Comedy

Brits have long dreamed of a homegrown version of ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ and, just when we thought everybody had given up, here comes a series which gets as near as dammit. The idea is the same: a show-within-a-show with a vain, venal host and real celebrities as guests who are in on the joke and deliver scripted lines in the ‘behind-the-scenes’ sections. The comedy comes from the contrast between the backstage backbiting and the on-air smoothness. The show-within-a-show here is a crap news quiz which desperately wants to be ‘Have I Got News For You’ – indeed, the running gag tonight is that Brydon has never been asked to appear on ‘HIGNFY’ (he insists that he was asked but turned them down). The guests tonight are Robert Webb and Russell Brand, with the latter coming in for a real pasting.

Rob Brydon’s Annually Retentive, July 25, 10.30-11pm, BBC3 Feature continues