On TV now: magician Troy; fixer Ray Donovan; and Big School's unruly teachers

I once spent a morning crouched silently in my friend's wardrobe after his mum had unexpectedly returned home, nearly foiling our plan to bunk off school. That we had spent nearly three hours hiding in sweaty, uncomfortable conditions, far worse than those at school, was not a problem. In fact, it was a small victory in our fight against the system. We had skipped school and avoided detection, and we used the rest of the day wisely: memorising the lyrics to all of the tracks on Black Sabbath albums Paranoid and Vol 4 ("Has he lost his mind? Can he see or is he blind?").

Other than sneaking a bottle of Malibu into art class and once locking the woodwork tutor, Mr Dorset, in his workshop while he showed the French mistress, Madame Rose, his "tools", playing truant that time was as rebellious as we ever got. We were pretty good kids and our mischief was never insufferable enough (I hope) to cause a teacher to have a nervous breakdown, the fate of Big School's poor geography teacher, Mr Barber (Steve Speirs; Stella).

I thought this pointless sitcom had milked the last laugh from its old-fashioned, predictable format, but tomorrow night (BBC Entertainment 10.45pm, although it has been on demand for a while, already), a second season begins, with the teachers once again acting like unruly pupils.

After his classroom meltdown last season, Mr Barber has been demoted to the position of school caretaker and must now suffer the indignity of being fed fishfingers through the canteen window. It's one of the premiere's few highlights.

David Walliams' (Little Britain) bumbling Mr Church is still romantically pursuing the annoying Miss Postern (Catherine Tate) while uncouth PE teacher Mr Gunn (hard to believe it's the same Philip Glenister who played Life on Mars' DCI Gene Hunt) tries to muscle in on the action.

That's really all there is to it. In the upcoming episodes there are a few sub-plots to accompany the shamefully obvious storylines (the music teacher tries and fails to become a pop star; a blind staff member is hired with "hilarious" consequences). If you enjoyed the first series then there's nothing to turn you off here, but much like my history report card always said, Big School "could do far better with a little more effort".

One person who can't be accused of lacking effort is brooding Hollywood fixer Ray Donovan (Liev Schreiber; X-Men Origins), who returned to our screens last week. The third noirish season starts (tomorrow, FX, 10pm) introduces the Finney family, led by billionaire Malcolm (Ian McShane; Deadwood) and his ambitious daughter Paige (Katie Holmes, Dawson's Creek; above with McShane), who seek out Donovan's particular skill set following the kidnapping of a family member.