So, wish us luck tonight at the first ever untelevised British Comedy Awards! Just my luck to finally get a nomination in the year that ITV drops the show due to the "voting irregularities" that are still under investigation after this summer's wave of premium rate phoneline scandals. Anyway, for your information, these are the nominations:

[NB: I was going to put an asterisk after the nominee I want to win, but I started doing this and it was a flawed project, as of course I want Not Going Out to win, and in some of the categories I am not fussed one way or the other, and I've only seen half an episode of Gavin & Stacey, so can't really judge its merits. Instead I've gone out on a limb and put the asterisk next to the one I think will win ...]

BEST TELEVISION COMEDY ACTOR 2007
DAVID MITCHELL
Peep Show (Objective Productions for Channel 4)
JACK DEE *
Lead Balloon (Open Mike for BBC Four)
KEVIN BISHOP
Star Stories (Objective Productions for Channel 4)
LEE MACK
Not Going Out (Avalon for BBC One)

BEST TELEVISION COMEDY ACTRESS 2007
CATHERINE TATE
The Catherine Tate Show (Tiger Aspect for BBC Two)
LIZ SMITH
The Royal Family: The Queen of Sheba (Granada Productions for BBC One)
RUTH JONES *
Gavin & Stacey/Saxondale (Baby Cow for BBC Three/Baby Cow for BBC Two)

BEST COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PERSONALITY 2007
ALAN CARR & JUSTIN LEE COLLINS
The Friday Night Project (Princess Productions for Channel 4)
SIMON AMSTELL *
Never Mind the Buzzcocks (Talkback Thames for BBC Two)
STEPHEN FRY
QI (Talkback Thames for BBC Two)

BEST MALE COMEDY NEWCOMER 2007
JAMES CORDEN *
Gavin & Stacey (Baby Cow for BBC Three)
MATHEW HORNE
Gavin & Stacey (Baby Cow for BBC Three)
MATT BERRY
The IT Crowd (Talkback Thames for Channel 4)

BEST FEMALE COMEDY NEWCOMER 2007
JOANNA PAGE *
Gavin & Stacey (Baby Cow for BBC Three)
RUTH JONES
Gavin & Stacey (Baby Cow for BBC Three)
SHARON HORGAN
Rob Brydon’s Annually Retentive/Pulling (Jones the Film for BBC Three/Silver River for BBC Three)

BEST NEW BRITISH TELEVISION COMEDY (Scripted) 2007
GAVIN & STACEY
Baby Cow for BBC Three
LEAD BALLOON *
Open Mike for BBC Four
NOT GOING OUT
Avalon for BBC One

BEST TELEVISION COMEDY 2007
GAVIN & STACEY *
Baby Cow for BBC Three
PEEP SHOW
Objective Productions for Channel 4
STAR STORIES
Objective Productions for Channel 4

BEST NEW COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME 2007
AL MURRAY HAPPY HOUR *
Avalon for ITV1
FONEJACKER
Hat Trick for E4
THE GRAHAM NORTON SHOW
So Television for BBC Two

BEST COMEDY ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMME 2007
HARRY HILL'S TV BURP
Avalon Television for ITV1
NEVER MIND THE BUZZCOCKS *
Talkback Thames for BBC Two
THE FRIDAY NIGHT PROJECT
Princess Productions for Channel 4

BEST LIVE STAND UP 2007
ALAN CARR
DARA O'BRIAIN *
SIMON AMSTELL

BEST INTERNATIONAL COMEDY SHOW 2007
CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM *
HBO Entertainment for More 4
THE OFFICE: AN AMERICAN WORKPLACE
NBC Universal for ITV2
THE SIMPSONS
Twentieth Century Fox for Sky One / Channel 4

BEST COMEDY FILM 2007
BORAT
20th Century Fox
HOT FUZZ *
Universal
THE SIMPSONS MOVIE
20th Century Fox

Of course, these things are never an exact science, so the fact that Peep Show won last year doesn't necessarily mean it, or David Mitchell, won't win again this year, although it does seem a bit old now. Gavin & Stacey is such a shoo-in for Best TV Comedy, surely that leaves the field open a bit in Best New TV Comedy.

(I have been once before, way back in, I think, 1997, when myself and Stuart's Movie Club was on, and the same production company produced Lily Savage, so we were on Paul O'Grady's table. The main thing I remember, apart from Buster Merryfield tripping up as he walked past our table, is that at the after-show, the Chuckle Brothers said a confident and warm hello to Stuart and I, even though we'd never met them before. Maybe comedians are nicer than you thought.)

Labels: comedy, Lee Mack, Not Going Out, sitcom, tv

It's been mentioned elsewhere, but to make it official, the sitcom Not Going Out has been recommissioned by BBC1 for a third series. Another eight episodes, I believe. This is great news. Robin's Nest, which I have just finished watching in its entirety on the ever-reliable Paramount Comedy 2, ran for six series (1977-1981). It's been weird watching it again. I enjoyed the first few at the time, having been a big fan of Man About The House and George & Mildred (which spun off first, in 1976), but I watched it this time out of cultural curiosity.

How times have changed! First of all: humorous Irish character - one-armed Albert Riddle (David Kelly) - whose main joke is that he's stupid. Quaintly stupid, but stupid, nonetheless. He was my favourite character, of course! Second: endless hand-on-hip gay jokes - not vicious ones, but there nonetheless. The main set-up of the whole series is that chef Robin Tripp (the charismatic Richard O'Sullivan) and wife Vicky (Tessa Wyatt aka "How could she do that to me?" as she's known by Tony Blackburn) have her domineering ex-army father, James Nicholls (Tony Britton, mugging for Britain) breathing down their neck, as he is the sleeping partner in the pair's French bistro in Fulham, perhaps the least atmospheric eaterie in the whole of London. (Seats: about 12 at a push.) Actually, Robin and Vicky weren't married in series one, and were thus the first "common law" couple in British sitcom, according to the Radio Times Guide To Comedy. As someone who's spent a great deal of the last two years banging his head against whiteboards trying to come up with plots for a similarly populist sitcom (albeit shown an hour to an hour and a half later), it's amazing how little actually happens in an episode of Robin's Nest! It's always engaging, and O'Sullivan could carry anything with his cheeky teeth, but in what amounts to a full 22 minutes, either James or Albert have to run the restaurant for the night, and ... well, and that's about it. What easily-pleased times.

By the way, hats off to co-creators Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke, who wrote every episode of Man About The House (six series), every episode of George & MIldred (five series), and 14 episodes of this, giving up the ghost around series three and handing over to various others, including George Layton. If I ever complain ever again about my workload, sing the theme tune of Robin's Nest at me. Doo-doo-do-do-do-dooo-do-doooh etc.

Labels: Lee Mack, Not Going Out, sitcom