An hour and a half of bliss

No, not watching Newcastle, but BBC2 from 9pm on Monday evenings.

Tonight was the first time I've been able to watch 'Balderdash & Piffle', 'Up In Town' and 'The Thick Of It' without the aid of either a video recorder (remember them?) or subtitles in a public house.

Letter of the week on 'Balderdash & Piffle' was N, and the four words or expressions upon which attention was focussed were: "ninety-nine" (as in ice-cream), as researched by Daniela Nardini (descendent of an ice-cream dynasty); "nit-nurse", as researched by presenter Victoria Coren; "nice", as researched by impossibly well-spoken writer and City of London School headmaster Jonathan Keates (who did an excellent job of revealing the extraordinary semantic ebbs and flows of a word we're taught to avoid at all costs); and "nutmeg", in the sense of the football trick, as researched by writer Giles Milton (something to do with bollocks, probably).

Asked for his favourite word beginning with the letter N, Ian Hislop again came up trumps. His suggestion: "namby-pamby", originally a mocking nickname given by Alexander Pope to an contemporary writer of excessively sentimental verse.

Then 'Up In Town', which I haven't paid much attention to over the course of the last two weeks. Written, produced and directed by Hugo Blick, who also co-wrote 'Marion And Geoff' with Rob Brydon, 'Up In Town' is a series of ten minute monologues starring Joanna Lumley as fading society queen Madison Blakelock and hailing from Steve Coogan and Henry Normal's Baby Cow Productions stable. It was originally shown three years ago, from what I can make out, but must have completely passed me by. I guess the inevitable comparison to be made is with Alan Bennett's superb 'Talking Heads' series, and certainly 'Up In Town' features the same elements of gentle humour and mockery alongside more touching moments of genuine pathos.

Armando Iannucci and Jesse Armstrong's 'The Thick Of It' surpassed itself this week. To sum it up as 'Yes Minister' shot in the style of 'The Office' and with an impressively high expletive count wouldn't do it justice, but it gives you some idea. Each week, bumbling Minister for Social Affairs Hugh Abbot (Chris Langham) staggers from pothole to pitfall, aided and abetted by a bunch of alternately sycophantic and squabbling staff.

This week's episode saw Abbot caught up in a scandal over an unused city centre flat in his name which becomes known, uninspiringly, as "Flatgate" - "They should be calling it Notting Hill Gate Gate". Abbot, given a severe dressing-down by the particularly foul-mouthed Alistair Campbell figure Malcolm Tucker (brilliantly played by Peter Capaldi) within hearing of a Daily Mail journalist, was left to chomp on biscuits somewhat sheepishly and exclaim Partridge-style "Yes, I am king of remembering my own password!" while seated at his computer as the shit hit the fan, eventually being spared by the resignation of an "brushed-aluminium cyberprick" some years his junior.

If 'The Office' was uncomfortable viewing for the general public, then 'The Thick Of It' is likely to be particularly uncomfortable viewing for the inhabitants of Westminster.

(Incidentally, here's a link to an article on Nottinghamshire dialect which I came across via the 'Balderdash & Piffle' site and which may well be of interest to those of you familiar with the city and area. It's particularly worth a read for the golfing anecdote at the end...)