A finger of milk, in a dirty glass

Andy Zaltzman, 32, Administers His His Emergency Dose Of Afternoon Utopia, Steps Back, And Waits To See What Happens, The Stand

Non-confrontational political comedian Andy Zaltzman takes the theme of building a utopia for his show this year. His ideas are as brilliant as ever - a contractually obligated third World War in the 1970s that no one reported as Germany had already lost the best of three series 2-0 for example - but they're not as numerous nor, critically, as replete with gags as they have been in the past. That some of his set-piece stories meandered a little and fizzled out rather than climaxed, was especially regrettable as he was reading them from a book and one supposed he was keen to stay as close to his words as possible. Still solidly entertaining for an hour, but definitely a case of "must try harder".

NTW : Reuse of material from previous shows and his Political Animal compere-ing

JTD : Ideas, ideas, ideas - Andy's reasons for proposing marriage and his heart to heart with a ballot paper.