Rhys Thomas

TV Review: Bellamy's People

Rhys Thomas stars as Bellamy and does a decent enough job of playing the straight-man in amongst the idiots created for the show. However, the whole thing hangs together in such a beige manner that it's hard to buy into it all.

Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson's spoof phone-in Down the Line is easily one of the funniest Radio 4 shows since On the Hour, and the former Fast Showees bring its inane host Gary Bellamy (Rhys Thomas) to life as he travels around the country meeting ordinary Britons. Rather than the satire of its Radio 4-bear, the set-up is essentially an excuse for Fast Show-like sketches as Bellamy meets assorted listeners/weirdos played by Paul, Charlie, Simon Day, Felix Dexter and co. It's almost very good, but not yet as sharp as the original show.

In 2006 a new late-night phone-in on Radio 4 prompted a slew of complaints from listeners. It emerged that Down the Line, hosted by the bland yet "award winning" Gary Bellamy, was no dumbed-down phone-in, but a loving spoof engineered by Fast Show creators Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse, who voiced many of the show's bizarrely believable callers. Three series later they've found a way to bring their caricatures to TV, while at the same time gently mocking those celebrity-travels-around Britain series.

Bellamy (Rhys Thomas) sets off around the country to meet his public, from Higson's senior citizen Humphrey Milner ("Oh, I've brought you into the wrong room!") and boisterous "Lion of Harlesden" Early D (a lovely turn from Felix Dexter) to ageing "60s bad boy" Ian Craig-Oldman (classic Whitehouse). The comedy lies in the sweetly pitched mannerisms and absurdities: not a lot happens, but it happens hilariously. Credit to Thomas, too: a straight man of the old school, he manages to make everyone around him funnier.

It's not The Fast Show and nor does it try to be, but this new series, a spin-off from Radio 4's award-winning spoof phone-in Down The Line, finds Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson back together on TV for the first time in a decade, with their old mucker Simon Day also popping up in some of the sketches.

The Bellamy of the title is radio host Gary (Rhys Thomas), who sets off on a trip around the UK, encountering all kinds of bizarre, eccentric characters - many of whom, of course, look naggingly familiar.

They include a celebrity criminal, a 23-stone bed-ridden man, and a pair of posh sisters with decidedly dubious political views. Other top comic talents putting in an appearance include Lucy Montgomery, Rosie Cavaliero and Felix Dexter.

Ten years after their last television outing together in The Last Ever Fast Show, Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson and Simon Day reunite for an ingenious and amiable new series of comedy character sketches. This time, they've added an extra comic dimension to their world of mouthy plasterers, former armed robbers and upper-class loons. All the characters here are avid listeners to a fictional radio programme hosted by an unworldly, feckless DJ, Gary Bellamy (Rhys Thomas).

With the kind of cringe-making narration that adorns many a celebrity-presented documentary ("Modern Britain is a sometimes bewildering mix of different cultures and too often we don't make the effort to find out what we really think about each other"), Bellamy travels the nation to meet his fans and paint a portrait of "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". There's 23-stone Graham Downes (Whitehouse) from Harlow, who surfs the net from bed: "Out there in cyberspace, you see, Gary, I can become weightless." Higson is excellent as a doddery Cirencester gent, Humphrey Milner, playing him with eerie realism. And Whitehouse is peerless both as a potty, Sloaney rock impresario called Ian Craig-Oldman, and as opinionated Martin Hole, a Page 3-loving decorator whose catchphrase is just waiting to worm its way into our daily parlance: "I done you there. I done you right up." It's an impressive new home for the comic brilliance of The Fast Show.

