Norman Hunter

Radio Times review

Harry Hill returns as the multi-spectacled boffin of Norman Hunter's children's books. After Branestawm's TV introduction last Christmas, his cartoonish adventures are once again adapted by in-demand writer Charlie Higson. This time the chocolate-box village of Pagwell is, fortuitously, hosting an invention contest. But has Branestawm met his match in the ingenious Professor Algebrain (Steve Pemberton)?

Among an extraordinary cast giving fruity performances are Diana Rigg, Simon Day, Vicki Pepperdine, Matt Berry and his absurd intonations, Sophie Thompson and David Mitchell. From the clips available to RT, it's wildly eccentric, old-school and very funny - with a barking mad chase sequence.

Harry Hill was the perfect Professor in The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, a gag-a-minute Heath Robinson come to life with some delightfully grown-up gags, and some delightfully childish ones, and I wished, while watching, that I was 12 years old again and able to revel in simple glees.

His pretty village, Pagwell, is impossibly representative of an England lost for decades now, and David Mitchell and Ben Miller impossibly representative of cartoon villainy, but I didn't mind in the slightest because Norman Hunter's children's books have been re-rendered as impossibly good fun. I almost used the word zany but I've got through a whole 'nother year without using it, hurrah. Oops.

For his first dramatic acting role, comic Harry Hill was desperate to play the original Nutty Professor from Norman Hunter's children stories.

Swapping his trademark ear-skimming collars for Branestawm's multiple pairs of glasses, he's the perfect fit for the role in this one-off special penned by Charlie Higson - which we predict will be the first of many.

The Fast Show's Higson, a best-selling children's author, has added some modern touches of his own that should strike a chord with a brand new TV generation raised on sonic screwdrivers.

By far the most significant is the addition of a determined young sidekick called Connie (Madeline Holliday) who is fed up with being taught useless subjects at school.

Even though Branestawm may be the worst science teacher you could imagine, I practically cheered to hear Connie say that she wanted to learn about civil engineering.

As the Professor's inventions bring chaos to the village of Great Pagwell, Hill is joined by another Fast Show stalwart, Simon Day, as Branestawm's best friend Colonel Dedshott.

David Mitchell plays his nemesis, the officious councillor Harold Haggerstone who wants to shut down Branestawm's "Inventory" and Vicki Pepperdine is his housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop.

It's all hugely silly, but perfect family entertainment nevertheless.

Radio Times review

There are certain RT people who have very fond memories of Norman Hunter's Professor Branestawm books from our primary school days and even after all these years we're a bit protective. But I think we're in safe hands, judging by the few clips that were available for preview. Harry Hill, a long-time master of eye-popping anarchy, actually looks the part of Hunter's bonkers, absent-minded inventor, a good-hearted buffoon who never does anything right.

Branestawm is the bane of his pretty village, Pagwell, where a buttoned-up, officious windbag of a councillor, Harold Haggerstone (David Mitchell), decides he's a menace to health and safety and wants his explosion-prone "workshop" closed down.

But of course this pettifogging bureaucrat has an ulterior motive: he wants to pave the way for evil businessman Mr Bullimore (Ben Miller) to open a munitions factory. It's deliciously old-fashioned, and could well be a lot of fun.

Advertising man and stage magician Norman Hunter first created his quintessential absent-minded professor in the 1930s, in a couple of well-loved children's books. He then took a 33-year break, reviving Branestawm in the 1970s when he knocked off a string of books of comically disastrous experiments, which became fixtures of the story-reading show Jackanory for a new generation.

Nothing much had changed: Branestawm still existed in a dreamy, madcap world where "doing science" meant blowing things up and it was understood that geniuses were exempt from normal behaviour, like dressing properly or remembering anything.

Now, science tends to mean computerised calculations and even landing a rocket on a comet does not exempt a chap from apologising for a dodgy shirt. In fact, not all scientists are even chaps. But we still have this idea - popularised by dramas like The Social Network or Sherlock - that no-one can be that clever and still be, well, "normal".

Charlie Higson, who revived another old franchise for the pre-teen set with his Young Bond books, has adapted Hunter's characters for a nostalgia-soaked family romp, nominally set in the 1930s but actually set in a delightfully artificial never-was.

Harry Hill makes his thespian debut as the eccentric academic, though it's more of a broad performance than actual acting. But he's surrounded by a capable, in-on-the-joke cast including Ben Miller, Simon Day, Vicki Pepperdine and Higson himself. A basically-modern little girl sidekick (Madeline Holliday) stands in for the hoped-for young audience, gleeful over bangs and mess but still, perhaps, getting hooked on science into the bargain.

Harry Hill stars as Professor Theophilus Branestawm in an adaptation of Norman Hunter's classic books. He's an absent-minded inventor, prone to left-field mutterings, which makes him an easy target for local businessman Mr Bullimore (Ben Miller) and councillor Harold Haggerstone (David Mitchell), who want to eject him from the village of Great Pagwell. Assisted by schoolgirl Connie, best friend Colonel Dedshott (Simon Day) and housekeeper Mrs Flittersnoop (Vicki Pepperdine), will he prevail?