Magic 'Dust'

Anyone see 'Monkey Dust' on Monday night? It's an animated comedy series that's just made the transition from BBC3 onto BBC2. As someone keenly interested in British comedy I've only just heard about it, which suggests it must have been a well-kept secret, but, judging by Monday's episode, its virtues are legion.

A deliciously dark satire, it's set not in some horrific dystopia (as some, including the BBC's own website about the series) might have you believe, but in contemporary Britain. The sketches involving the Paedo-Finder ("By the power invested in me by News International, I pronounce you to be a paedophile!") and the dad dressed up in a Spiderman outfit committing suicide were particularly sharp. As with the best comedy, anger seems to be a primary inspiration.

As 'Little Britain' starts to tire and wear thin, lapsing into the complacent catchphrase comedy that did for 'The Fast Show', 'Monkey Dust' can claim to paint a more savage but also, crucially, funnier portrait of 21st century Britain.

(Thanks to Inspector Sands for recommending it.)