Rob Brydon

Video: Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon take a trip

Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan have become comedy partners in a new BBC Two show called The Trip.

Steve Coogan plays a food critic who is ditched by his girlfriend and forced to take his friend Rob on a restaurant road journey.

Maverick film director Michael Winterbottom hops genres with exhilarating ease. Now he offers a uniquely British spin on the road movie. The Trip premiered earlier this year as a feature film, but the BBC has opted to air it as a six-part comedy-drama. The unhurried, graceful style of this first episode suggests it was a wise decision. Playing semi-fictionalised versions of themselves, comedians Steve Coogan (still best-known for I'm Alan Partridge) and Rob Brydon (Gavin & Stacey, Marion and Geoff, QI) spar to perfection as reluctant travel companions. Coogan is asked by a national newspaper to tour the North and review restaurants. When his girlfriend backs out of accompanying him, Coogan begrudgingly asks Brydon to come along instead. The largely improvised dialogue allows the pair to play off their public personae to great effect. Coogan is neurotic and gnarly. The affable Brydon has an endearingly sentimental streak, eager to please his sardonic friend. Their gently antagonistic relationship is beautifully realised over the course of lunch at The Inn at Whitewell in Lancashire. A typically scattershot exchange, in which the duo try to top each other's impersonations of Michael Caine and Anthony Hopkins, provides the episode's comic highlight. Winterbottom intersperses their dialogue with lingering shots of the Inn's elegant dining room and exquisite food, and, outside, a glorious expansive backdrop of rolling hills.

Last week, likeable comedian Rob Brydon's main guest was Terry Wogan. This week it's Ronnie Corbett. Legends they may be, but Brydon is hardly seducing us with dynamic line-ups. His chat with a bemused Corbett is a disappointing mix of smut and silliness. Things continue to go downhill when Brydon submits glamorous singer Paloma Faith to a baffling Spanish-style serenade. A slice of stand-up from perky comedian Lucy Porter livens things up for a few minutes. But there's no escaping the general whiff of mediocrity.

Rob Brydon gets seal of approval from Parky

Chat show icon Sir Michael Parkinson has marked out Welsh comic Rob Brydon as his heir apparent.

Without his impressive range of eccentric characters to hide behind, endearing comic Rob Brydon comes over bland. His opening schtick with the audience is light-hearted and amusing enough, and he's sufficiently quick-witted not to be overshadowed by his main guest, a gently sardonic Terry Wogan. But nothing about this old-fashioned set-up really sparks. And Brydon's duet with singer Sharleen Spiteri is horribly misjudged.

Interview: Rob Brydon unveils his new chat show

The comedian has just finished a run of his panel show Would I Lie To You?, started his own talk show, The Rob Brydon Show, and he's got The Trip, a new comedy with buddy Steve Coogan, in the pipeline.

A quick survey of TV Towers revealed that Rob Brydon can do no wrong - even if he took a lawn mower for a drive through a convalesence centre for lame chicks. From the brilliant Marion and Geoff to his turn as Uncle Bryn in Gavin and Stacey, Rob's been nothing less than sublime, and so we're jolly pleased he's been given his own chat show. In this first episode his guests are David Walliams, Sir Tom Jones and rising comedian Tom Deacon, all of whom look as if they're having loads of fun. In no time, you'll be struggling to remember that Jonathan bloke who used to host a chat show on a Friday night...

Rob Brydon's got his own chat show! What's it like? Well, after a cringeworthy opening intro, not too bad - 'Dame' David Walliams gives good value banter, promising young stand-up Tom Deacon does a entertaining short set, plus Tom Jones joins Brydon to duet on a couple of rock songs. All very chummy.

It's not the first time Rob Brydon has fronted his own chat show. Back in 2004, he hosted a spoof version under his alias of Keith Barret. Now he's playing it straight - so you can forgive his first guests for some confusion - especially after Brydon opens by treating his audience to his bizarre impression of Pingu.

"Is it meant to be a comedy show?" asks David Walliams as he considers the best way to reply to a question about his marriage. Pre-recorded on a stage that's been dressed to resemble a gentlemen's club (the traditional kind with bookcases, not lapdancers, I hasten to add) this is a tame, low-wattage affair compared to The Paul O'Grady Show over on ITV1. But Brydon's talent for impersonation also leads to an unusual duet with his other guest, his hero Sir Tom Jones.

Here's a fun game to play while watching Rob Brydon's new chat and variety show featuring David Walliams and Tom Jones - impression bingo! Tick them off as he does them to win a fabulous prize! Ronnie Corbett, Terry Wogan, Alec Guinness and, best of all, Tiny Man In A Box. Got them all? You win! Your prize is that you have just watched Rob Brydon's new chat and variety show featuring David Walliams and Tom Jones. And if you watched it after the new Paul O'Grady chat and variety show, may God have mercy on your soul.