Ben Miller (I)

Ben Miller: pushing myself into different comedy forms

Ben Miller is bringing one of Britain's most loathsome monarchs back to life in Horrible Histories: King John And The Magna Carta.

Harry Hill was the perfect Professor in The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, a gag-a-minute Heath Robinson come to life with some delightfully grown-up gags, and some delightfully childish ones, and I wished, while watching, that I was 12 years old again and able to revel in simple glees.

His pretty village, Pagwell, is impossibly representative of an England lost for decades now, and David Mitchell and Ben Miller impossibly representative of cartoon villainy, but I didn't mind in the slightest because Norman Hunter's children's books have been re-rendered as impossibly good fun. I almost used the word zany but I've got through a whole 'nother year without using it, hurrah. Oops.

A nostalgic big-brushstrokes comedy, with Harry Hill's wide-eyed stare a good fit for the manic Professor Branestawm and his hare-brained Heath Robinson-style inventions: a machine for herding cats, a robot father and - "imagine that!" - a portable telephone device. David Mitchell and Ben Miller ham it up as the panto villains trying to put a damper on things.

Professor Branestawm: Why you should tune in

Although he's supported by a starry British cast including the always brilliant Vicki Pepperdine, Simon Day, David Mitchell and Ben Miller this is definitely Hill's big outing, and whether you enjoy it or not obviously depends on whether you actually like the former comedian turned King of Bloopers.

Radio Times review

There are certain RT people who have very fond memories of Norman Hunter's Professor Branestawm books from our primary school days and even after all these years we're a bit protective. But I think we're in safe hands, judging by the few clips that were available for preview. Harry Hill, a long-time master of eye-popping anarchy, actually looks the part of Hunter's bonkers, absent-minded inventor, a good-hearted buffoon who never does anything right.

Branestawm is the bane of his pretty village, Pagwell, where a buttoned-up, officious windbag of a councillor, Harold Haggerstone (David Mitchell), decides he's a menace to health and safety and wants his explosion-prone "workshop" closed down.

But of course this pettifogging bureaucrat has an ulterior motive: he wants to pave the way for evil businessman Mr Bullimore (Ben Miller) to open a munitions factory. It's deliciously old-fashioned, and could well be a lot of fun.

Advertising man and stage magician Norman Hunter first created his quintessential absent-minded professor in the 1930s, in a couple of well-loved children's books. He then took a 33-year break, reviving Branestawm in the 1970s when he knocked off a string of books of comically disastrous experiments, which became fixtures of the story-reading show Jackanory for a new generation.

Nothing much had changed: Branestawm still existed in a dreamy, madcap world where "doing science" meant blowing things up and it was understood that geniuses were exempt from normal behaviour, like dressing properly or remembering anything.

Now, science tends to mean computerised calculations and even landing a rocket on a comet does not exempt a chap from apologising for a dodgy shirt. In fact, not all scientists are even chaps. But we still have this idea - popularised by dramas like The Social Network or Sherlock - that no-one can be that clever and still be, well, "normal".

Charlie Higson, who revived another old franchise for the pre-teen set with his Young Bond books, has adapted Hunter's characters for a nostalgia-soaked family romp, nominally set in the 1930s but actually set in a delightfully artificial never-was.

Harry Hill makes his thespian debut as the eccentric academic, though it's more of a broad performance than actual acting. But he's surrounded by a capable, in-on-the-joke cast including Ben Miller, Simon Day, Vicki Pepperdine and Higson himself. A basically-modern little girl sidekick (Madeline Holliday) stands in for the hoped-for young audience, gleeful over bangs and mess but still, perhaps, getting hooked on science into the bargain.

Harry Hill stars as Professor Theophilus Branestawm in an adaptation of Norman Hunter's classic books. He's an absent-minded inventor, prone to left-field mutterings, which makes him an easy target for local businessman Mr Bullimore (Ben Miller) and councillor Harold Haggerstone (David Mitchell), who want to eject him from the village of Great Pagwell. Assisted by schoolgirl Connie, best friend Colonel Dedshott (Simon Day) and housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop (Vicki Pepperdine), will he prevail?

Ben Miller to star in BBC4 Assange-inspired comedy

Ben Miller, the Death in Paradise star and Doctor Who baddie, is to appear in the BBC Four comedy about a government whistleblower inspired by Julian Assange's two-year stay in the Ecuadorian embassy.

Ben Miller mistaken for Ben Stiller

Ben Miller ended up staying in a "lavish" five star hotel after he was mistaken for the very similarly-named Ben Stiller at the Cannes Film Festival.

Radio Times review

The adult storybook series continues a strong season with this second tranche of tales. Ben Miller is up first, reading Alexander Kirk's Man's Best Friend, a decidedly weird yarn about a Victorian gent (hilariously acted out by the always brilliant Kevin Eldon) who transplants the brain of his much-loved dog into the body of a beautiful woman.

Then comes Sue Perkins doing Melissa Bubnic's Return to Sender, a modern tale of a shophaholic called Daisy who meets a kindred spirit - but with disastrous results.

These stories are oddly moral as well as decidedly wacky, and fans will not be disappointed. There is also a Bake Off line inserted into Perkins's story that ices this particular cake very nicely indeed.