Laurence Olivier

ITV's Vicious reviewed

Imagine if Are You Being Served? had starred Laurence Olivier.

All performers, and especially comedians, would like to have credibility. This was the subject of Funny Business (BBC Two), a show in which I took a personal interest, because I once harboured the illusion that I could do after-dinner speeches and commercials and thereby pick up some easy money.

Until recently, straight actors lost credibility if they did commercials. Sir Laurence Olivier did a Polaroid commercial, but only on the understanding that it would never be screened in the UK. Today, however, George Clooney hustles coffee and Brad Pitt barks for Chanel No5. The money might go to charity, but it still counts as a fast buck. Nevertheless, the actors get away with it.

For the comedians it has always been a hard choice. A commercial will look like slumming unless it is funny enough to be thought of as part of the comedian's repertoire. Another question mark hangs over the corporate event appearance, where months of big bucks can be earned in a single night. But people who haven't paid to see you, and who are sitting at round tables which ensure that many of them are facing the wrong way, are a soul-destroying prospect.

Intelligent comic operatives such as Barry Cryer, John Lloyd and John Cleese were united in the opinion that the business opportunities form part of the career. But I can say from experience that it hurts when it goes wrong. I once did a big, expensive set of plugs for Australian Telecom in the very year that their opposition came out with a better product. And the money wasn't all that easy. There is a small hill of red dirt somewhere near Alice Springs that is flatter now because of the number of times I had to walk up it.

Following previous docs delving into the hidden worlds of comedy greats Eric Morecambe and Spike Milligan, this profile of the Up Pompeii star promises a number of undiscovered gems. Taking in previously unseen footage, from home movies to live stand-up material, this profile celebrates the life of the comic actor whose career stretched all the way from Variety Bandbox to 1990's The Craig Ferguson Story (playing The God Of Comedy, no less). Also, a peek at Howerd's extensive correspondence, including exchanges with the likes of Laurence Olivier and Paul McCartney.

But does he mean it? He turns his Victor Meldrew catchphrase "I don't believe it!" on its head in his four-part "celebrity radiography" Believe It!, in which he laces alleged reminiscences with unlikely tales and a certain surreal logic.

Playing himself - with some assistance from his "ghost writer" Jon Canter and actors including David Tennant and John Sessions - Wilson claims that he never drank because a traumatic childhood experience suggested that alcohol was indelibly associated with truth and death. "What could be more scary?"

These picaresque memoirs also reveal how Wilson caused George Best to miss a penalty, and why a car journey with Sir Laurence Olivier ensured that his confirmed tipple would be elderflower cordial ... Or so he says.

Kenneth Branagh turns up to talk about his latest role as Laurence Olivier in the film My Week with Marilyn - an intriguing prospect, considering how, early in his career, Branagh was often referred to as a "young Olivier". Zach Braff (from the now defunct, underestimated US comedy series Scrubs) has a play, All New People, opening in London's West End next month. And Frank Skinner, now master of ceremonies in the revamped Room 101, is on the comedy end of the Norton sofa.