Brian Cox (II)

Interview: Brian Cox on what keeps him coming home

Brian Cox, son of Dundee, has got brilliant recall of the first time he represented the city on screen. "I was 20, a young actor with the Lyceum in Edinburgh, when I got asked to go back up the road to narrate a wee film about the opening of the Tay road bridge," he says.

From New York to Broughty Ferry, the picturesque suburb of Dundee that Bob Servant Independent calls home. The TV début of a character previously established in a BBC Radio Scotland series and a popular range of books, this likeable and amusing sitcom stars Brian Cox as a vain, deluded, self-serving businessman who decides to stand in a local by-election. The only drawbacks are his political ignorance, his egregious personality, and his exceedingly dim view of the electorate.

Having previously played Servant on radio, Cox is clearly having a whale of a time in the role, and his relish is infectious. An idiotic, roaring blow-hard, Servant is a welcome addition to our rich history of sitcom monsters. He may even do for Dundee what Alan Partridge did for Norwich. Please don't ask me if that's a good thing or not.

Brian Cox on his surprise move into television comedy

The very idea of screen legend Brian Cox's move into television comedy with a new BBC sitcom is without doubt a cause for celebration.

Bob Servant Independent: the don of Dundee

It started as an email prank: a way of out-scamming the scammers. Then it became a book, and a radio play. So when Neil Forsyth was asked to turn his alter ego Bob Servant into a TV character, he fantasised about casting his hero Brian Cox. Then came a chance meeting...

Brian Cox interview

Brian Cox talks about Bob Servant, Independent.

Robin Ince & Brian Cox to guest-edit Xmas New Statesman

Comedian Robin Ince and astronomer Prof. Brian Cox will edit the Christmas edition of The New Statesman.

Eric Idle rewrites Galaxy Song with Professor Brian Cox

Monty Python star Eric Idle wrote the original 'The Galaxy Song' for the 1983 Monty Python's The Meaning of Life movie but got the physics in the lyrics totally wrong. He asked Brian to correct them and the new version is premiering during Brian's talks in Melbourne and Sydney.

It is perhaps not the host's career priority, but BBC2's The Rob Brydon Show has quietly grown into one of TV's best chat shows. I particularly enjoyed his latest guest Prof Brian Cox's anecdote about Kate Moss approaching him at a party to ask about particle physics. Not the kind of particles Kate has been known to find out about at parties, of course.

Two regular features should be adopted forthwith by other chat shows. The first is getting the studio audience to chip in with questions. Tonight a fan asks popstar-turned-physicist Brian Cox the ticklish "Which are better - pop groupies or science groupies?" and gets an unequivocal answer.

Another innovation is, of course, Brydon's fondness for the loosely strung sing-song, led this week by Kelly Jones of Stereophonics on acoustic guitar as Brydon bellows through Pretty Woman - with help from Ray Winstone. But before that, there's Brydon's banter with his audience members, including a man literally born in a toilet: "I'm glad we've flushed you out..."

Never has Prof Brian Cox sounded so off-guard as when Kirsty Young, Jane Garvey and then HM the Queen attempt to go on a date with him. And as for the Archbishop of Canterbury - did he really think asking his followers to send tweets about films connected to fruit and vegetables would be good for his image? The satirical impressions series returns with some brilliant takes on the lives of the famous.