Bellamy's People is sensationally good. Reuniting Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson from The Fast Show and performed by a crack team of comic actors, the idea is that a self-satisfied young Radio 4 talkshow host, Gary Bellamy (Rhys Thomas), leaves his studio and goes walkabout to meet his listeners, who prove to be an astonishing variety of perfectly realised comic characters. They include a 23 stone (146 kg) man who never leaves his front room, an ageing rock impresario, a prim parish worker, an Asian community leader, a semi-reformed criminal and a couple of dotty aristocrats with a penchant for totalitarian regimes. Each character seems more accurate and colourful than the one before and the show relies entirely on observation rather than gags to generate its laughter.

It is only a minority of fans of popular Sheffield-based beat combo Pulp who believe that their late period, commercial flop album This Is Hardcore is actually their best work. They may be a minority, but they are correct.

There's probably a similarly sized minority who believe that Paul Whitehouse has done his best work since his biggest hit, The Fast Show. He was brilliant as the voiceover artist in Happiness, and Help was excellent until it fell victim to Chris Langham. He then worked on Radio 4's award-winning Down The Line with Charlie Higson, which saw hapless DJ Gary Bellamy deal with idiotic phone-in callers. It was so popular that it was bound to end up on TV. And here we are.

Given that the idiotic phone-in was their main target for satire, the transfer works surprisingly well. They've shifted aim from Radio Five (Live) to regional news and The One Show.

There's plenty to enjoy. In the improvised scenes, Rhys Thomas (Gary) retains a nice sense of glazed wonderment as he's confronted by characters. Yes, they're all a bit Little Britain - a big fat man, a crusty old pair of sisters and a market entrepreneur speaking deep patois. But some of them do have an edge - Mr Khan the community leader, who no one knows, in particular. And no one blacks up.

It's solid comedy. Not special, but comfortingly good. Comedy that you can sit on. And it's miles better than The Fast Show.

A few years ago, Radio 4 phone-in show Down The Line caused no end of controversy as the complaints flooded in, from listeners who hadn't quite cottoned on to the fact that it was a spoof. It's taken its time getting there but the character-based comedy show has finally arrived on TV, as Bellamy's People, in which the radio host Gary Bellamy (Rhys Thomas) tracks down some of his more eccentric listeners.

But the most notable thing about the show is the men behind it - Bellamy's People marks the first TV collaboration in ten years of The Fast Show creators Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson. This time around we're promised a slightly quieter, more reflective show, and one more concerned with gentle social satire. But with a cast that also includes the likes of Simon Day and Amelia Bulmore, there should hopefully be some laughs in there as well. Let's just hope, given the combination of Paul Whitehouse and comedy characters, that the prosthetic makeup isn't as terrifying as in the Aviva ad where it looks like his face is melting.

Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson have reunited for a new comedy about life in modern Britain - and this is one TV comeback I'm delighted to see.

Self-regarding Gary Bellamy (Star Stories' Rhys Thomas) is an award-winning journalist with an award-winning radio show. Now he's been released from his cosy studio and given a TV series in which he'll travel across the country to meet his listeners and find out what makes them tick.

Although headed by stalwarts of The Fast Show, the humour is more in the vein of People Like Us, that genius series featuring the now disgraced Chris Langham. It spoofs genuine "celebrity meets the public" shows brilliantly, using ridiculous links such as: "Cirencester in Gloucestershire couldn't be more different from Harlesden".

The characters Gary meets are wonderfully eccentric, with some lovely performances by the likes of Simon Day, Lucy Montgomery and Felix Dexter. And, of course Charlie and Paul - although I can't help but watch Paul's performances and be reminded of his recent spate of insurance ads.

Characters range from a 23-stone man who lives in his bed to a deluded community leader who can't quite tell Gary what a community leader does. There's the screechy Trisha Webb, who runs Gary's 'Bellamy's Babes' fan club, and lovely old boy Humphrey Milner, a self-confessed silver surfer. But my favourites are a pair of posh old biddies, who made me laugh so suddenly and hard I almost snorted tea out of my nose.

Interview: Rhys Thomas - Nobody's fool

As his hit radio comedy makes the jump to TV, Rhys Thomas tells Jay Richardson about his quiet yet stellar rise.