John Dagleish

Spike play to tour the UK this autumn

Olivier Award-winning actor John Dagleish will reprise his critically acclaimed role as Spike Milligan this autumn, as Spike - the comedy by Ian Hislop and Nick Newman that had its world premiere at The Watermill in January - tours the UK.

Spike review

A well-rounded celebration of Spike Milligan.

Spike review

An entertaining if chaotic exploration of Spike Milligan's trials and triumphs during The Goon Years, starring John Dagleish.

Spike, Watermill Theatre, review

This Milligan portrait lacks hilarity and heft.

Spike review

This affectionate and spirited tribute similarly lacks surprise - although it will serve as nostalgia for those who remember the show, as the age demographic of the audience attests.

Spike review

Fast-paced portrait of Spike Milligan hurls us between the comic's anarchic Goon Show sketches, cartoonish clashes with the BBC and the trauma of war.

Spike, review

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman's show about Spike Milligan, at the Watermill, should delight his many fans but may not recruit new ones

Spike review

Ian Hislop and Nick Newman capture Milligan's genius.

The mix of sarky Brits and American girls - and jocks - in this culture clash comedy is a strange one. But as the series concludes, the archly named Beaver Falls has had its moments as the three personable British graduates, Flynn (Samuel Robertson) and the particularly likeable A-Rab (Arsher Ali) and Barry (John Dagleish), complete their season at the American summer camp. The premise also touches on the idea of Brits getting one over on the Yanks (and standing up for the little, or in this case, the fat guys) and that's something we can all cheer for.

Beaver Falls (E4) is a slick-looking comedy about three recent graduates from Oxford Brookes University, teaching at an American summer camp. It took me ages to unpick: was it an American idealisation of British culture? Or an English idealisation of American culture? Finally, I worked it out: this is a British look at the US, based on a premise with which you may or may not agree; that American summer camps are inherently, Lord-of-the-Flies-ly fascinating.

But there's a sting in the tail: somewhere near the end of the first episode, it turns into plucky, UK underdog spirit, standing up for the American underdogs against the improbable sadism of their jocks. It is a frankly pretty weird attempt to interpolate our own sensibility into an American combative trope - jock v nerd - that we don't even fully understand, that we've just picked up off the telly. I would like to see a bit of psychoanalysis on the writing team: it's like a child's impulse to wriggle between warring parents. It's none of our business, mate! We don't have jocks or nerds, we don't have people who are strong or people who are good at stuff. We're irrelevant to this dyad. And it's irrelevant to us.

Well, of course that wouldn't matter if the writing were good, which it isn't, or if the situations were tickling, which they aren't (one of the major events is someone wanking on to a flip-flop: I don't want to be tediously pragmatic here, but it's a wipe-clean surface. Semen, on a wipe-clean surface: where is the drama?). I'm sorry to say, though, that I was won over by the acting in the end. Arsher Ali, memorable in Four Lions, is even more striking here, with no competition from the script or the other actors. Although, if I'm honest, I ended up warming to the other two (Samuel Robertson and John Dagleish) as well.