The best of the week's comedy on TV and radio

The best of the week's comedy on TV and radio

Sunday June

THE RANGANATION: This week, Romesh Ranganathan will be joined virtually by  Paloma Faith and Tom Allen.BBC Two,  9.15pm

Monday June 8

TAKESHI’S CASTLE: The Indonesian game show returns, this time with stand-up Stephen Bailey as the host, joined by guest commentators, usually from the world of reality TV. Comedy Central, 11pm

Tuesday June 9

BETTY: Based on Crystal Moselle’s 2018 film Skate Kitchen, this new six-part comedy-drama, imported from America’s HBO, follows a group of young New York women navigating their lives through the predominantly male-oriented world of skateboarding. Sky Comedy, 9.35pm

THE LOVERS: The Lovers was an ITV sitcom that only ran for two series in 1970 and 1971, but still spawned this movie two years later. Perhaps that’s testament to writer Jack Rosenthal and stars Paula Wilcox and Richard Beckinsale, all of whom would go on to even better things (despite Beckinsale’s early death). Or perhaps it’s because it captured the newly permissive atmosphere of the age, with sex (or ‘Percy Filth’ as Wilcox’s character Beryl Battersby calls it) being the driving force. Talking Pictures TV, 10pm

Wednesday June 10

STAGED: In this lockdown production, David Tennant and Michael Sheen play themselves, two actors due to star in a production of Six Characters In Search Of An Author in the West End before the pandemic struck. But their director (Simon Evans - not the comedian - also playing himself) is determined not to let the opportunity pass him by. He knows how big a chance this is for him and turns his attention to cajoling his stars into rehearsing over the internet. The six 15-minute episodes also star Tennant’s wife Georgia and Sheen’s partner Anna Lundberg plus Lucy Eaton and guest stars including W1A’s Nina Sosanya. BBC One, 10.45pm

ITTLE LIFETIMES: A return of Jenny Eclair's comic monologues performed by leading actresses. In the first, Pauline McLynn plays a divorcee who feels liberated after years of marriage, but a family dinner to celebrate her son's engagement and a meeting with her ex-husband's new girlfriend causes her to take a step she never imagined… Radio 4, 11pm

WHAT’S SO FUNNY ABOUT… GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME:  Behind-the-screens TV veterans Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman talk to Meera Syal and Anil Gupta about their groundbreaking sketch show. Radio 4 Extra, 10.30pm

Friday June 12

THE OTHER ONE: After last week’s repeat of the strong pilot, comes the first new episode in this sitcom about two half-sisters (Ellie White and Lauren Socha) who only become aware of each other’s existence following the death of their bigamist father. BBC One, 9pm.

DEAD RINGERS:  Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Duncan Wisbey and Debra Stephenson return for a new series of impressions-based topical comedy. Radio 4, 6.30pm.

Published: 7 Jun 2020