John Thomson

The BBC once again adapts a David Walliams novel for the festive season. Walliams owes a great deal to Roald Dahl, and this is another tale of a forlorn child in a world of cruel and stupid adults. Elliot Sprakes stars as Joe, whose factory worker dad Len (John Thomson) becomes a billionaire after inventing a new type of toilet roll. But as his dad embraces the bling and a glamorous girlfriend (Catherine Tate), Joe yearns for a normal life and friends. Reliable family fun, with Walliams himself co-starring as a dinner lady.

Radio Times review

David Walliams always manages to make his stories entertaining for kids and adults alike. They're not subtle - there are loads of bottom jokes, the message is pretty obvious and the characters are drawn with the delicacy of a sledgehammer. But they do make you smile and leave you with a warm glow around your heart.

In this one, poor, downtrodden, factory worker Len Spud's (John Thomson) life changes when he invents a new toilet roll and becomes a multimillionaire. He gets a new gold-digging girlfriend (Catherine Tate - terrific in a blonde wig with a Geordie accent) and a kind-hearted celebrity butler (Warwick Davis). But wealth can't buy the one thing his lonely son Joe wants - a friend. Walliams couldn't resist making a cameo appearance - as an unhygienic school dinnerlady.

Like Newsjack, The Show What You Wrote is a comedy show made up of sketches sent in by listeners: a bit like a modern version of Week Ending, though the producers and performers (such as John Thomson, Shobna Gulati and Gavin Webster) are well established. It's only the writers who aren't. You can't tell though: the sketches, chosen from thousands that are sent in by listeners, are on a par with other Radio 4 shows. It's almost impossible to write good jokes for people you don't know already, and yet The Show What You Wrote has an audience that manages to do just that. I hope the writers go on to great things, like writing (better) jokes for Michael McIntyre, or maybe, for themselves.

Another outing for John Thomson/'s comic creation Bernard Righton: a formerly blue club comedian who has attained a left-wing conversion, and reconfigured his act accordingly. Bernard acts as compere on this festive clip show, introducing archival Christmas pieces by the likes of Bill Hicks, Emo Phillips and Les Dawson - all "appearing" at his club. The archival jokes are a lot funnier than Thomson's, which is probably the point, but which makes for strangely uneven viewing.

John Thomson discusses Cold Feet reunion

John Thomson has been talking about the likelihood of a Cold Feet reunion and it seems it's a definite possibility.

John Thomson's favourite TV

The Fast Show and Cold Feet star on his love of Hannibal and magic and his childhood hatred of a certain speaking bear.

"An Englishman an Irishman and a Pakistani ... what a wonderful example of racial integration." So ran a typical joke by Bernard Righton, the PC comedian created by The Fast Show's John Thomson in the early 90s. The effects of common decency on UK comedy were always greatly exaggerated, but, Righton is back in a new series, trawling the archives of classic, vintage stand-up with his own links.

The trials of Bernard Righton

John Thomson says his parody can struggle in clubs.