LAUGHS! Never Mind the Buzzcocks, BBC Two, 9.00pm and Beautiful People, BBC Two, 9.30pm
As BBC Two has been telling us for several years, Thursday nights are funny. Or at least they’re meant to be (at any rate, there are more laughs than on a Friday, a subject we’ll return to tomorrow). So how have the channel’s recent Thursday offerings been performing?
First up, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, now in its 22nd (22nd!) series. This series has suffered from the loss of team captain Bill Bailey quite badly. It survived Sean Hughes becoming Bailey with no trouble. It was revitalised when Mark Lamarr became Simon Amstell. I’d say not literally, but Hughes and Lamarr seem to have vanished without a trace, so maybe there really was some body swap action. However, it’s been struggling without having two regular team captains and the associated banter and cameraderie that brings.
The guest captains have met with mixed responses. For example, Mark Ronson was much less successful as captain than guest, but Stephen Fry was brilliant. Tonight Jack Dee takes the chair, which should be good, as long as he’s on form.
More consistent has been the second show in the comedy double bill*, Beautiful People, which ends its run tonight. Although it’s not been universally loved, the humour, music, characters, performances and classic lines (‘she loved watermelooooooon’ etc) have gained it a loyal and devoted audience. OK, so its ’90s references aren’t all that accurate (perhaps it’s not considered ‘period’ enough to have a proper continuity team; perhaps they just didn’t think continuity mattered that much) but that’s generally forgivable when the show has so much energy and fun. Tonight, the always wonderful Frances Barber turns up as a new teacher, and Kylie and Simon plot how they might get to London.
*Normally it’s a triple bill with The Graham Norton Show, but the Osbournes are guests tonight and Sharon will undoubtedly be carping on about Dannii Minogue for no real reason, a whole year after they fell out, so I’m boycotting that one this week. iPlayer last week’s instead, with Jessica Biel proving an amazingly good sport.
