Radio Times review

Sometimes this celebrity whinge party gets up a head of comic steam. The mix of guests doesn't always gel but when it does - as here - you feel as if you're eavesdropping on a heated chat in a pub full of famous people.

In this episode that means Gary Lineker, Jack Dee and Fay Ripley offering up their personal peeves: Dee hates white vans and hand dryers; Lineker hates internet trolls; Ripley hates jeggings - and people who tell the truth.

In railing against "people who tell it like it is" Ripley includes a nice story of meeting up with an actress she used to work with, whose deflating first words were "Oh Fay! Oh my God, how we've all aged!"

Radio Times review

Time for another series of competitive griping about things people hate. This series always flirts with a sort of generalised curmudgeonliness while, naturally, trying to keep it light. But it does help when the bellyaches are slightly mad. Tim Vine loses the audience with a rambling moan about a certain kind of karaoke DJ, whereas Len Goodman simply slags off "all foreign food".

It turns out Len has never had a curry - or eaten spaghetti! His motto is, "Never eat anything you can't spell." And if you think that's sweeping, his other bêtes noires are the metric system and, quite simply, choice. "Have you ever thought," wonders host Frank Skinner, "of moving to North Korea?"

Room 101 viewers brand Len Goodman a 'UKIP candidate'

Len's choices, which included foreign food and the metric system, didn't go down too well with viewers.

Re-make of Room 101 launches in Australia

Dapper gent and general man-about-town Paul McDermott has begun production for new light entertainment show Room 101.

The gloves are off as a trio of talent show presenters go head-to-head-to-head. Bake Off's Sue Perkins turns up the heat as she tries to convince Frank Skinner mime artists should be silenced once and for all - and will Hair's raven-maned Steve Jones and Strictly's alarmingly décolleté Bruno Tonioli be able to conjure up pet hates to counter her case? Flat-pack furniture and gym etiquette are among the subjects nominated for eternal damnation.

Radio Times review

Radio Times still has in its trophy cabinet a golden bowling pin that our crack team won in Frank Skinner's press invitational bowling tournament some years ago (narrowly beating The One Show). So it's no surprise that the host isn't sympathetic when Sue Perkins suggests consigning one of his favourite sports to Room 101. Instead, he upstages it with a clip of "cat laser bowling", a heartless pastime that cat lovers should on no account watch.

Perkins is on good form, though. She describes a mime artist as "a clown you can't hear coming" and mail-order clothing catalogues as "40 pages of wan nymphets in clogs". Also on the panel are Steve Jones and, showing a ridiculous amount of chest, Bruno Tonioli.

Radio Times review

The gripes up for consideration run the gamut from the trivial (people who make up rules in Monopoly) to the vehemently political (George Osborne and "all his friends in the cabinet").

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Charles Dance and comedian Andi Osho are the nominees, and surprisingly it's the dandyish star of Changing Rooms who proves most entertaining and witty. His diatribe against beige "in all its gory; its understated, delusional blandeur" is a particular highlight.

There's not too much combative banter between the guests, except when Osho claims Charles Dance sounds like the sort of name you'd make up to avoid embarrassment at an STD clinic. Delightful.

Radio Times review

Too often panellists on this show are allowed to cite bugbears that seem a bit bland. Here the pet hates, for instance, include online passwords and acceptance speeches at awards ceremonies. Fine, yeah, but a bit obvious, surely? It's much better when they choose everyday irritations that you hadn't quite consciously realised annoyed you, but do.

For instance, when former Spice Girl Mel C bemoans the profusion of different types of toothpaste - not too many brands, but too many varieties within each brand, called things like Whitening, Cavity Protection, Freshening, Sensitive, Gum Health and so on. It's a pressing issue, I'm sure you'll agree, now Mel has pointed it out.

As is Adam Hills' pet hate: abs. Yes, he's calling time on the cult of the six pack, and we can all thank him for that.

Eyelashes on car headlights, slogan T-shirts and dill are among the candidates for Room 101 offered up by tonight's guests: child singer turned broadcaster Aled Jones, DJ Sara Cox and comedian Josh Widdicombe. The award for most controversial nomination of the evening goes to Widdicombe, who wants to pitch The Lord Of The Rings into oblivion - on the strength of its implausibility.

Radio Times review

Who would have thought that Aled Jones could ever have experienced anything more alarming than the moment his voice broke. But apparently he did and the story he tells tonight elicits gasps from the studio audience and makes his fellow guests (stand-up comedian Josh Widdicombe and DJ Sara Cox) squirm uncomfortably.

Among this week's pet hates nominated for Room 101 are slogan T-shirts, car lashes (yes, false eyelashes for your headlights), fish bones, dill and The Lord of the Rings. Despite Josh Widdicombe's efforts, the best jokes still come from Frank Skinner, who does a fabulous impression of a Tyrannosaurus Rex trying to eat its dinner from a plate, and a laughable attempt at crowd surfing.