Review 2018: Top TV 2018

I don't know what it says about the times we are living in but comedy seems to have slipped into all sorts of programmes this year. I've kept my choices to more traditional comedies.

How much you enjoyed Philomena Cunk's history of Britain depends on how funny you find Diane Morgan's resting confused face. I find it hilarious. Her interviewees are kind of in on the joke but clearly briefed to take it as seriously as possible. They'll be mid-flow and she will cock her head and drain all the interest from her face. "What's the most political thing that's ever happened?" she asked Robert Peston, who did his best to answer with a straight face. Co-producer Charlie Brooker's fingerprints are everywhere in the way Morgan's vain, poorly informed, easily distracted Cunk operates within a ruthlessly satirical production, which sends up the tropes and clichés of every dodgy documentary and history programme. She might not be the comic creation we need, but she is the one we deserve right now.

Diane Morgan asks for help after passport stolen

Philomena Cunk star Diane Morgan asks for help getting to awards ceremony after her passport is stolen.

The conclusion of Philomena Cunk's survey of British history. The graduation of Diane Morgan's doggedly nitwitted character to a series has not been an unalloyed triumph, with the interviews in particular falling flat. The writing and delivery that work well in brief bursts still furnish glorious moments, though.

We reach the 20th century, and as stupid as the good Philomena is, she occasionally hits on a truism: first world war soldiers "came home to a Britain they could hardly recognise, because it was wearing a skirt". Elsewhere, she wonders if the BBC was one of those "stupid mistakes the government makes, like Brexit".