Live and kicking

THE new show from C4, 10 O’Clock Live, may be about to give politicians the kind of nightmares they haven’t experienced since the days of Spitting Image.

The team that managed to actually wring plenty of entertainment out of election night have been reunited for what could become a TV fixture.

10 O’Clock Live is a new weekly, live comedy and current affairs show hosted by the interesting line-up of David Mitchell, Jimmy Carr, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne.

Each week they’ll be attempting to host an “intelligent, informative but most importantly funny take” on the world of current affairs with a mix of debates, interviews, topical comedy, investigations and opinion pieces.

They’ll be joined by the finest and sharpest minds from comedy, politics, science and culture – all live, in front of a studio audience.

It seems a perfect fit for funnyman Mitchell, whose comedy rants about the state of the nation are infamous. Best known for his Peep Show brilliance and partnership with comic Robert Webb, this represents a slightly more grown-up role for the man seen by many as his generation’s answer to Stephen Fry.

But what can we expect? Will it be a weekly assassination of the usual suspects or a more in-depth examination of the news?

“We’re going to try and avoid comparisons if possible, but our general approach will be to be scrutinising and satirical of politicians in the news and at the same time funny and entertaining,”

says Mitchell.

“It sounds incredibly straightforward put like that. I’ll be chairing a debate each week and interviewing a politician and I want to be asking the same sort of questions as would be asked on a serious show, but with a frivolity and with a view to making people laugh. I don’t think any of the discussion topics on a so-called serious show preclude humour.”

He reckons the show’s tone isn’t going to be constantly cynical.

“We have to be very careful to avoid sneering. What I want the show to feel like is engaged and interested and be a show that people who are interested and want to see changes can identify with – not just a show that thinks politics is dull and boring. That feels particularly important.”

HOW long would it take for modern builders to construct a Romanstyle villa? Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day aims to find out in an odd mix of property development programme and history documentary.

Six skilled builders – foreman Jim, plasterer Tim, plumber Kevin, carpenter Fred, brickie Darren and labourer Ben – are going to try to construct the first authentic Roman villa in Britain in 1,600 years, using only tools and materials that were available to the Romans.

They’ve just six months to complete it, with only a manual written in 25BC by the engineer Vitruvius to help them.

The first episode sees the men come face-to-face with Professor Dai Morgan Evans, who designed the villa. He tells them the site has to be blessed by the gods before any building can begin, but perhaps more improbably, the gang members must then learn how to hew their own stone.

SOME US imports, such as Brothers And Sisters, acquire a loyal but small audience in this country.

C4 might probably have been hoping for a hit in the Desperate Housewives mould when it came along, but the lives and loves of the troubled Walker clan didn’t grab as many people’s imaginations as the Wisteria Lane ladies have done, which is perhaps why they’re now banished to More4.

But at least the Walkers haven’t been dumped altogether – and they’re back for a fifth season.

The car accident that shattered the clan at the end of the previous series still looms large, although everyone seems to be avoiding one another – until a big party is organised for Justin’s homecoming.