Harry Hill

Harry Hill may be in bother with telly watchdog Ofcom as 12 viewers complained over jokes about the Nazis. The TV Burp star compared a factory line of Vienetta ice creams to "German tanks rolling into Poland". And he made a potato swastika while mocking BBC show Jimmy's Food Factory.

Now Harry Does a "Delia" for Harvester

There's a new phenomenon, loosely called the TV Burp bounce of the week.

Comedian Harry Hill has found a fan in Harvester restaurants after mocking them on his hit show, TV Burp, and unwittingly driving hundreds of new diners into their establishments.

There's the pleasure of watching television, and then there's the enhanced pleasure of watching television through the lunatic, bespectacled eyes of Harry Hill, the doctor-turned-comedian who returns for the ninth series of his quickfire lampooning of the week's TV idiocies and inanities. With his ear-brushingly high collars, his line of pens emblazoning his breast pocket and his silly schoolboy's dribble of badges on his lapel, Hill has always looked like a ventriloquist's dummy that somebody forgot to put the wig on. You probably wouldn't want him as your GP. But as a palliative to the surreal absurdities thrown up by television each week, Hill is welcome medicine. His early potshots will almost certainly include skewering studies of the revealing minor moments in The X Factor and Strictly Come Dancing that you may have missed the first time round. Who but Hill would identify, for instance, the garish range of facial expressions employed by Louis Walsh on the judging panel of The X Factor or the tongue-lolling, puppy-dog mug of contestant Eoghan Quigg begging you to vote for him? For a weekly post mortem of TV's lesser-spotted manias and neuroses, Hill may be just what the doctor ordered.

Harry Hill proves strange acts can be mainstream gold

The big-collared peddler of nonsense is back as a permanent feature in the nation's living rooms.

Return of the hilarious comedy sketch show in which Kevin Bishop takes potshots at Gok Wan and Harry Hill.

Along with two packets of Munchies and a strawberry Nesquik, one of our Friday night treats is this smashing comedy, which flicks between spoofs of TV shows, films and adverts. Somehow, the previous series managed to win nothing at the British Comedy Awards, despite several nominations, and this travesty will hopefully be righted with Kevin's new potshots at the likes of Simon Cowell.

Kevin Bishop is a kind, if hyperactive, lad in real life. The best moments of his show are when he's being rude about stuff we hate: the gurning of Horne and Corden, the stupid Gok Wan rhyming and anglophile Americans. There's also a nice take on Frost/Nixon sequels. Parkinson/Emu, Best/Wogan and Reed/Aspel. The duff moments are his take on House (don't mess with Laurie) and a sketch that's a bit too close to John Thomson's Bernard Righton. We've not seen his Harry Hill yet as it wasn't in this ep, but it better be good. Or else.

Sky offers Harry Hill £400k a Burp

Harry Hill is poised to quit ITV after being offered a double-your-money deal by Sky.

As Seen On TV review

The brilliance of Harry Hill appears to have intimidated the BBC that the philosophy of relentless mockery should be avoided, so As Seen On TV instead worships at the altar of pseudo-celebrity.

Sky 1 bids to lure Harry Hill's TV Burp from ITV1

Sky 1 has mounted an audacious bid to swipe Harry Hill's TV Burp from ITV1 as part of a strategy to buy must-see shows established by rival broadcasters.

Behind the scenes on TV Burp

The pace at which the show is produced is blinding, and, even on a glum Thursday evening, hilarious.