Paul Whitehouse

Enfield comedy show ideas stolen

Ideas and material for a new series of Harry Enfield's comedy show with Paul Whitehouse have been stolen from a car.

Behind the scenes: Bellamy's People

Following their Radio 4 comedy, Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse took the show's weird and wonderful characters on a road trip across Britain.

Meanwhile, anyone who tunes in to Radio 5 Live will recognise the absurdity of many phone-in programmes, and regular listeners to Radio 4 will have heard Down The Line, the phone-in spoof masterminded by Fast Show-ers Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson and Simon Day, which starred Rhys Thomas as host Gary Bellamy. Listeners to both will know how close to reality Down The Line's absurdist take on the phone-in format and its listeners is. And also how funny it was - a Berkshire racist ringing in says after a reference to Ebony & Ivory, "we just call that Ivory in our house". Thankfully - for anyone who's ever had the displeasure of watching Jeremy Kyle et al - Gary is meeting the public face-to-face as he travels around the country to chat to his deranged callers.

Regular listeners to radio phone-ins (not necessarily on Radio 4) can't help but nod in recognition of the cavalcade of callers ranging from the stupid and the xenophobic, to he near deranged and frankly offensive stereotypes reeled out by those cunning comics Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse, who have got their mates to call in to a spoof show, hosted by a spoof DJ. Soon to be unleashed on BBC2, this is a last chance to hear these grotesques in their natural habitat. Prepare to be appalled and amused in equal measure.

A one-off special edition of the spoof phone-in show, an eve of Budget salute to all the things we don't know and can't grasp about what's happened to the economy and why having a balance in the bank is suddenly a bad thing. Presented, as ever, by the utterly witless 'Gary Bellamy' (Rhys Thomas) with the only too believable callers played by Paul Whitehouse, Amelia Bullmore, Felix Dexter and co, with special guest Mark Gatiss. Word is that this show is about to transfer to television. Ah well, that'll be another one gone to where the big money grows.

Radio 4 spoof phone-in to move to BBC2

Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson to star alongside Rhys Thomas as host Gary Bellamy.

Paul Whitehouse guests ina magnificently silly office redundancy sketch, while dance duo Jonny and Lee Miller prance about to Enya's Orinoco Flow in an otherwise comedically flabby instalment. The similarity of Mathew Horne's informercial man to Martin Kemp is distracting, though.

Right from the off, Rockton Manor Studios (Radio 2) was funny. This new sitcom, written by David Cummings (Fast Show, Happiness) for his first radio commission, and starring Paul Whitehouse, is set in an ailing recording studio run by a former roadie. Early on, you could feel the sitcom staples easing into place - the hapless protagonist; impending change of circumstances; tangled family relationships - but pleasingly these didn't veer in expected directions.

It is also perfectly pitched for the Radio 2 audience, with music gags aplenty, and biographical landmarks told through songs and bands ("a Teardrop Explodes tour I was on"). Mostly, though, the pleasure lies in the performances from Whitehouse as the former roadie, and Mark Benson as his best friend. Whitehouse has great fun with railing against modern music, or any music that's not his mouldy old "canon of enduring quality".

Benson, though, almost stole the show with exquisite comic timing. His explanation of why he turned to selling houses ("I wanted to give something back") was as ticklish as his successive interruptions ("Who wants a Twiglet?") of a major family conference.

The first series of new Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield sketches, which bore the prefix Ruddy Hell!, was so flabbily disappointing that expectations were low for the new run. That's worked in their favour because series two has been surprisingly good, with Mr I Saw You Coming, the ageing rap DJs and the posh scaffolders all hitting the spot.

I have a deep and abiding love for Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse, but the first series of Harry and Paul left me deeply underwhelmed. It had its moments, but I was left with the feeling that the pair were trading upon their reputations.

So rejoice to the news that series two is clever, inventive, imaginative, frequently inspired and the funniest programme currently on TV.

Their Dragon's Den pastiche in episode one was fabulous, but even greater joys were to come the following week with the Liverpool Capital of Culture running gag which saw various giants of the performing arts - including Matthew Bourne, Simon Rattle - conduct sweaty, Steven Gerrard style post-match interviews.

I let me baton do the talking. Cheers! droned Rattle, in thickest Scouse, before snatching a bottle of celebratory champagne and departing mid-question.