What to watch
BBC ONE, 10.35PM
Ben Elton is a smart and intriguing choice for the first edition of this annual lecture series, named in honour of Ronnie Barker. Few British comedy writers have married a career of such longevity to such a high profile, with the result that his work has attracted both lavish praise and vicious opprobrium.
While his early work, both in sitcom (the boundary-smashing The Young Ones) and stand-up, was marked by its vigour, anarchy and antiestablishment anger, recent projects have seen him labelled dull and a sell-out as he abandoned politics for novels, musicals and safer, more lucrative targets.
After a decade or so of misfires (misconceived discussion show Get a Grip, lamentable workplace sitcom The Wright Way, popular but poorly reviewed musical We Will Rock You), last year’s fine Shakespearean comedy Upstart Crow gave him a certain critical rehabilitation. Yet he also rescued Richard Curtis’s Blackadder from the scrapheap, turning it into a comic masterpiece. For that he deserves our eternal gratitude, and 45 minutes of our time. Tonight, David Jason introduces Elton, for an evening of jokes and reminiscences, notably about his friendship with Barker himself. Gabriel Tate