Stand Up & Deliver

Channel 4, 9pm

The stars doing stand-up for the first time have had only a fortnight to prepare under the tutelage of an experienced pro. Now they all make their debut: a five-minute spot in front of a live audience.

Any thoughts that Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder would walk away with the competition have long since evaporated: mentor Jason Manford (right with Ryder) wonders if the scatterbrained singer can remember enough to finish his set. David Baddiel is refusing to let the Rev Richard Coles coast with his easy-going, sermon-style wit. But can he really open up? And will Baroness Warsi’s appointed tutor, Nick Helm, manage to repress his instinctive hostility to a Tory politician and enable her to fulfil her emerging potential?

The results turn out to be enjoyably surprising. If only all celebrity reality shows were this good.