There seems to be a bit of a rash of sitcoms asking for your attention at the moment, with Mr Bigstuff on Sky and Piglets on ITV1. But the best of the bunch is Changing Ends, which has just returned for a second series and is airing back to back with copper comedy Piglets. Saturday night feels like an odd time to broadcast one sitcom, never mind two, but if you can't cancel your social engagements and stay in for them they are all on ITVX whenever you like.

The only reason to watch Changing Ends, to be honest, is Oliver Savell, but it's a big reason. Savell plays young Alan in this quasi-autobiographical coming of age comedy set in 1987 in Northampton and beyond the mandatory references to Kerplunk and Findus Crispy Pancakes he delivers every line with absolute aplomb, a 12-year-old going on 50. In the first episode of the new series his mum suggests he needs to stop dressing up as a Tudor for fun and get out more. Maybe go bowling in town. "I'm not wearing communal shoes," he says in a waspish manner worthy of Kenneth Williams.

Each scene is a showcase for Savell, who even upstages the real Alan who pops in as narrator now and again. The only person who gets a look-in is a Cariad Lloyd, who has an all-too-brief cameo as Alan's eccentric drama teacher. Elsewhere fag-smoking dodgy Donna drags him into the girl's toilet to sort out some fake ID for him so that he can get into the cinema to see the new Vietnam movie Platoon.

The stand-out scene comes when Alan tries to buy a ticket for thr film, trying to come across as older than his years by talking about how his knees are playing up. It's brilliantly acted as is the rest of his performance, although for some reason it reminds me of a young Daniel Kitson more than a young Alan Carr. But that's probably just a ombinaation of the northern accent and my obsession with Daniel Kitson. 

Read an interview with Oliver Savell who plays young Alan here.

Changing Ends, Saturdays, ITV1 & ITVX

Picture: ITV1