Review: The Sarah Millican Television Programme – Series 3, Episode 2

The ever affable Sarah Millican has perfected the “I’m just a friend and you’re in my living room” style of comedy for a while now, and episode two of the new (third) series stays true to the style we’ve become accustomed too.

This show has no pretentions about itself; it’s lighthearted, unchallenging and breezy television for the family, full of cheeky innuendo without crossing over the vulgarity line. It’s television to have on whilst doing the washing up or playing Candy Crush.

Interspersed with Millican’s brand of broad, observational stand up – spoken to camera rather stiffly – there are a few guests. Michael Palin, Helen Skelton and Tim Wonnacott are on the show tonight, in what feels like a competition for the nicest person ever award.

Sarah never really probes very deep with her questions, keeping to a conversational style; it all feel pretty superficial, but the pace doesn’t falter and it never becomes dull.

Interviewing Michael Palin feels a bit odd; he is worlds away from the comedy god of the Python era, and the mentions of old jokes feels a bit cringey, like whenever they yank Paul McCartney out for a public British party and prod him to do the things like he used to do.

With nothing to plug it would seem, it’s all over rather briefly and feels like a wasted opportunity to get some glittering insights into a very interesting man who has travelled the globe, and was integral to some of the best comedy ever created.

Helen and Tim also play nice and set up a couple of easy innuendos for Sarah to get her teeth into (see what I did there?).

The show is clearly just a vehicle for showcasing some of Sarah’s stand up with a couple of guests bundled on for good measure. It’s short and sweet, has no aspirations to change your life but gets the job done.