The classic sitcom no longer rules the TV schedules in the way that shows such as Fawlty Towers, Open All Hours and Porridge did in the 1970s. Or does it?

A panel of TV practitioners attempted to tease out the answer last month at an RTS early-­evening event, “No laughing matter: how does comedy fight back?” This stimulating debate made one think that we could be living through another golden age of TV comedy without necessarily knowing it.

ITV has launched this year’s Text Santa charity campaign, urging viewers to “do their bit in a Christmas knit” to raise money for charities Save the Children, Make-A-Wish UK and Macmillan Cancer Support.

This year’s fundraising is based around the Christmas jumper, building up to Christmas Jumper Day on the 18 December.

The final episode of Downton Abbey will feature “all the love and loss, happiness and heartbreak” fans of the show have come to expect, ITV and Carnival Films have promised.

The final series came to an end last weekend, as viewers watched Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) wed racing driver Henry Talbot (Matthew Goode), however the show will return for a final hurrah on Christmas Day.

The special episode will follow the Crawley family and their servants as they prepare to celebrate New Year’s Eve together and welcome in 1926.

1. Catastrophe

Available on All4

​Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney's acerbic comedy about a couple who get pregnant after a one-week-stand was one of this year's funniest new sitcoms. The second series has just started on Channel 4, and it's just as sharp, vulgar, and uproariously funny as the first. In the opening two episodes, the pair are adjusting to family life - and try to rekindle their romance with an ill-fated minibreak to Paris.

From writing hit show Philomena to co-writing and executive producing Cilla and Mrs Biggs, Jeff Pope has had a successful career in the media.

He started out in television by working as a researcher at ITV's London Weekend Television in 1983. Years later he became Head of Factual Drama at ITV Studios. 

In 2007 he won a BAFTA in screenplay for See No Evil: The Moors Murders. 

At this week's RTS Student Masterclasses he told eager television students that dramas tend to be re-written about fifteen times. 

Saturday night prime-time hit The Voice will not return to the BBC in 2017 after being bought by ITV, it was announced this weekend.

From New Zealand beating Australia in the final to Japan's defining win against South Africa, the Rugby World Cup 2015 has been recorded as the second most-watched rugby tournament after England got through to the final in 2007. 

A record number of television audiences tuned in to watch the games. 

ITV told the RTS: "Overall the tournament reached 32 million viewers which is 55% of the UK population." 

In a drama series first, ITV's Victoria will focus on the life of the Queen, played by Jenna Coleman.

It's being produced by the broadcaster's recent acquisition Mammoth Screen, makers of BBC One's Poldark. 

“This epic series is a chance to see the Victorian age through the eyes of the Queen herself for the first time," ITV's Director of Drama, Steve November, told the RTS.

Monday

Scream Queens

E4

10pm

Jamie Lee Curtis and Emma Roberts star in sorority slasher flick Scream Queens, a modern take on a whodunit, where anyone could be the murderer, or the next victim.

It was time to take stock. After three days of intense and stimulating debate, Lorraine Heggessey corralled some of broadcasting’s big beasts onstage to chew the fat at the final session of Cambridge 2015. Was television heading for Happy Valley or was the House of Cards about to collapse?