It used to be Fridays that were funny, but now it’s Thursdays, and they really, really are – Mock the Week completes the triumvirate along with Mitchell and Webb and Psychoville this week, and you don’t often get an hour and a half’s telly as good as that all lined up nice and neat for you. But Wednesdays are now trying to get in on the action too with this new comedy for BBC Two – Taking The Flak, a withering look at the world of egotistical journos (not like us lot at TVScoop, then) as they turn up in a usually ignored African war zone.

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Ignored, that is, by everyone at the BBC except the one, young, inexperienced journalist Harry who has been there for years, getting to know the locals, and dreaming of his moment in the sun – two minutes on the 6 O’Clock News with Sophie Rayworth, maybe, or even Huw Edwards.

But of course it doesn’t work like that; the moment a big story breaks, the Beeb send in the big guns, namely David Bradburn (Martin Jarvis), a John Sergeant-esque figure who’s never seen on TV without a bullet-proof vest. Martin and his team, headed by the producer Jane Thomason (Doon Mackichan), descend on the little war-torn country with no background knowledge whatsoever and steal all the glory.

If this all has a (rather worrying) air of authenticity, that’d be because the show is written by people who’ve been there, done that – Tira Shubart and Jon Rolph are journalists themselves. If you think about it, though, this is actually quite a brave commission by the BBC – they’re saying that this is what it’s really like… wouldn’t they rather have us think the journalists we see on TV actually know what they’re talking about?!

In any case, it’s a generally a fun show. Filmed on location, it looks wonderful, and Mackichan and Jarvis are hugely watchable. The broad humour brought in through the almost ceaseless bowel movements of one member of the team, though, seems out of kilter with the programme – this isn’t as intellectual as it might sound, and in fact a lot of the characters are quite cartoonish, but still, that doesn’t quite fit. I’m also not sure why it was decided this should be an hour, but overall, it’s a nice idea, well performed, and with some neat one-liners. Worth sticking with, in other words.