Diane Morgan

The conclusion of Philomena Cunk's survey of British history. The graduation of Diane Morgan's doggedly nitwitted character to a series has not been an unalloyed triumph, with the interviews in particular falling flat. The writing and delivery that work well in brief bursts still furnish glorious moments, though.

Is British comedy chasing its own tail?

As Cunk On Britain reaches the series' halfway line, we start to yawn...

Funny Cow review

If Adrian Shergold's film tells us anything about life in 1970s England, the overriding message is that being a female standup comedian was clearly no laughing matter.

Review: Funny Cow

Maxine Peake captivates in a film that takes a serious look at being funny.

Philomena Cunk's 10 funniest moments

Philomena Cunk is back on television, effing the ineffable as she ponders the great questions. Questions such as "What is clocks?", "Who was Churchill?" and "Why did Elizabeth I happen?"

The blissfully stupid Philomena Cunk explores Tudors, Georgians and the civil war, covering everyone from Henry VIII and his "chronic wife addiction" to Will.i.am Shakespeare and Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins: "His method was foolproof, which was handy, because it had to be done by village idiots."

Cunk on Britain, in which history is told at us by dumb people, has been done before, of course - among others, Daisy Donovan and Ali G played the faux-naif ingenue, targeting talking-head experts with wildly varying levels of malice. And done before, anciently before, with Sellar and Yeatman's 1066 and All That, published in 1930 to frankly bemused shouts of weeping, gleeful mirth from all England's minor public schools.

But Diane Morgan, who has proved she's hardly a one-trick pony with her winningly cynical foil to Anna Maxwell Martin in Motherland, is the best yet. Not sure whether even her supreme deadpan can sustain all the expert interviewees - at some point even Diane's got to crack up - but many lines just zinged. Of the Bayeux Tapestry: "Like a Game of Thrones season finale drawn by an eight-year-old boy." Or: "It's just like being there, but in wool."

Cunk on Britain review

It wasn't clear whether the experts were in on the joke, suspected a wind-up or were just too buried in their stones and bones. I know what I'd put my money on though and that's because Cunk doesn't hit the right notes. The very name Philomena Cunk is a clue that someone is just taking the mickey.

Ali G vs Trump - and other inspired spoof interviews

Fifteen years ago, when Donald Trump was merely a business tycoon and not the most controversial US president since Nixon, he found himself face to face with Sacha Baron Cohen's cult comedy alter-ego: aspiring UK rapper Ali G. Now that Diane Morgan's Philomena Cunk is currently rekindling the trend for spoof interviews, we look back at one of the best.

The best Cunk on Britain jokes

Comedy genius Diane Morgan's incredible eye-rolling creation came out with some killer lines - here they are...