What A F****** Liberty

BBC2 really are on a roll when it comes to homegrown comedy lately. After last week's double bill of Extras and That Mitchell & Webb Look came to an end, Thursday nights are now home to another similar line up of sketch shows, non-traditional sitcoms and panel shows.

First up, the third series for Catherine Tate, a woman who a lot of people seem to find completely unamusing, but in my opinion is one of the best comic actresses the UK has at the moment.

The Nan, one of the best comic creations this decade, is still the standout, and indeed, should have her own sitcom altogether. But the new sketches such as the tough Irish woman delighted to have a gay son and the woman who stood in for people at the last minute were also promising.

It's still a bit patchy, the charity fundraiser for Battered Husbands was a bit pointless and schoolgirl Lauren is getting a little tired now. But it's more consistent than Mitchell & Webb, less predictable than Little Britain and far funnier than anything French & Saunders have done in the last five years.

Jack Dee's new sitcom Lead Balloon, already shown on BBC4, was on straight after. It's one of those shows where not much happens and there's not really anything to make you laugh out loud but there is enough to make you smile from time to time. The Russian housekeeper gets most of the best lines and Dee, basically playing himself, is as depressingly charming as ever . However, the awful incidental jazz music needs to go.

Unfortunately my Sky+ failed to tape Never Mind The Buzzcocks but Simon Amstell was genius on the much-missed original Popworld and was quite good when he stood in for Mark Lamarr earlier this year. So hopefully he'll give it the kick up the arse it needs after it stopped being funny in about 1998.