Harry Enfield
- 63 years old
- English
- Actor, writer, comedian and executive producer
Press clippings Page 13
The Windsors, Channel 4, review
There's some mildly subversive satire in there if you look hard enough.
Veronica Lee, The Arts Desk, 7th May 2016Super-silly sitcom about the royal family from the creators of Star Stories, Bert Tyler Moore and George Jeffrie. The gags bang and whoosh like a New Year's Eve fireworks display and W1A's Hugh Skinner is outstanding (and somehow even posher than before) as Prince William, backed up nicely by Harry Enfield as a mildly demented Prince Charles and Haydn Gwynne as a conniving Camilla. The result is quite joyfully daft throughout. Knighthoods all round.
Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 6th May 2016I enjoy a cruel joke as much as the next person, particularly when it's aimed at the Establishment, but even I flinched at some of the gags in this new sitcom which mercilessly mocks the Royals. I may have flinched but it didn't stop me laughing, and it's surely a measure of brave satire if you feel a twinge of discomfort.
A furious Camilla wonders why Wills and Kate grab all the attention. Seeing yet another fawning headline she rages that "the Great British scum" will want to skip Charles and have William crowned instead. If only she could have a baby, she thinks, and upset the line of succession. But Charles, played by Harry Enfield, reminds her she's "not had a period since Wham! split up." Elsewhere, a tipsy Fergie gets mistaken for Mick Hucknall and we learn Kate is actually a Gypsy who used to battle Rottweilers in a Morrison's car park.
The jokes might be distasteful, but this is satire and the attacks are aimed at a family who're secure and pampered. They can take it, I'm sure. If not, they can always give up and get a real job.
Julie McDowall, The National (Scotland), 6th May 2016Review: The Windsors
There are some neat, if not side-splitting, lines and enjoyably daft premises, but the show never really takes off. A lot of the scenes have a touch of the Spitting Image about them for sure - but what works as sketch doesn't necessarily sustain for a full narrative.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 6th May 2016The Windsors - a real blast of punk comedy
I'm not bang up to date on treasonous acts and how to avoid them, but the writers and cast of The Windsors probably shouldn't expect an invitation to a Buckingham Palace garden party any time soon.
Benji Wilson, The Telegraph, 6th May 2016Preview: The Windsors
The Windsors isn't going to win any awards for subtlety and the writers certainly aren't going to win any knighthoods, but if you like seeing royal poshos royally sent up this should put a smile on your face.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 4th May 2016Preview: Upstart Crow
Never mind Leicester winning the league, what odds would you have got on Ben Elton being funny again? But hold the front page: Elton has got his mojo back. Well, everything is relative. After his appalling The Wright Way it looked like the acclaimed comic might never make us laugh again. But he has done it with Upstart Crow, which, let's not mince words, is Blackadder Does The Bard.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 4th May 2016Comedy's five best sketch duos, according to Max & Ivan
The British double act pay tribute to their heroes - including Matt Lucas and David Walliams, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, and the late Ronnies Corbett and Barker.
Max and Ivan, The Guardian, 8th April 2016Mainstream Sitcom: Situation Report
Why are household names like Steve Coogan and Harry Enfield still making comedy for BBC2, not BBC1 or ITV?
James Cary, Sitcom Geek, 7th April 2016Harry Enfield on DJs
The lot of them get tarred with the Savile brush.
Duncan Lindsay, Metro, 22nd February 2016