Paul Whitehouse

"And now, from the 1930s, the original When Harry Met Sally," announces Harry Enfield in his best period-plummy accent. Immediately you see where the joke's going. A scratchy black-and-white movie scene in a 1930s restaurant, with a very British couple discussing married life and hinting darkly at sex, or rather "what heppens in merridge." It's a promising idea but, like others in tonight's opener to Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's third series, the sketch slips off the rails. There are the Beatles 50 years on - grey-haired but still larking about in Nehru suits, a psyched-up version of Mr Bean and a spoof children's show about a traffic warden called Parking Pataweyo, but the belly laughs aren't as plentiful as they once were.

One for the diehards: veteran comedians Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse join forces again for their latest sketch show series. Unfortunately, the Soviet-era title sequence sets the tone from the outset - this is a throwback to the pair's Eighties glory days. There are some flashes of brilliance - Whitehouse's impersonation of Evan Davies sparkles in an otherwise mundane Dragons' Den skit - but not enough.

Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse on their new TV series

The comics, who display an appealingly self-mocking view of themselves, joke that in real life they might now be heading for a similar fate as Smashie and Nicey. The 49-year-old Enfield laughs: "I recently found out that there are a couple of old people's homes for retired comedians. That's what awaits us."

Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's reunion a few years back was exciting, but also left many people asking one question - could they reproduce the material that saw them, along with Kathy Burke, define sketch show comedy in the 1990s? To many people's surprise they proved they were still capable of creating some fantastic characters, like the posh builders, and last year the second series garnered a Bafta.

With the start of their third series tonight, we hope we haven't already passed the high point of their reunion, because while this does feature plenty of understated chuckles, it rarely leaves you breathless from laughing. However, there are some ingenious ideas, including an 'original' 1930's version of When Harry Met Sally and a ditty to The Beatles 50 years on. Yet the sketches feel a little dated at times and, often after promising starts, seem to fizzle out before we reach the punchline.

Of course by the very nature of the sketch show format, it could all change next week, and Harry and Paul could return to deliver a show crammed full of raucous material that will have us sliding off of our sofas with mirth. Given their track record, we certainly wouldn't put it past them, and there's enough on offer in tonight's opener to justify tuning in for next week.

Audio Interview: Harry Enfield & Paul Whitehouse

Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse tell Richard Bacon that they are thinking of going on tour.

Strawberry Enfields forever

Comedy legends Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse sing I Wanna Old Your Hand - as they play an ageing Beatles band in a sketch.

This inconsistent sketch series milks its now-familiar characters for laughs in tonight's final episode. Although jokes have been too few in the series, its strength has lain in some nicely observed characters, particularly Paul Whitehouse's ageing showbiz hanger-on, Ian Craig-Oldman.

Bellamy's people aren't on fabulous form tonight. There are still lovely moments, many of them revolving around forgetful pensioner Humphrey Milner (Charlie Higson), but most of the sketches never quite achieve lift-off. When, for instance, Gary gets out of his depth with lairy good-time girl Tulsa Kensgrove and her gang of mates out clubbing in Watford, you keep waiting for the flash of satire to break through the squealing, but it never does. It's well performed, but shows like BBC3's Pulling have made women's drunken banter funnier. Paul Whitehouse is still on good form: his "sixties bad boy" Ian Craig Oldman tells a story of youthful debauchery that sounds like a racier, younger Rowley Birkin QC from The Fast Show. Then his patriotic plasterer Martin Hole gets into an argument with a parking warden (Felix Dexter) and the show breaks off in a whole new direction.

Not the best of the satirical run but bound to raise a wry smile or two. This week, we find Bellamy (Rhys Thomas) hitting the road to investigate what has happened to the United Kingdom's reputation for good manners.

Interviews with the usual Little Britain-ish characters culminate in a toe-curling ­showdown between Paul Whitehouse's England-shorts wearing painter and decorator Martin Hole - and an aggrieved traffic warden.