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

The week’s comedy on TV and radio.

Monday April 2

THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH: David Mitchell returns for another series of the panel game in which four comedians are encouraged to tell lies and compete against one another to see how many items of truth they're able to smuggle past their opponents. John Finnemore, Henning Wehn, Lou Sanders and Graeme Garden are the panelists this week. Radio 4, 6.30pm.

GOODNIGHT FROM HIM First broadcast on Radio 4 in 2013, this drama explores Ronnie Corbett’s partnership with Ronnie Barker, starting from their first meeting at the bar of the Buckstone Club in 1963 and being chosen by David Frost for his new show The Frost Report (alongside John Cleese), to getting their own Saturday night BBC One series The Two Ronnies in 1971. It stars Aidan McArdle as Ronnie Corbett, Robert Daws as Ronnie Barker, James Lance as David Frost and Matt Addis as John Cleese and uses parodies of some of their greatest sketches such as Fork Handles, Mastermind and The Class Sketch to tell their story. Radio 4 Extra, 11.15am  

Tuesday April 3

CUNK ON BRITAIN: Move over Simon Schama and Mary Beard… we’ve had enough of experts.  Here’s the history of these islands in five parts from someone unhindered by conventional wisdom, Philomena Cunk. As we head towards Brexit,  Diane Morgan’s alter-ego says: ‘The best way to find out where we’re heading is to look behind us. BBC Two, 10pm

BRIDGET AND EAMON: The third series of the 1980s set sitcom makes its way across the Irish Sea.  Jennifer Zamparelli and Bernard O'Shea star as the warring married couple and in this series the pair accidentally star in a porn video, join a camogie team, and open a video shop. In episode one, Bridget’s mother (Deirdre O’Kane) has a new young, foreign boyfriend and Bridget is going to lose her inheritance unless she can break them up. Gold, 10pm

Wednesday April 4

SKETCHTOPIA: Hardeep Singh Kohli presents Radio 4’s new satirical sketch series showcasing  the next generation of multicultural writers The cast comprises Vivienne Acheampong, Luke Manning, Jamie-Rose Monk, Nimisha Odedra, and Paul G Raymond. Radio 4, 6.30pm.

Thursday April 5

BEEF AND DAIRY NETWORK 2018:  Radio 4 starts a new series of this inspired broadcast, for those involved or just interested in the production of beef animals and dairy herds. The brainchild of Ben Partridge, it’s a wonderfully deadpan look at an apparently dry, technical subject, which turns out to be delightfully surreal. This first of five new episodes features Michael Banyan, the former bovine poet laureate who is now in hiding after a brush with the Bovine Farmers’ Union.Radio 4, 11pm

TWO DOORS DOWN: The ensemble comedy about three sets of neighbours in suburban Glasgow starts a repeat run on Gold with Arabella Weir, Doon Mackichan, Jonathan Watson Elaine C. Smith Sharon Rooney and more. Gold, 10.40pm

Published: 1 Apr 2018