Heaven knows we could all do with a laugh right now, what with 2026 having begun in such an inauspicious manner, with tumult abroad and a stream of grim headlines at home. It would be a relief to be able to make light of it all, and to skewer the powers that be with a wry and irreverent take on the news.

While the show was in its early years a reliably spirited and raucous affair it lost much of its edge over time. It became partisan and repetitive, obsessed by Nigel Farage, forever deploring the imbecility of Brexiteers and making tiresome jokes about the Daily Mail

It’s therefore timely to read, following an absence of more than three years, that Mock the Week is making a comeback. As confirmed in the Radio Times, the panel show, axed by the BBC in 2022, is returning to television on February 1 on the TLC channel. Many aficionados of the show – and I count myself as a critical friend – will be delighted to see the return of Dara Ó Briain, its affable and erudite presenter, as well as his deadpan adjutant Hugh Dennis. In an age when so many comedians have been lost to the world of podcasting, it is refreshing to see a show return to the........

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