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

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

Monday August 17

AP BIO: The start of the second series of this US comedy, which has recently been renewed for a third. Glenn Howerton and Patton Oswalt return as the slightly sociopathic philosophy teacher and his long-suffering principal. Sky Comedy, 9.30pm.

LAWS THAT AREN’T LAWS: In this Radio 4 show, Robin Ince explores quirky rules of thumb such as Murphy’s Law (anything that might go wrong does so), Betteridge’s Law (any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word 'no'), and the Peter Principle (employees rise to their own level of incompetence). Radio 4, 10.45am

LUCY LOVES DESI - A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE SITCOM: Anne Heche plays comedian Lucille Ball in this dramatisation of how her pioneering 1950s comedy series I Love Lucy came to conquer the American airwaves. It’s based on a book by Gregg Oppenheimer, whose father Jess was a writer and producer on the show. At its peak, the sitcom was watched by up to 44million viewers – despite executives at CBS initially fearing audiences would not believe a marriage between an all-American girl and a Latin-American man. The four-part series is being directed by actor Martin Jarvis. Radio 4, 10.45am

CELEBS GO VIRTUAL DATING: Not exactly a comedy show, but rugby star Levi Davis goes on a date at a drive-in comedy club in this episode - which is about the best you get for seeing live comedy on TV at the moment! E4, 10pm

Wednesday August 19

WOOF - HONEST MISTAKES AT HOME AND ABROAD: A third series for wit Chris Neill to share ‘autobiographical stories of his life in love, lust and mediocrity’, with the aid of co-stars Isy Suttie and Martin Hyder. Radio 4, 11pm

Thursday August 20

RED DWARF THE FIRST THREE MILLION YEARS: The final part of this three-part documentary looks at the real and invented science behind the comedy. Dave, 9pm

Saturday August 22

THE LIKELY LADS: The 1976 feature film spin-off from the much-loved comedy series, written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and starring James Bolam and Rodney Bewes - the last time they appeared together before their falling-out, which led to them never speaking to each other again. Talking Pictures TV, 6pm

KNOWING STEVE, KNOWING YOU: In this three-hour programming block, first broadcast in 2015, Steve Coogan talks to the novelist and screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce about his life and career, alongside interviews with collaborators John Thomson, Henry Normal, Michael Winterbottom, Simon Greenall, Graham Duff, Sioned Wiliam and Steve Brown. It also features the 1993 Alan Partridge mockumentary Knowing Knowing Me, Knowing You; an episode of the sci-fi comedy Nebulous in which Coogan guest starred, and some clips of Coogan’s earliest appearances on radio in the late 1980s. Radio 4 Extra, 9am

Published: 16 Aug 2020