Harry Hill

Harry Hill: I was hoping Micky Flanagan would take over

Harry Hill, talking about TV Burp, says: "I do miss watching it, and I was hoping that someone else would take over. I was talking to Micky Flanagan, and I was hoping he would do it. It's a lot of work, though. I'm the only mug that would do it."

Harry Hill - Sausage Time

Because it is eight years since his last tour, many of Harry Hill's younger fans in the audience tonight are probably seeing him live for the first time. What they witness is more than merely his telly act minus the TV Burp desk.

Harry Hill: Sausage Time, Oxford New Theatre

"By the way, this isn't a dream" comments Hill towards the end. Neither a nightmare or a dream, in fact, but an admirable show where the palls seem somehow inexplicable among some material to revere.

Harry Hill - review

Should a 48-year-old ex-doctor be pillow-fighting with a large man in a leotard? Should he be singing Jessie J's Price Tag in Tongan, or impersonating a horse in flip-flops? If this triumphant return to live comedy proves anything, it's that Hill growing old certainly doesn't equal Hill growing up.

Harry Hill: Sausage Time, New Theatre Oxford, review

He has soon darted off on far less challenging tracks but it leaves you wondering whether anything lies over the brow of Hill's future beyond high-grade goofishness. Is it time - at the age of 48 - for some sort of rethink, Mister Harry?

Harry Hill: The private life of the lord of misrule

Harry Hill's TV Burp ripped up the rules of family TV - but not without taking a toll on its star's real-life alter ego, Matthew Hall. Ahead of a tour and an X Factor musical, he talks about life beyond Saturday teatimes.

Harry Hill: I got fed up with TV work

Saturday night television star Harry Hill has revealed that he is "fed up" with the small screen.

Harry Hill interview

After more than a decade at the centre of ITV's Saturday night primetime schedule, Harry Hill is going back out on tour with a standup show. And he's lost none of his surreal charm.

TV Review: Paddy's TV Guide

It drones on with a smattering of sub-Harry Hill physical sketches and commentary that adds about as much as those dialogue boxes that pop up in front of YouTube clips. I don't think any of this is really Paddy McGuinness's fault - the problem is this format has been done before and much better; he's out of his depth.

The words "Paddy McGuinness" send shivers down your spine - and not in a good way. McGuinness made his TV debut on Phoenix Nights, if you recall, and his career has been going from bad to worse ever since in the eyes of just about every reviewer and critic around.

Paddy's TV Guide follows a spate of cheap clip shows, with McGuinness presenting clips from TV shows (old and new) using a weekly theme. The first episode focused on health and fitness, with shows recorded on his "Paddy Player".

The clips themselves are mildly amusing, from an old exercise show featuring a woman dancing with candles to a tough American fitness instructor shouting at just about any mode of transport. But this programme, along with others like it (BBC One's Animal Antics for example) illustrate what I think is the main problem with clip shows; the way they're presented.

If you have a show which is just about clips, from TV shows, the internet, or recorded by members of the public, then what you want to see is just those clips. You don't want to see Paddy McGuinness doing some small routine in-between them, or Matthew Crosby dressed up as a dog in the case of Animal Antics. All you need's a voice-over.

Harry Hill made You've Been Framed watchable. We all know it's the cheesiest programme around, but because Hill's contribution is minimal, the viewers get to see more of what they want, rather than putting up with Jeremy Beadle and Lisa Riley trying to be funny between the clips.

Of course, it could just be the fact that Hill's funnier than any of those people, and that's probably Paddy McGuinness' biggest flaw too; he's not much cop.