Peter Dickinson

The spoof documentary Whatever Happened to Harry Hill? was part of the Funny Fortnight celebrating Channel 4's 30th birthday. This is the channel, of course, on which Hill first appeared, back in 1997. The aptly-named Harry Hill Show was a gallimaufry of inspired idiocy that introduced us to the ever-elusive badgers' parade, a blue rubber cat called Stouffer, the sight of Bert Kwouk (formerly Cato in the Inspector Clouseau films) as Harry's lacklustre chicken catcher, Mai Sung - Harry's wife and stealer of his Abbey National book and ... well, look, if you weren't there, this will all be so much nonsense and if you were, you will know that the mere printed word cannot convey more than an ounce of the madness and delight that ensued.

Whatever Happened to ... was essentially a clips job, given shape by the conceit that the major players had all suffered a falling-out but were now hoping to get back together for one last show. Kwouk was the most resistant to this plan. "For his impressions, Harry just put a wig on!" he remembered, disgusted. "He didn't even try to match the voice!" Eventually, however, even he was convinced, and a glorious reunion - now that Harry has beaten the tawdry sild addiction that finally did for the troupe - took place.

If you were in a mind to be critical, you could say that the ratio of new material to clips, and the comparative levels of invention for each, were quite low. With links to match the generous and ebullient performances from the past, the whole thing could have sung, and better than Bert Kwouk doing Hey Little Hen. But you couldn't stay cross for long in the face of the Mattie Mince pledges (though "that was the sild talking," Harry reveals bravely now), the tiny jockeys, Peter Dickinson in the badger grooming bay and other sketches of yesteryear unspooling, as insanely as ever, before you. Happiness would keep on breaking through.

Lucy Mangan, The Guardian, 23rd August 2012