The Ginge, The Geordie And The Geek got its jokes right and at times was hilarious!

With sketches featuring Riverdance and James Blunt, new sketch show The Ginge, The Geordie And The Geek (BBC2) was scarcely straining to be intensely topical satire.

And what a blessed relief that was: here was a sketch trio more concerned with getting its jokes right rather than flaunting its cleverness or political correctness in our faces.

There were misses as well as hits but, with their gangster gulls and amorous ventriloquists, Paul Charlton, Kevin O’Loughlin and Graeme Rooney hit the mark, a dash of surreal imagination added to what is, at heart, traditionally crafted comedy.

They like running about in their underpants, which was vaguely mystifying, and a sketch about cracking the female mind code came off as lame. But a couple of dance numbers were inspired. Watch the last three minutes of episode one and if you don’t laugh, you’re probably dead.