David Walliams

The BBC once again adapts a David Walliams novel for the festive season. Walliams owes a great deal to Roald Dahl, and this is another tale of a forlorn child in a world of cruel and stupid adults. Elliot Sprakes stars as Joe, whose factory worker dad Len (John Thomson) becomes a billionaire after inventing a new type of toilet roll. But as his dad embraces the bling and a glamorous girlfriend (Catherine Tate), Joe yearns for a normal life and friends. Reliable family fun, with Walliams himself co-starring as a dinner lady.

David Walliams on Billionaire Boy

Is lavatory humour the key to happiness? Michael Buerk investigates...

How David Walliams became a national treasure

From Little Britain to acclaimed children's author, Walliams's popularity crosses generations. Now he stars in an adaptation of his latest book, Billionaire Boy.

Walliams And Friend review

Overall the show is an effective one-off that will surely lead to David Walliams being paired up with more friends in the future.

Here's one that will make you feel really old: it's 10 years since the final series of Little Britain aired on BBC One. The show that made David Walliams a bona-fide star served as a launchpad for a career that has seen him take on a judging role on Britain's Got Talent, undertake jaw-dropping charity work (his Thames swim remains a crowning glory), and become a successful children's author.

Now he's going back to his comedy roots with a one-off Christmas TV special. Titled Walliams & Friend, it sees the comedian return to the type of sketches that helped make his name - and his 'friend' is a very special guest indeed. It is, of course, the absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley, who remains a brilliant comedic presence.

By its very nature sketch comedy is hit-or-miss, but Walliams & Friend is thankfully more of the former - from a hilariously terrible gameshow contestant played by Walliams, to a meeting between Joanna Lumley and her own personal team of, erm, other Joanna Lumleys.

And then there's the Bake Off sketch - you'll never look at Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry in the same way ever again.

The 40-minute special is daft fun - and likely to be even funnier after a few Christmas Eve sherries. Here's hoping for more Walliams & Friend episodes in the future with a different guest star each time.

Review: Walliams & Friend, BBC1

It's about time David Walliams got round to doing some proper comedy.

Review - Walliams and Friends: five things we learned

nlikely double act David Walliams and Joanna Lumley coin a new catchphrase and soil the Bake Off forever.

Radio Times review

David Walliams always manages to make his stories entertaining for kids and adults alike. They're not subtle - there are loads of bottom jokes, the message is pretty obvious and the characters are drawn with the delicacy of a sledgehammer. But they do make you smile and leave you with a warm glow around your heart.

In this one, poor, downtrodden, factory worker Len Spud's (John Thomson) life changes when he invents a new toilet roll and becomes a multimillionaire. He gets a new gold-digging girlfriend (Catherine Tate - terrific in a blonde wig with a Geordie accent) and a kind-hearted celebrity butler (Warwick Davis). But wealth can't buy the one thing his lonely son Joe wants - a friend. Walliams couldn't resist making a cameo appearance - as an unhygienic school dinnerlady.

Walliams & Friend preview

For me Walliams & Friend mixes the best of David Walliams' comic abilities, the impressions from Rock Profile shine through in the Bake Off sketch, his clever writing shines through in so many of the sketches.

The friend of the title is Joanna Lumley, as David Walliams accesses his inner Two Ronnies to generally profitable effect. There's a product-placement skit worthy of Ronnies Barker and Corbett, as well as Oscar Wilde as a lewd northern comedian, a team of Joanna Lumley lookalikes, a Bake Off pastiche and much, much more. Better than you might expect.