Robert Hampton

Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle was an excellent half-hour of comedy, as Britain’s 41st best standup comic took aim, with laser-guided precision, at Chris Moyles, The Da Vinci Code, smug Radio 4 satirical shows and adults reading Harry Potter books.

I would repeat some of the jokes, but each one lasted about 5 minutes, so it would be impossible. Suffice to say its the funniest programme on the BBC so far this year and you should be watching it. If you missed it I recommend you iPlayer it at the earliest possible opportunity.

The whole show feels very BBC4-ish, and according to the Guardian only attracted 1 million viewers. However, after listening this clip from Radio 4’s Heresy — where he calls 84% of the studio audience idiots — I doubt he’s that bothered about appealing to the mainstream.

It’s sometimes hard to explain to outsiders about the Liverpool psyche, but the first part of Alexei Sayle’s Liverpool did it quite well. Tossing aside whingeing Scouser stereotypes, it was an entertaining, occasionally unflattering but always thought-provoking look at a city that has faced some astonishing highs and lows over the last half-century or so.

Part 1 is available on the BBC iPlayer and is highly recommended. Parts 2 and 3 are broadcast on BBC2 this Friday and the next.