Harry Enfield

Paul Whitehouse's Aviva ads don't really float our boat but he's back doing what he does best here with some great character work, be it a near-the-nuckle parody of Silvio Berlusconi or playing the chav with the incessantly barking dog (this time he and baseball-capped partner-in-crime Harry Enfield wind up in church running rings around a children's charity worker). Great class-clash comedy.

'We're like Preston and Chantelle!'

How well do TV funnymen Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse know each other? There's only one way to find out: with a revival of gameshow classic Mr & Mrs.

Full marks to Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse for creating a clutch of new characters for this sketch series and not resting on old catchphrases. Although newcomers such as The Benefits and Mr Psycho Bean miss the mark and make one long for the revival of Enfield's Stavros or Wayne Slob, the duo are skilled performers who wring the last drops of comedy from flabby writing. It's still worth tuning in, if only for their brilliantly macabre interpretation of Dragons' Den.

There are touches of brilliance in Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's latest series. Everyone will have their favourite sketches but the plummy old men in a gentlemen's club discussing which famous people are "quare" are the highlight for me. "If he sounds like a quare and he looks like a quare I should think he's a probable quare," they concur. This week Ian Hislop and, shockingly, David Attenborough are up for discussion. Not all the sketches work so well, but for fans there's good news: Café Polski is back in all its sad glory.

There was a time when Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse were on top of the comedy game. Enfield's Loadsamoney defined an era, while Kevin and Perry provided one of the great portrayals of male teenagerdom. Whitehouse's Fast Show, meanwhile, was the apotheosis of the sketch show, pounding viewers with catchphrases and lightning-quick vignettes. So it is such a shame to see what has become of them.

Enfield recently said "we're just doing stuff for people who don't watch much comedy, but might like us" - well, job half-done. Because anyone who does watch comedy wouldn't last two minutes with this. A Dragons' Den pastiche is nicely set up, with a particularly good impression of the smug Peter Jones, but it tails off, and feels like children acting in the playground. Similarly, are we really meant to find humour in two old boys in a gentlemen's club wondering whether David Cameron is "queer"? Comedy should inspire, infuriate, engage in some way; this just sends you to sleep. Already relegated from BBC1 to BBC2, how long can it be before it's dropped altogether?

Friends reunited: Harry and Paul

An interview with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.

Past their date but by no means rotten

In recent interviews, Harry Enfield has been portraying himself as a grumpy old man, left behind somewhere in the mid-90s by a wave of cleverer, laugh-track free comedy like The Office and struggling to make a comeback. It's a little disingenuous.

It's hard to believe that Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse once danced barefoot on comedy's cutting edge because the third series of Harry & Paul (BBC2) feels wearily old hat. Creating new sketches about Mr Bean and The Beatles - where are we, 1982? - make Nationwide's embarrassing Little Britain ad campaign seem cool and contemporary - and are a sure sign that the well of inspiration was running dry.

If it wasn't for the Dragons' Den spoof that topped and tailed the show - easily the best thing in it - the whole thing would have felt like a repeat that had been transmitted by mistake. But when a boss-eyed Evan Davis impression is the best laugh, you know you're in trouble. Armstrong & Miller cover this kind of territory - but they do it a whole lot better.

Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse on their new TV series

The comics, who display an appealingly self-mocking view of themselves, joke that in real life they might now be heading for a similar fate as Smashie and Nicey. The 49-year-old Enfield laughs: "I recently found out that there are a couple of old people's homes for retired comedians. That's what awaits us."

For a comedian, television can be both a blessing and a curse. Strike it lucky - land your own series, for example - and it can feel as though the sky's the limit. But stick around too long - or, worse, lose your cutting edge - and you can easily find yourself in the wilderness.

What's encouraging about the return of this sketch show, featuring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, is that it's brought the best out of two long-established comics who many may have felt were past their peak.

Not every sketch hits the mark - they never do - but by the end of the 30 minutes you'll certainly be forgiving Whitehouse for those appalling insurance ads. Well, almost. Look out for guest appearances from Charlie Higson, Simon Day and Timothy West.