Dead Man Weds (ITV1); Distant Shores (ITV1); Desperate Housewives (C4): HOLD the front page. The unthinkable has happened. No, Richard hasn't stop browbeating Judy and the Government hasn't banned those endless sofa adverts that interrupt the programmes after Christmas. What's occurred is that ITV1 has come up with a comedy that's not embarrassing but actually funny.

Dead Man Weds brings together writer David Spikey and comic Johnny Vegas in a fruitful partnership in a series set in and around a local newspaper, the Fogburrow Advertiser, in a sleepy Pennine village.

The new editor is Gordon Garden (Spikey), a former Daily Telegraph journalist newly recovered from a nervous breakdown. The situation at the Fogburrow Advertiser does little to aid his recovery.

The paper is being run by lazy hack Lewis Donat (Vegas) and team of deadbeats. Carol spends the day chatting to a persistent obscene phone caller, sub-editor Gerry has yet to master new technology and cub reporter Duane is an amateur actor who believes in playing the part even at work.

A running story about a nearby US conglomerate whose activities appear to have turned the local water blue gives the series a framework, but the real joy are the characters and one-liners that Spikey has provided.

ITV1 also has another hit with the preceding programme, Distant Shores - as long as viewers don't think it's a rip-off of another series on the same channel, Doc Marten. Both concern doctors quitting London to work in a remote part of the country where the locals are as normal as staff of the Fogburrow Advertiser.

The tone of both veers between comedy and drama. On the evidence of the opening instalment of Distant Shores, this has the edge over Doc Marten as far as I'm concerned.

Peter Davison and Samantha Bond are the couple who up sticks and move, with their children, to a remote island off the North-East coast.

The sight of Davison with his hand up a cow's bum revived memories of All Creatures Great And Small, while the doctor's surgery of which this plastic surgeon is now in charge has echoes of A Very Peculiar Practice - two previous series in which the actor starred and to which the Distant Shores trailers on ITV made reference.

Bill Shore's surgical skills are needed by a pregnant cow, not a lot different from his proper work as a plastic surgeon enhancing breasts and remodelling noses.

His skills as a person are less efficient. His wife describes him as "a wonderful surgeon but a crap human being". She also notes that "your daughter is obsessed with death and your son's most meaningful relationship is with his imaginary friend". Clearly, the Shores are a family with problems to spare.

The families in C4's new US import, Desperate Housewives, are also emotionally challenged. With their stories narrated by a woman who commits suicide before the opening credits, this is a slick and smart series that looks promising.

I loved the mother who found the perfect way to keep her children under control. If they didn't behave, she threatened, she'd call Santa and tell him they wanted socks for Christmas.

Published: 06/01/2005