The Week in Comedy: Ben Elton, Rob Brydon & Shaun The Sheep

Ben Elton’s new BBC sitcom The Wright Way received a critical mauling earlier this week. The Guardian asks, “Is he too old to be a comedian?” Read.

The line-up for this year’s Larmer Tree festival has been revealed – with Dylan Moran, Rich Hall, Ray Peacock and Tony Law amongst those playing. Comedy programmer Julia Safe said: “We have a unique mix of well-known names and impressive emerging talent.”

The Trip is to return for a second series, star Rob Brydon has confirmed on Twitter. The upcoming series will be set in Italy, with filming to start “soon.”

Meanwhile, The Trip co-star Steve Coogan confesses that he sometimes grows tired of playing Alan Partridge, likening him to “a relative who you quite like to see now and again but you don’t want to live with.”

Reginald D Hunter has announced new tour dates. Details.

Funny Way To Be have announced a series of Edinburgh preview ‘taster’ shows for this summer – a month before they debut at the world’s largest arts festival. The Teesdale comedy club have announced four new shows for The Parish Hall, Barnard Castle, featuring the likes of Alun Cochrane, Joe Lycett and Lucy Beaumont. Details.

Gangster Granny, the children’s novel from David Walliams, is to be adapted for TV. The story is to be broadcast at Christmas on the BBC.

Hebburn creator Jason Cook has won Writer of the Year at this year’s Journal Culture Awards. Cook, who also stars in the hit BBC2 sitcom, picked up the gong at a ceremony in Durham last night, fending off competition from crime-writer Ann Cleeves and playwright Lee Mattinson in the newspaper’s annual honours.

More BBC stuff: BBC2 have ordered six, half-hour episodes of Vic & Bob’s House of Fools, set for transmission in 2014. The studio audience sitcom, which piloted in March, is set in Bob’s grubby flat which he unwillingly shares with Vic – and a constant stream of unwanted visitors.

Elsewhere, BBC Three sitcom Pramface has been given a third series. Pramface follows the story of Laura and Jamie, who end up having a baby together after a drunken one night stand.

Spy, The Thick Of It, Twenty Twelve, Cardinal Burns and The Revolution Will Be Televised have been nominated for the international Rose d’Or TV awards.

Last but not least, Aardman Animations have confirmed a Shaun The Sheep film, set for release in 2015. Class.

For a daily dose of comedy news, follow us on Twitter: @GiggleBeats