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

The week’s best comedy on TV and radio.

Sunday December 27

THE LAST WOMAN ON EARTH WITH Sara Pascoe: In this new travelogue, the comedian learns do some of the world’s endangered jobs. In this first episode, she visits Cuba where she meets a ‘mattress magician’, a cigar factory storyteller and makers of cucurucho, a sweet wrapped in a cone-shaped pine leaf. BBC Two, 9pm

BACK TO THE 80S WITH Lenny Henry: Channel 4 looks back over its history every night this week, starting with this episode that encompasses Whose Line Is It Anyway? and The Comic Strip Presents, among others. Channel 4, 9pm. Tomorrow Vic Reeves looks at the 1990s with Father Ted, Brass Eye, Drop the Dead Donkey and more, then it’s Davina McCall on the 2000s and Jimmy Carr on the 2010s.

PLEASE SIR! This British comedy film starring John Alderton, a spin-off from the school-based sitcom of the same name, was one of the biggest UK box office hits of 1972. Talking Pictures TV, 3.25pm

Monday December 28

BILLY CONNOLLY – IT’S BEEN A PLEASURE: A retrospective celebrating the comic’s stand-up legacy and featuring a new interview filmed at his home in the Florida Keys, Fans including Elton John, Paul McCartney, Lenny Henry and more also pay tribute. ITV, 9.30pm

TWO DOORS DOWN CHRISTMAS SPECIAL: The neighbours leave Latimer Crescent behind as Colin and Cathy’s plans for Christmas in Dubai fall throught because of Covid, so they’ve rented a luxury lodge in the Scottish Highlands... BBC Two, 9pm

Wednesday December 30

TOM ALLEN GOES TO TOWN: In what very much looks like a pilot, Tom Allen visits Wakefield in Yorkshire and meets the locals before performing a gig based on what he learned about pies, fish and chips and the city’s cathedral. A very innovative format if you’ve never heard of Mark Steel! It was, of course, all filmed pre-pandemic. Channel 4, 9pm

Thursday December 31

THE LAST LEG OF THE YEAR: The usual trio will be joined by Tom Allen, Lorraine Kelly, James Acaster, Judi Love, Clara Amfo and Asim Chaudhry, plus house band The Horne Section, led by Alex Horne. Channel 4, 9pm

AUSTENTATIOUS: The world premiere of an incredible lost Jane Austen ghost story, created and performed on the hoof by Amy Cooke-Hodgson, Graham Dickson, Charlotte Gittins, Andrew Hunter Murray, Cariad Lloyd, Joseph Morpurgo, Daniel Nils Roberts and Rachel Parris. Radio 4, 6.15pm

SUSAN CALMAN’S NOT QUITE END OF THE YEAR SHOW: The comic helps see the back of this difficult year…BBC Scotland, 10pm

Friday January 1

TASKMASTER'S NEW YEAR TREAT: Move aside comedians as actor John Hannah, Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy, Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan, presenter Rylan Clark-Neal and Strictly judge Shirley Ballas take on the challenges set by Alex Horne and judged, entirely unfairly, by Greg Davies. Channel 4, 9pm

Saturday January 2

THE ARTS HOUR INTERNATIONAL COMEDY SHOW:Presenter Nikki Bedi is joined by stand-ups from around the world – India’s Vir Das, South Africa’s Tumi Morake, Malaysia’s Jason Leong, Britain’s Josie Long, Australia’s Laura Davis, America’s Gina Brillion Ireland’s Joanne McNally and British-Malawian Daliso Chaponda – for a comic look at the past 12 months from a global perspective. BBC World Service, 8pm

Published: 27 Dec 2020