Comedy on television is, shall we politely say, not in the healthiest of positions. Quite often, shows are lazy and old-fashioned, sticking to tired formats or promoting someone who is (whisper it now), not funny in any way at all. So we should all be really depressed right? Not in the slightest because, weirdly, the best shows are all creeping under the radar well away from primetime and leading the pack is the brilliantly sarcastic Popatron.

On BBC’s Switch programming, which basically resides in a Saturday hangover slot just before and around noon, there’s a whole spate of decent TV shows that mix sharp writing and unending sarcasm. When primetime comedy is afraid to poke fun at its new industry friends, there’s new blood seeping through that really doesn’t care who it attacks.

And Popatron, like Nathan Barley before it, is biting at its own wound and tearing chunks out of the world of television and fame.

Behind the thinnest of veneers, Popatron is kicking huge lumps out of T4 and Popworld. Now, if you thought those two things were already self aware, watch Popatron and imagine Steve Jones and Rick Edwards squirming uncomfortably as a bunch of snotty nosed gits mock their every move.

The show is a perfect pastiche, with segments being so close to the knuckle that it might as well be a replacement finger. While new bands appear to promote their singles, the sketch goes on around them… sometimes… seemingly not aware of what is going on.

The vacuous presenters are delivered in such a way that you thrill at the constant nose-pulling. The faux-sarcasm is reflected in the show segments while the unswerving self loathing and idiocy of the behind-the-scenes footage makes you hoot with laughter while curling your toes so much that you end up with feet like arthritic pensioner hands.

It’s a really, really great programme that does what good comedy should – and that’s to show no guilt about taking everyone down around it.

And the young cast deserve a huge pat on the back as they’ve managed to pull the whole thing off with a straight face, unlike the constant mugging of certain and supposed ‘adult’ comedy shows.

It’s unfair that youths with greasy foreheads should keep Popatron all to their spotty little selves. This is a show that needs to be stuck on at a prime time because it really is the sharpest new comedy on the box currently. It’s a show that makes you feel like the tide is turning away from dross like Miranda and anything that stars Kevin Bishop. Popatron is ready to take you down, provided the BBC is allowed the chance to give it the push it needs.

Don’t fail us Auntie.