Now, in its second run, Look Around You has been expanded by 15 minutes or so and “promoted” to a 10pm slot in BBC2′s Monday night line-up. Can what was a concentrated serving of humour survive such a dilution? On the evidence of this first episode, the jury would appear to be out. Parts of episode one were amusing, while a few other bits fail to raise even the mildest of titters (witness the dreadful Data Bank inserts that appear periodically – odd question and answer posers that were just not very funny at all).

Neatly opening with the 1970s-style BBC2 ident – you know the one, the hideous orange, white and black affair with the “2″ made up of thick lines – everything appears to be just as it should be. From the gloriously retro title sequence (which, in fact looks a bit too polished to have originated in the era) to the funky synthesised music by “Gelg”, Look Around You clearly stands out as one of a kind. Visually, everything is as it should be: from the tasteless brown and beige colour schemes on show everywhere – from the presenters’ clothing to the vast studio backdrop, to the stock footage of clunky old computers that is used liberally throughout to create the right ambience. Rather than repeat the theme of the first series where presenters Peter Packard and Jack Morgan carried out bizarre scientific experiments in silence, bar Nigel Lambert’s measured narration telling us what we were seeing, this time around the writers have chosen to spoof the Tomorrow’s World of the Michael Rodd/Judith Hann period. Amazing new inventions were the order of the day back then, and Look Around You seeks to imitate the theme.

Music is the subject of the episode, with a grand contest being carried out in the studio to find out what sort of tunes (according to the competition judge, the Ghost of Tchaikovsky, played by guest Harry Enfield) we were supposed to be listening to in the year 2000. The contestants are Tony Rudd, Toni Baxter and Anthony Carmichael who each perform a song that is completely wide of the mark. Machadaynu is “sung” by comedy genre favourite The Actor Kevin Eldon, while Toni Baxter presents us with a Sara Brightman-esque vision of the future with her song Sexual Interface. Best of all though is The Rap Song from well-spoken young man Carmichael who demonstrates to us just how good rap music could have been.

The presenting team is expanded from two to four, with the addition of Josie D’Arby as Pealy Maghti and Olivia Coleman as Pam Bachelor. D’Arby in particular comes across very well, utilising her skills as both an actress and children’s telly presenter to craft a believable host to go alongside Packard and Morgan. While she fits the bill very nicely, Coleman spends most of the episode looking nonplussed. Pealy has a fixed smile throughout and is the one who introduces us to Synthesiser Patel – a man so in love with the new-fangled instrument that he has taken to changing his name by deed poll. However, probably the best character on show here is Leonard Hatred, a man so tormented by noise throughout his life that he has invented the incredible Psilence – silence in a can. Hatred is played by Mark Heap, who looks exceedingly menacing for a man who apparently likes the quiet life.

The problem with Look Around You mark two is that it is incredibly difficult to see how the series can be spread over the course of six weeks successfully. There are laughs to be had here, but this was only the first episode and it is hard to see how the ideas behind the show can be maintained. Care and attention to detail has been taken over the visual presentation, and the observational gags (such as the presenter tripping over the cables on the floor) are at times spot on, but the programme feels far too one-note to be able to keep up the laugh count and maintain the interest of the viewers.

What guffaws there were were spread much too thinly and the pace is too sluggish. Perhaps, by the end of the run Serafinowicz and Popper may reflect that they should have done another series of snappy 10-minute episodes, rather than these much slower-paced 30-minute affairs.

Oh, and Jack’s follow-up song to Little Mouse, Reggae Man, wasn’t very good either.

It’s perhaps ironic then that Talkback’s new mock schools’ programme Look Around You succeeds beyond all expectation in accurately reflecting its source material – but fails to hit home with any laughs. So why is this?

For this reviewer, anyway, Look Around You has remained terribly one-note. It appears that the comedy is supposed to stem from the juxtaposition of earnest presentation and nonsensical content. The few “proper” gags that have been slotted in alongside this approach have themselves been laboured and uninspiring. The unravelling of the word “Maths” into a long and convoluted acronym last week was a tired old joke, but remained one of the few examples of constructed humour rather than – well – just saying something a bit stupid.

And it’s a shame, really, because there is so much potential here. From the snippet of the school’s clock to the retro-Talkback logo it’s obvious that there’s been a lot of care put into Look Around You. As such, it still remains a vaguely pleasant viewing experience, with its nostalgic warm synthesised music, nicely ponderous presentation and crackly old film stock. But it’s just too easy to ignore.

Let’s take a look at another parody that is arguably more successful in raising laughs. That Peter Kay Thing, which is currently being repeated on Channel 4, takes parody as its starting point, but doesn’t rely on it for the humour. The spoof fly-on-the-wall documentary format is really the least of the programme’s charms, even though it gets the parody exactly right (Andrew Sachs on commentary, the occasional dodgy zoom and participants’ eyes flickering almost unconsciously to the camera at moments of stress). It’s all just a framework for Peter Kay’s peerless characterisation and old-fashioned sense of humour, allowing a great deal of comedy and an element of story to unfold.

Perhaps it’s an unfair to compare Look Around You to That Peter Kay Thing. After all at only 10 minutes in length Look Around You is meant to be slight. And similarly, the programme is not about character – it’s purposely sterile and distant. But it does seem to rely so heavily on the parody aspect that other possible layers remain unexplored. The end result is 10 minutes of telly that provide some nice background colour if you want to read a book or, put the kettle on or make a sandwich.