Vyle Trial

One of the high spots of this ever speedier technological revolution is the chance to call up programmes we missed first time round without worrying about mis-setting the video.

This latest tellybox wonder allowed to me to catch up with the two new shows which prop up BBC2's brand new Thursday night line-up, The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle and The Peter Serafinowicz Show.

It seems that the more successful, and richer, Jennifer Saunders becomes, the more she loses touch with what her audience wants.

The recent French & Saunders retrospectives show how accessible the pair were when they dealt with subjects the audience recognised, playground spats, naive teenagers and spoofs of films and TV programmes we had actually heard of.

That's why Vivienne Vyle was such a disappointment, despite the rich pickings which could be had from the dreadful exploitation-based shows such as Jeremy Kyle and Trisha.

The funniest moments are from the spoof talk show itself. Once the action switched to the offscreen life of the unpleasant ice queen it became plain dull. Unless you had a working knowledge of the television industry it was difficult to relate to, or feel sympathy for, any of the characters at all, let alone find them funny. Yes, that TV producer is a bit ditzy and frazzled. And she must be on six times my salary. Ha ha, my sides.

It took about 15 years for French and Saunders (the show) to start drowning in self indulgence (has anyone seen Cold Mountain?). It took Vivienne Vyle less than 15 minutes.

So after that, not so much damp, but drenched beneath the most treacherous part of the Niagra Falls, squib - what a relief for The Peter Serafinowicz Show.

Known to some as the voice of Darth Maul, and to others (including me) as Peter Packard from the hilarious Look Around You, Liverpool's latest addition to the comedy ranks has a much better idea about what makes the majority of people laugh.

Anyone who has seen the cheaply made legal aid ads in the breaks of Loose Women and Countdown will understand why Butterfield was so laugh-out-loud funny. Heads and Tails was a wry observation on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, enabling Serafinowicz to show off his mimicry skills as a spot-on Chris Tarrant, while his spin as a shiny US entertainment show VJ somehow reminded me of GMTV's Ross King.

It didn't all work, the clone version of Big Brother with a houseful of Scouse lads called Stevie went on too long and the Jeremy Kyle-style show hosted by a robot didn't push the buttons, but I still know which of the two I'll be tuning in to next week.

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