The Catherine Tate Show

I totally disagree with the previous reviewer's comments, although obviously it all comes down to taste in the end.

Catherine Tate is a brilliant comedian. Some of the characters are so spot on it's spooky. Who can believe that the elderly character Nan is being portrayed by the same actress who portrays the sullen schoolgirl Lauren? OK, not all the sketches are as funny but it is worth watching for the absolutely hysterical moments that punctuate this show. Timing is brilliant and some of the characters will I am sure become classics. In the new series the hit rate is even better!

I think Catherine Tate deserves to be called the new Queen of Comedy!

I realise that humour is quite a subjective thing but all the same Catherine Tate is about as funny as infant mortality. People say sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but personally I think catchphrase comedy is several steps down from it. Most of her material has been crudely borrowed from other shows, some of which weren't really that good either.

Luckily for this stupid ginger harridan the good old BBC like to give out very long contracts as a result of having a few 'stars' poached by ITV about twenty bloody years ago. They never got over it and so the likes of Catherine 'talent vacuum' Tate are given five, ten or even fifteen year contracts. What this means for the viewer is whether they turn out to be any good or not they will be on your screen for a very long time.

I wouldn't really care to be honest but the BBC foisted her on Dr Who fans ruining that show as well. She has no talent, no charisma and she certainly isn't funny but you'll be seeing lots more of her I'm sure.

Little Britain is a very funny sketch show but it is nowhere near as well observed as Catherine's masterpiece. Compare Vicky Pollard and Lauren. Many assume that Lauren is Catherine's attempt to imitate and cash in on Lucas's Pollard. But the character of Lauren was invented long before that of Pollard and is a far richer observation of today's inarticulate, low-aspiring youth. Pollard is a much more surreal character, someone who wouldn't be of place in Royston Vasey. Lauren however is scarily real.

Also the 'Nan' is possibly the second funniest 'Nan' creation in recent times, second only to the slightly more sublimity that is 'Nanna' in The Royle Family.

In fact, the majority of sketches on the Catherine Tate Show are very strong. It is just that people assume that a show that has so many different sketches with such a limited number of performers will be stale, but it's not. In fact, it's fantastic.

I laughed all the way through the one show I saw. Catherine Tate sets up several situations...in this case a housewife who jumps at the slightest noise, a new mother who will do anything to keep from waking the baby while people try to give her a birthday party, a hateful grandmother being visited by her grandson, and several others, and revisits their scenes in turn throughout the show. The premises are skimpy, it is true, but I didn't notice that until this other reviewer pointed it out because her characterizations were hilarious. I'm a Californian so I really had to focus to make out what some of the characters were saying as she uses various accents from all over England. I would be very pleased to see more of Catherine Tate.

"Is an old woman swearing funny" - "This sort of comedy is done 100 times better by Matt Lucas in little Britain". Well in that case is a pedantic man in a wheelchair funny? Comedy is subjective, Catherine Tate's observations are spot on, OK granted some of the sketches go on too long, the essex couple (with Lee Ross) spring to mind, but the gran sketch has characteristics present in old people all across the country. Will this be shown in twenty years time, who knows but i was brought up on Not the nine o clock news also and a lot of that Doesn't stand the test of time and is very dated, as is a lot of the young ones. If you don't like it don't watch, but a lot of other people do.............................