Jo Brand’s Wall of Comedy

Series one, episode one
‘Eager to know why Manuel from ‘Fawlty Towers’ had a moustache? The worst thing about being in ‘Blackadder’? Or maybe which actors had to bring their own clothes to film a hit pilot?’ The answers to these hot-button issues in Jo Brand’s poorly disguised old-timey clip-show are perfectly pitched, provoking – if anything – the kind of weary, non-committal, slightly surly shrug that’s engendered by watching the actual programme itself.

Brand presides over a genial half-hour of sitcom quizzery that sees team leaders Rebecca Front and Barry ‘Mine’s a Large One!’ Cryer joined by Hugh Dennis and Tony Robinson for a trawl through some well-thumbed snippets from the BBC archives. Andrew Sachs and Ian Lavender deliver creaky old war stories and Cryer delves into his endless fund of Willie Rushton anecdotes, before a round where the guests all try on a variety of wigs puts the show out of its misery.

Brand and guests are very easy people to like, but this is the worst kind of filler; to damn it with even fainter praise, it’s the sort of programme that Alan Partridge would consider ‘classic broadcasting’.