ELEVENTH HEAVEN! 'FAMILY GUY' RETURNS...

Climb every mountain! The Griffins go high-altitude in the new series of FAMILY GUY. Images; FOX.

Scaling brand new heights of comic absurdity and gross-out genius, the American "icons" that are the Griffins return to the UK's BBC 3 channel this Sunday for all-new FAMILY GUY-its eleventh year. And boy, has it felt like a long wait between seasons this time around.

In charge of what you watch! Peter enjoys being a Ratings Guy.

Into infinity for the Griffins in Space Cadet.

Time travel goes haywire (again) in Yug Ylimaf.

Series/format fatigue hasn't yet crept in, and this years adventures look set to carry on Seth MacFarlane's theatre of the funny bone. The Griffins go for a genuine alpine adventure in Into Fat Air, while Ratings Guy sees them becoming a Nielsen TV ratings family-expect it all to go to Peter's inflated head with his terrifying programme scheduling! Meanwhile, as well as being cloned again later in the run, baby terror/genius Stewie becomes "unborn" in another brainstormingly bizarre time-travel odyssey, mom Lois becomes a "voiceover" artist on an adults only phone line, irritant Chris goes to space camp, cuddly intellectual canine Brian finally writes a hit play, and then goes on to defend Mayor West from a murder charge, and lovable "Giggity, Giggity" deviant Quagmire has to become gay in order to divorce his new prostitute wife. Finally, with her hormones surely ready to erupt Mount Etna style, Meg gets an online date!

Chaos in the courtroom in Twelve and a Half Angry Men!

Quagmire must escape marital bliss in The Giggity Wife.

Brian and Stewie enjoy Roads to Vegas.

An impressive roster of voice guest stars this year include Johnny Depp (reprising his EDWARD SCISSORHANDS role), film-maker JJ Abrams, Dan Castellaneta (as Homer Simpson!), Ryan Reynolds, MAD MEN's Jon Hamm, Giovanni Ribisi, and singer Carly Simon.

Let Sunday evening laughter recommence!

KEEP IT IN THE 'FAMILY GUY'!

It's Griffin time!  FAMILY GUY Season Ten is here! Images: FOX.

One of the few US import shows to escape the wrath of dreaded BBC TV cuts, the tenth series of the Seth MacFarlane created hit comedy series FAMILY GUY arrives with the full force of one of Peter Griffins farts for its exclusive first UK transmissions weekly double bills from tonight on BBC 3. (But what happened to the BBC HD screenings? Beeb, if you're going to pay a lot of money for a new series you might as well show it in the best picture quality possible!) Its creator may have intimated to overseas press that the show has gone on five seasons too long, but, let's face it, FG is still miles funnier than pretty much any other show on TV at the moment (how anyone thinks "comedy" like THE BIG BANG THEORY is funny is beyond me!).

Quagmire, Peter and Joe try to bring down the government in Tea Peter.

Meg is kidnapped in Europe in Leggo-My-Meg-O.

Stewie and Brian don their French disguises in Leggo-My Meg-O.

A nightmare ride for Brian, Quagmire, Joe and Peter in The Forget-Me-Knot.

Delighting children everywhere! Peter creates his own kid's TV show in You Can't Do That on Television, Peter.

New season highlights include Peter winning a $150 million lottery, being an absolute scrooge and incurring the wrath of his friends in the process, then befriending a dolphin (voiced by Ricky Gervais) and developing a children's TV show from hell!, precocious and put upon Meg falling for an Amish boy and then turning 18 (much to the delight of pervy Quagmire)!, Lois cooking a Thanksgiving Dinner that goes pear-shaped and later having to find a new care home for her bitter millionaire daddy, chubby teenage son Chris having to go to fat camp and unexpectedly taking on a serial killer, sophisticated alcoholic dog Brian gets a Blind girlfriend (who's unaware she's dating a canine!), and so too does dear sweet megalomaniac psycho-baby Stewie in the form of Penelope, who's just as corrupted and in to high-tech weaponry as he is (in an excellent guest spot from movie actress Cate Blanchett). There's also some anthology story-esque tributes including an upcoming episode where Peter, Joe, Brian and Quagmire wake up one day with amnesia in a deserted Quahog, whilst the film parodies continue to delight with a dead funny homage to the Liam Neeson European action hit Taken, which sees Meg kidnapped whilst travelling abroad, with Brian and Stewie to the rescue!

Love is in the air for Stewie and new friend Penelope (Cate Blanchett) in Mr. and Mrs. Stewie.

Other great voice guests in what looks to be a very fine season return to form include Ryan Reynolds (as himself!), Juno's Ellen Page, Jon Cryer, Marlee Maitlin and the always funny James Woods.

And, oh yes, that Chicken is back for one more epic fight!