Andrew Collins (II)

The Truth About Benny Hill

He was Britain's greatest comic export. In 1990, The Benny Hill Show was on in 97 countries around the world, although not, ironically, the UK.

I've been irritated and underwhelmed by new comedy drama Married Single Other, whose decent cast (including the ubiquitous Shaun Dooley) are battling against clunky exposition and a patina of arch wit that seems to make every character sound like every other character ie. arch and witty. That said, I haven't written a piece of drama that's actually been on telly since EastEnders and that's eight years ago now, so maybe I'm not in a position to nitpick.

Key marginal

I went to see Party by Tom Basden last night at the Arts Theatre in London's Covent Garden. I really enjoyed it, but I am going to try and explain why like a theatre critic would, even though I hardly ever go to the theatre to watch people sitting around a talking and not dancing or singing.

Comedy Podcasts: A smile costs nothing

An article about comedy podcasts which includes interviews with Andrew Collins, Richard Herring, Robert Llewellyn and Andy Zaltzman.

Pussy galore: a tribute to Mrs Slocombe

With her immortal 'pussy', Mrs Slocombe turned the airwaves as blue as her rinse. Mollie Sugden's creation will be remembered as one of the strongest, sauciest female characters of the 70s.

The fall and rise and fall and rise and fall

Individual lines, which may have been Nobbs's, and may have been Simon Nye's, were fine, and Martin Clunes did a fair job as Reggie, also driven to fantasy by his humdrum life. But there was something wrong about the whole thing.

No longer going out

Apparently this was in the News Of The World yesterday, so it's incumbent upon me to confirm it: BBC1 have indeed cancelled the award-winning sitcom Not Going Out.

BBC axes Not Going Out

The BBC has axed studio sitcom Not Going Out after three series. The Avalon-produced series, co-created by its star Lee Mack and writer/broadcaster Andrew Collins, was part of BBC1's Friday night line-up.

Boycie pinched my sitcom

Now I'm not saying Sullivan has copied our sitcom. My guess is that, like the majority of the great British public, he never saw it.