Paul Whitehouse

The sketch show with a brilliant star

There's no way to overstate how good the make-up is. Paul Whitehouse first bounced into frame as Maurice, an 80-year-old Jewish motormouth with no sense of when he wasn't wanted. One scene later, he was morbidly obese Graham, spilling over the sides of his armchair like Dolly Parton in a boob tube.

Another radio comedy gets a TV transfer. This time, Paul Whitehouse parades his chameleonic character-acting skills in a more worthwhile setting than those damned insurance ads. His straight woman is Esther Coles's community mental health nurse Liz, whose daily rounds see her lending a therapeutic ear to everyone from dotty old dears to brittle ex-cons. A few of the characters veer close to stereotype but this is deftly performed, with a layer of melancholic empathy below its gentle surface.

Radio Times review

Paul Whitehouse, David Cummings and Esther Coles's accomplished Radio 4 comedy, which engaged intelligently with mental health issues, has here been sensitively rescaled for the small screen.

Coles plays a community nurse meeting an array of characters (some new and mainly played by Whitehouse). They include Billy the agoraphobic ex-con, Herbert the ageing rake and - probably most memorably - the morbidly obese Graham who is engaged in a terrible, co-dependent relationship with his obsessive mother and her revoltingly unhealthy cooking.

There are nose-snortingly outrageous laughs aplenty as we'd expect from any Whitehouse stable. But, thanks to the judiciousness and ebullience of the writing and the tenderness and skill of the performances, they never detract from the narrative's essential humanity and warmth.

Video: Paul Whitehouse on mental health comedy Nurse

Paul Whitehouse is known for his larger than life characters, catchphrases and 25 year partnership with Harry Enfield.

This week, he returns to our screens - but his new series takes on an issue that's no laughing matter.

Nurse follows the life of an overstretched community mental health health worker, played by Esther Coles, as she does her daily rounds.

Nurse, BBC2 - TV review

No punchlines, no catchphrases, just Paul Whitehouse tugging at our heartstrings.

Is new comedy 'Nurse' too sugary sweet?

The jokes have been made already ('Goodness, this is a long Aviva car insurance advert') and the comparisons to Ricky Gervais' Derek have been posted well in advance. And it's true that Paul Whitehouse's bittersweet new sitcom for BBC Two, about a hard-pressed Community Psychiatric Nurse, does bear an unfortunate and uncanny resemblance to both. But here's the rub - the Aviva adverts are funnier. And it's so soppy that it makes Derek look like a Michael Haneke film.

Nurse, review: 'a beautiful bedside manner'

Paul Whitehouse's well-observed comedy came from the heart, says Michael Hogan.

Paul Whitehouse: "I've got 3 stents, 4 kids, 5 Baftas"

The Fast Show and Harry & Paul comedian refuses to reflect on his mortality as he brings his latest comedy Nurse to BBC Two.

Paul Whitehouse interview

"In any field where there is professional involvement and tragedy, there is also humour," says Whitehouse. "Call it gallows humour or whatever, but there always is. So I don't think we're doing anything that can be construed as laughing at these people."

Paul Whitehouse: If you can't laugh, you're in trouble

Paul Whitehouse gives BBC comedy a shot in the arm with his hilarious new four-part series, Nurse.