ANDREW BILLEN is less than happy with Paul Whitehouse's new comic creation

British television is going through a patch of being not at all bad. Comic Relief (BBC1, mainly), which usually provides a good reason to be out on a March Friday night, gave us not only Ali G's acute interview with Posh and Becks, but the excuse for Celebrity Big Brother (mainly Channel 4), which, like the original, will probably emerge as one of the key TV events of the decade. The Cops returned this week to BBC2 on Wednesday and was followed minutes later by Teachers, which may well be the ensemble, profession-based drama that finally scores for Channel 4 after the near-misses of Psychos and North Square.

And then there is the new comedy series Happiness (BBC2, Tuesdays, 10pm), written by Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings of The Fast Show. It stars Whitehouse, who has borrowed The Fast Show's Mark Williams, Simon Day and Maria McErlane for cameo work. The magnificent Johnny Vegas has a recurring role as Charlie, a 40-year-old divorced alcoholic going on 18.

Its subject, mid-life crisis, is one that has fascinated Whitehouse ever since he invented a character in The Fast Show known as Mid-life Crisis Man, a figure who never in fact made it to the screen. What is more, it seems to reflect Whitehouse's personal circumstances. His marriage fell...