Who was Stanley Unwin?

In 1980, I wrote an article, based on interviews, for Marvel Comics' Starburst magazine about the little-remembered 1969 Gerry Anderson series The Secret Service.

The lead role was played both by the 'real' live version and by a puppet version of eccentric performer and 'professor' of gobbledegook Stanley Unwin.

The series only lasted for 13 episodes. ATV/ITC boss Lew Grade apparently thought the Americans would have trouble understanding 'Unwinese'.

In the next two days, I will be posting my 1980 article on The Secret Service as a two-parter.

There was fine writing in Strap In - It's Clever Peter, a 15-minute, no-time-to-be-bored sketch show by the Clever Peter troupe. There were nods to Stanley Unwin and gobbledegook - "Oh, I knew the memory of his smelt would stay in my pumf forever" - though among the funniest lines were the wordless ones given to "Mr Pippo the tiny hippo" caught up in the MPs' expenses scandal.

I also liked the obsessive listmaker dumping his girlfriend by phone, and 86-year-old Mrs Boyd and her ruthless techniques for dealing with door-to-door salesmen. The whole thing had that undergrad feeling of seeming very pleased with itself, but that's fine if it's funny - which it was.

It should be a proud moment for Arbiter Maven, as construction of the fourth wonder of Jinsy, a bridge built in the shape of Maven's nose, reaches the halfway point. But that's as far as it'll ever go if local environmentalist Edery Molt (a typically excellent Kevin Eldon) gets his way. Can Maven bribe him with a rare bat? Why is Sporall turning orange?

The main story is joyous enough - when Maven gets Molt round for dinner, there's a fantastic visual gag that literally has another, even better one hiding behind it - but as always it's the irrelevant inserts that make This Is Jinsy the bulging, shop-soiled selection box it is. Tonight, bits I rewound and played again included a bulletin from half-dead reporter Jesric Underdone (this week's top story: using live rats as cavity wall insulation), and an insane contribution from the jumpily edited, Stanley Unwin-esque weatherman Tracee Henge.

Best of all is KT Tunstall guesting as throaty shanty-man Briiian Rattagan. His/her song is utter nonsense but catchier than a burr cardie. Altogether now! "It's cold and it's wet and it looks just like an onion..."

Although the pilot was a BBC affair, this new comedy series arrives on Sky. Created by and starring comedians/music video directors Chris Bran and Justin Chubb, it's set on the isolated fictional isle of Jinsy. It's all about silly situations and funny wordplay, more like The Goons and Stanley Unwin than Little Britain. Its good supporting cast includes Alice Lowe (Darkplace), Harry Hill and even David Tennant.

Imagine Terry Gilliam and the Zucker brothers co-directing a remake of The Wicker Man starring Stanley Unwin and Flight of the Conchords. You're now about a seventh of the way to appreciating the silly, knobbly magic of This Is Jinsy. It's a secret club you must join.

Set on the musty, muddy-brown island of Jinsy, it stars its previously unknown writers Justin Chubb and Chris Bran as Maven, the community's fussing "arbiter", and his sensible sidekick Sporall. They're a classic sitcom duo but little else is familiar in this bumper hamper of visual gags, twisted characters and fantastic parodies of 1960s folk-pop.

The opening double bill features David Tennant as a flamboyant game show host, and Peter Serafinowicz as a cupboard salesman.

The pilot episode for a splintered sitcom influenced by Boosh, Python, 1984, Stanley Unwin, 1970s public information films and The Wicker Man. Jinsy's pompous governor wants to conquer the next island along, which means abandoning quotidian concerns such as hooch, unpleasant folk songs and metal shortages. Set in a carefully random world of made-up phrases and queasy colours, it's a "surreal" mash that could be hopelessly annoying, but is packed with imaginative detail and silly detours. Consequently, it's as infectiously funny as a badly stuffed owl. A full series, please.