TV Week: Bonekickers, Mock The Week and Lab Rats

I spent the episode wanting to be sucked into its medieval flashbacks, instead of watch charisma-free academics stare at a brightly-lit table, escape baddies by poking a book at them through a library's shelf, or swing around on magically-elasticised ropes beneath a 14th-century dovecote. "Use your archaeological imagination", implored Julie Graham. She failed to add "... and leave your brain at the door."

MOCK THE WEEK (BBC2, THU 9PM) Welcome return for the Have I Got News For You and Whose Line Is It Anyway? hybrid, hosted by Dara O'Briain. Comedy panel shows are everywhere, but this one sits comfortably amongst its peers; less concerned with making serious points, and more an outlet for topical stand-up. Hugh Dennis was left speechless by the dominance of wittier guests, Andy Parsons meandered through on likeability, and Russell Howard struggles to condense his anecdotal style into bite-size quips. But the deliciously dark Frankie Boyle still elicits gasps and giggles with unerring regularity, while O'Briain ringmasters the banter with a firm comic touch. Plus, it has the hilarious "Scenes We'd Like To See" final round, which averages more belly-laughs than a whole episode of that other news quiz.

LAB RATS (BBC2, THU 9.30PM) The traditional, studio-based sitcom has fallen out of favour lately: overtaken by a trend for realism (The Office/Peep Show), mercilessly spoofed by Extras' "When The Whistle Blows", and reduced to toothless mainstream fluff like My Family. But, lest we forget, studio sitcoms have been the backbone of British comedy for decades: Steptoe & Son, Fawlty Towers, Blackadder, et al. But Lab Rats, set in a university science department populated by nerdy scientists, led by Chris Addison (The Thick Of It), won't be joining those hallowed greats, thanks to predicable and convoluted joke-telling. It's outdated in every respect -- only eliciting giggles when the humour skewed towards IT Crowd-style surrealism. The last few minutes (involving an enormous snail, a giant lemon-powered fan, a booby-trapped chair, and an inflated leg) served up solid, goofy laughs. But it was too little, too late.