, that looks easy." Tonight, Pern (Simon Day channelling his inner Peter Gabriel) explores rock's middle age. One halfway decent gag about Phil Collins at Live Aid notwithstanding, this mainly serves to remind us that there are even more depressing things than out-and-out horrors such as The Now Show, and that is comedies that just aren't funny enough.

Comedy of the week has to be the spoof documentary series The Life of Rock with Brian Pern. Simon Day plays the eponymous narrator - a self-regarding, pretentious prog rock legend, whose career bears more than a passing resemblance to Peter Gabriel's - eliciting contributions from genuine rock stars including Rick Wakeman, Roger Taylor and Jools Holland.

Rock music's indulgences are an easy target for parody, with the mockumentary format a far from original approach, but The Life of Rock's combination of affectionate derision, pure silliness and a non-stop array of gags is very hard to resist.

The Life of Rock with Brian Pern, BBC Four

Move over Spinal Tap, Simon Day updates the mockumentary genre.

BBC Four frequently wheels out ageing tunesmiths for rock retrospectives, but nothing on as grand a scale as this. Brian Pern of prog pioneers Thotch, more commonly known as The Fast Show's Simon Day, takes us through a three-part history of all things rock in this spoof series, featuring contributions from Jools Holland and Roger Taylor, as well as Vic and Bob's folk monsters Mulligan and O'Hare. Day and director Rhys Thomas have created an absolute treat for musos and comedy fans alike.

Simon Day and Ralf Little join The Ladykillers cast

Graham Linehan's The Ladykillers is heading back to the West End over the summer with a new cast which includes Simon Day, Ralf Little, Angela Thorne and Chris McCalphy.

Made by Steve Coogan's Baby Cow stable, Common Ground is a collection of ten 15-minute comedy shorts, each set in a neighbourhood in south London. Having featured Simon Day, Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes and Charles Dance in previous weeks, the series concludes with Barry - based around Alex Lowe's octogenarian little Englander character which he honed by calling in to Iain Lee's LBC programme in the mid-2000s. With his wife having run off with a retired financial advisor, Barry embarks on a bucket list with his grandson.

It may not be earth-shatteringly original, but it's worth it just to hear Barry's view on pink candy floss: 'It's like eating Barbara Cartland's minge.' A (fictional) former member of So Solid Crew takes over a church choir in the far-funnier Nell, Ted and Marlon. It quickly descends into a creepy love triangle (with One Foot In the Grave actress Annette Crosbie occasionally chiming in with some unexpected filth); the humour is sharp, surreal and pleasantly wicked in places.

This hit-and-miss series of comedy shorts continues tonight with a promising offering starring and co-written by former Fast Show star Simon Day. He plays a cheery personal trainer whose clients include a Hollywood-bound actor and a young boy whose mother he has taken a fancy to. Look out also for The Royle Family's Liz Smith in a cantankerous supporting role.