Robin Sebastian

Jumping The Shark review

Set in a workshop for would-be sitcom creators, Jumping The Shark puts one well-known tip above all others: write what you know.

Hancock's Half Hour: a triumphant remake of comedy gold

"So should you watch it? Yes. Yes, you should, and then you should write letters to the BBC demanding that they reassemble this cast and crew post-haste," says Tom Cole.

TV preview: Lost Sitcoms - Hancock's Half Hour, BBC4

Stone me this is good. I was a little bit worried about this TV recreation of a lost Hancock episode because last week's Alf Garnett reboot was so disappointing. But there is no problem here. A combination of excellent casting and excellent writing makes this easily as funny as most contemporary sitcoms.

'Lost Sitcoms' review: 'Hancock's Half Hour'

Entirely studio-bound with only three sets and no special effects or flashy camera tricks, director Ben Gosling Fuller is free to concentrate on the actors and the vintage material they're performing.

I had a real treat this week, meeting Kenneth Williams, or rather Robin Sebastian the man who plays him so superbly in the new Hancock's half Hours. Can any comic actor have given his audiences so much pleasure while obtaining so little for himself? I suppose I could be talking about either Kenneth Williams or Tony Hancock. They both suffered from deep depression and both died alone, having taken overdoses. Thank heaven many of their recordings have survived, and that where they haven't many of the scripts have. You can hear my interview with Robin Sebastian and the rest of the programme here.

Most of us are here today, gone tomorrow, but not Williams and Hancock. They are truly immortal, at least on radio.

You never know what weird and wonderful stuff you can find on eBay. Late in 2005, Wes Butters came across papers put up for auction by the godson of Kenneth Williams. Among the memorabilia, Butters found a 1966 script, Twice Ken Is Plenty, written by Kenneth Horne and Mollie Millest, that had never been broadcast. But not for long. Actors Robin Sebastian and Jonathan Rigby revive the two Kens in front of an audience, who are clearly having fun, at the BBC Radio Theatre. The story pivots around the duo's attempts to infiltrate the inner recesses of Broadcasting House, meaning a great deal of doors get opened (cue those familiar sound effects), a welter of bad puns, Light Programme in-jokes and buckets of innuendo. Like all nostalgia, it can disappoint at times, but mostly, it is a joyous, glorious titterfest that will have you groaning in bad-pun heaven.