Ella Smith

Hoff the Record is one of Dave's new roster of shows that it will help define it as something more than just a place to catch repeats of ]c]Mock the Week] and Top Gear. Dave has certainly been heavily promoting Hoff the Record even going as far as to rename the channel David for one day in honour of Mr Hasselhoff. The first episode sees Hasselhoff travel to the UK as he's under the impression that he's been asked to star in a biopic of his own life. In fact the director (Craig Roberts) wants to audition Hasselhoff to play an older version of himself. Hoff the Record includes the types of characters you would expect to find in a show such as this including David's incompetent British agent (Fergus Craig) and a well-educated PA (Ella Smith) who has no idea who he is. I do feel that Hasselhoff signed up for the show believing that this could work for him in the same way that Episodes did for Matt Le Blanc. Unfortunately the comedy in Episodes comes from the fact that Matt Le Blanc isn't like the character he portrays on the show and it's the same with Warwick Davies in Life's Too Short. Having seen Hasselhoff as himself, both on chat shows and as a reality TV judge, I don't think the version he portrays on Hoff the Record is that far from his real personality. Whilst the situations themselves have been crafted for comic purposes I don't think Hasselhoff tried hard enough to portray a fictionalised version of himself. Meanwhile there isn't really anybody amongst the supporting cast who really stood out and instead the majority of the characters where quite irritating. This is particularly true of Asim Chaudry's Terry Patel; Hasselhoff's driver who tells his new client several inappropriate stories whilst ferrying him about. The only thing I liked about the first episode was the performance given by Craig Roberts as the pretentious film director but unfortunately it looks like he won't be sticking around. Although I do appreciate that Dave are trying out some original ideas Hoff the Record simply wasn't nearly as funny as it should've been. Most of the blame for this can be laid at the door of Hasselhoff as I don't believe he fully committed to the idea of playing a truly fictionalised version of himself.

Matt, The Custard TV, 21st June 2015

What's it like working with a superstar?

He exercised daily, and each morning ate his eight-egg 'Hoff special'. Ella Smith, who stars alongside David Hasselhoff in a new TV show, describes their life on set together.

Ella Smith, The Independent, 26th May 2015