Paul McGann

A sordid, supremely funny trudge through the pathetic lives of two destitute actors - Paul McGann's Marwood and the languidly furious Withnail (Richard E Grant) - who survive on drugs and drink in grotty Camden Town, then head unwisely for the rural idyll of Uncle Monty's (Richard Griffiths) freezing country cottage. A glory of British cinematic comedy.

Harry Hill & Omid Djalili for Slapstick festival

Barry Cryer, Omid Djalili, The Goodies, Harry Hill, Terry Jones, Phill Jupitus, Paul McGann, Lucy Porter and Tim Vine will be among the celebrities who will be visiting Bristol between 24 and 26 January.

Billy Connolly was almost Doctor Who

Billy Connolly was nearly chosen to play Doctor Who. The Big Yin almost became the Time Lord for a one-off TV movie in 1996, a role which went to Paul McGann.

In the months since Jonathan Creek was last on our screens, writer David Renwick seems to have spent a lot of time with the Sherlock Holmes casebook. Guest Paul McGann remarks on the "lingering air of Victorian mystery" and he's not kidding. From spooky stories about people succumbing at precisely predicted times of death to Jonathan discerning sidekick Joey Ross's (Sheridan Smith) current occupation from the redness of her fi ngertips, this one-off special has the defi nite feel of a Baker Street consulting room about it. Not that this makes it any less enjoyable. Indeed, all the hoodwinking and sleight of hand will keep you on your toes right up to the big reveal. Alan Davies remains extremely likeable as the duffel-coated sleuth, his delivery of those twisted lengths of explanatory detail being so good that he even gets the opportunity to do it twice over. The only flabbiness in the plot comes from the appearance of Adam Klaus: Stuart Milligan brings a wolfish smoothness to the part of the high-profile magician, but his subplot goes nowhere and detracts from an otherwise well-burnished brainteaser of an episode.

A spooky Easter treat for Alan Davies fans with this one-off outing from the sporadic murder mystery series. Once again magic consultant Jonathan Creek (Davies) is inveigled into joining forces with psychic investigator Joey Ross (Sheridan Smith) when a young woman (Natalie Walter) working for a famous crime writer (Paul McGann) appears to become possessed by a vengeful spirit from Victorian times. As ever this is more howdunit than whodunit, with the convoluted plot very much designed to keep you guessing all the way to the end.

Sick of living in squalor in Sixties Camden, down-on-their-luck actors Withnail (an impressively intense debut from Richard E. Grant) and Marwood (Paul McGann) decide to take an idyllic holiday in the Lake District. This superb British tragi-comedy, which has become a cult favourite, follows the two unemployables as they tackle extreme weather and Withnail's lecherous Uncle Monty (a typically imposing Richard Griffiths).