Paul Whitehouse

Television's most likeable double act return with more silly, inoffensive sketches. You don't look to these two for cutting-edge satire, or even the kind of near-the-knuckle social stereotypes peddled by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse on BBC2. A musical number mocking farmers' markets is the nearest Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller get to social satire, and great fun it is, too. They prefer the old-fashioned kind of sketch based on one comic conceit ruthlessly pursued. One of the best new arrivals is a pair of elderly vampires bemoaning what's become of the vampire world. It's a simple idea made funnier by the performances (Ben Miller's vampire accent is a joy), just as the street-talking RAF pilots play to the pair's gift for posh characters. And yes - the latter are back, and this time they've been roped into D-Day.

If you thought Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield stopped being funny around 1997 - well, you're basically right, especially having watched Whitehouse's cringeworthy Aviva adverts. Seeing this series advertise guest appearances from such cutting-edge comic luminaries as Lenny Henry doesn't fill one with confidence either. But give this sketch show series a chance - the veteran pair do manage to recall former glories from time to time, especially with Gabbatore, the corrupt Italian politician with an eye for the ladies (remind you of anyone?), and a Dragons' Den spoof that is woundingly accurate.

After a shaky start, Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's sketch show is bedding in nicely. Much of the humour feels dated but recurring characters like Marcus, the "I saw you coming" shop owner, and The-Beatles-50-years-on yield some good laughs tonight, while newcomers such as the surgeons' wives, the Lovelock family (who keep pet Northerners) and a chorus of white van men singing a crude "Van Driver's Lament" add enough touches of bizarre brilliance to keep the giggles coming.

The overbearing Italian prime minister goes further than ever tonight in his attempts to twist the arm of his opposite number. He's a typical Harry and Paul creation: funny, brilliantly performed by Paul Whitehouse (as the Berlusconi-style creep) and Harry Enfield (as his deadpan translator), but sailing pretty close to the wind. Van drivers, old people, posh women and Radio 4 documentary-makers also get it in the neck tonight. And remember the controversial pet Geordie sketch? It's back, but with a gleefully offensive twist. Plus the loutish family with the constantly barking dog visit a church to ask, "Do you sell lottery tickets?"

Paul Whitehouse's Aviva ads don't really float our boat but he's back doing what he does best here with some great character work, be it a near-the-nuckle parody of Silvio Berlusconi or playing the chav with the incessantly barking dog (this time he and baseball-capped partner-in-crime Harry Enfield wind up in church running rings around a children's charity worker). Great class-clash comedy.

'We're like Preston and Chantelle!'

How well do TV funnymen Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse know each other? There's only one way to find out: with a revival of gameshow classic Mr & Mrs.

Full marks to Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse for creating a clutch of new characters for this sketch series and not resting on old catchphrases. Although newcomers such as The Benefits and Mr Psycho Bean miss the mark and make one long for the revival of Enfield's Stavros or Wayne Slob, the duo are skilled performers who wring the last drops of comedy from flabby writing. It's still worth tuning in, if only for their brilliantly macabre interpretation of Dragons' Den.

There are touches of brilliance in Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's latest series. Everyone will have their favourite sketches but the plummy old men in a gentlemen's club discussing which famous people are "quare" are the highlight for me. "If he sounds like a quare and he looks like a quare I should think he's a probable quare," they concur. This week Ian Hislop and, shockingly, David Attenborough are up for discussion. Not all the sketches work so well, but for fans there's good news: Café Polski is back in all its sad glory.

There was a time when Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse were on top of the comedy game. Enfield's Loadsamoney defined an era, while Kevin and Perry provided one of the great portrayals of male teenagerdom. Whitehouse's Fast Show, meanwhile, was the apotheosis of the sketch show, pounding viewers with catchphrases and lightning-quick vignettes. So it is such a shame to see what has become of them.

Enfield recently said "we're just doing stuff for people who don't watch much comedy, but might like us" - well, job half-done. Because anyone who does watch comedy wouldn't last two minutes with this. A Dragons' Den pastiche is nicely set up, with a particularly good impression of the smug Peter Jones, but it tails off, and feels like children acting in the playground. Similarly, are we really meant to find humour in two old boys in a gentlemen's club wondering whether David Cameron is "queer"? Comedy should inspire, infuriate, engage in some way; this just sends you to sleep. Already relegated from BBC1 to BBC2, how long can it be before it's dropped altogether?

Friends reunited: Harry and Paul

An interview with Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.