Harry Enfield

Philippines angry at Enfield show

Comedian Harry Enfield's BBC show has been labelled 'disgraceful and distasteful' by members of the Philippine community in the UK.

Last Thursday the second six-week series of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency began on Radio 4, with our intergalactic sleuth (Harry Enfield, still perfect) somewhat down on his luck and obliged to dress up as a gypsy woman and tell fortunes. Come and warm yourself by this sprig of flaming white heather, he enjoined a record company executive being stalked by a couple of demons. They arranged to meet the following morning at 6.30 so that Gently could save the terrified man from a fate worse than death. Gently overslept and the man disappeared. Ah well, Gently said, philosophically.

The first series of new Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield sketches, which bore the prefix Ruddy Hell!, was so flabbily disappointing that expectations were low for the new run. That's worked in their favour because series two has been surprisingly good, with Mr I Saw You Coming, the ageing rap DJs and the posh scaffolders all hitting the spot.

Series two of Dirk Maggs's brilliant dramatisation and production of Douglas Adams's cosmic sleuth, and if the first episode is anything to go by the next six weeks of The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul should just surf by on a wave of surreal laughter.

It has to be admitted that knowing the book probably helps the listener to follow the plot, which seems at this early stage to be a bit all over the place.

We find Dirk Gently (Harry Enfield again, wonderful again) somewhat on his uppers (a scene in which he prizes the arrival of an envelope containing a charity appeal for the free pen that comes with it - very Ed Reardon). We also discover that Odin, Thor and other gods have been reduced to appearing in commercials. No doubt it will all start to come together next week. But even if it doesn't, who cares?

I have a deep and abiding love for Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, but the first series of Harry and Paul left me deeply underwhelmed. It had its moments, but I was left with the feeling that the pair were trading upon their reputations.

So rejoice to the news that series two is clever, inventive, imaginative, frequently inspired and the funniest programme currently on TV.

Their Dragon's Den pastiche in episode one was fabulous, but even greater joys were to come the following week with the Liverpool Capital of Culture running gag which saw various giants of the performing arts - including Matthew Bourne, Simon Rattle - conduct sweaty, Steven Gerrard style post-match interviews.

I let me baton do the talking. Cheers! droned Rattle, in thickest Scouse, before snatching a bottle of celebratory champagne and departing mid-question.

Rather than attempt to hold on to their youthful glamour like some yoiks I could mention, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse returned on Friday for the second series of Harry and Paul embracing old age so tightly it may soon expire on their chests. The opening titles feature them as a pair of old Soviet generals and they reappear as geriatric DJs playing their favourite Nineties rap and then again as Nelson Mandela and Castro.

You might accuse them of favouring some pretty old jokes, too. Thirties cinema remains an inspiration; here an early version of The Bourne Identity had a plummy Jason asking: "Hells bells who am I?" Whitehouse's version of Theo Paphitis in the Dragons' Den sketch was clearly a close relative of Stavros. And the pair still delight in imagining breaches of the walls that divide Britain culturally: meet the builders with opinions on Tracey Emin ("a child of five could become a ludicrous parody of themselves"), a foul-mouthed but multilingual football manager, the over-educated surgeon operating on a Foo Fighter and the fishermen chatting, by the side of their local pond, about the merits of Peter Shaffer.

For those of us of a certain age, this half hour was pure pleasure, or would have been were it not for knowing that its producer, Geoffrey Perkins, had died ten days ago without seeing the old age his stars parody with such fate-tempting brio.

Ruddy hell! It's not Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul. It's just Harry and Paul now. How confusing. Were you confused by the original title? Me neither. Maybe it was just too long for the Sky EPG.

Anyway, they're back: Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, former young Turks of comedy, are once again on primetime BBC1, shoring up old comedy and helping to showcase new talent.

But as always, the question is, are they funny?

Surprisingly, yes. Okay, some of the sketches fall quiet flat. There are far too many returning characters that have stretched a once-good joke too far. And the absence of comedy goddess Morwenna Banks is sorely felt.

But we did sit there laughing for a good portion of the show. The multi-lingual football manager was a fun opener. The 'cool old guys' were pretty entertaining. Okay, the Dragons' Den impressions were poor and where was Caaan!!!, but the general accuracy of the sketch was good. And, praise the Lord, the talented Laura Solon is still there with her Polish coffee shop attendant.

Maybe a little too traditional and too much like the first series at times, and given the rapid fall off in quality of the first series, it might not be a good idea to make it a permanent fixture in your diaries. But still far more hits and misses than is normal for a BBC1 comedy show. Anyone doubting that should have stuck around for The Armstrong and Miller Show afterwards...

Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse are comedy legends but their last outing was hit and miss.

Bloody hell, it has been recommissioned! Amazing, really, considering how staggeringly painful Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's first series was.

Quality control has been cranked up a notch but I should warn you, Nelson Mandela is back.

Best reason to watch is a brilliant take on Dragons' Den. Harry is Deborah Meaden but the moment when Paul's Duncan Bannatyne leans forward to sneer at Harry's Peter Jones makes this worth investing in.

It may not have the inspired characters of their earlier collaborations, but Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's latest sketch show still has its inspired moments.