No hug for Liam

Liam Fay has become an excellent Sunday Times TV critic. Like his daily equivalent Hugo Rifkind though, I don't think he enjoyed the first episode of The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown, describing it as a "prissy monologue":

Glib tidings are dispensed in wearying abundance by The Vicar of Dibley in Lockdown, a painfully unfunny series of seasonal sermons from Dawn French’s once revered altar ego. Everything about the venture smacks of piety and schmaltz, the very qualities the original sitcom endeavoured to lampoon...The BBC has billed the Dibley resurrection as “the warm comedy hug we’ve all missed”. It’s become an article of broadcasting faith that it’s more important for comedy to be cosy than funny. However, no matter how it’s couched or camouflaged, a lame joke from a professional gagster is not a cuddle; it’s more like a slap in the face.