Sheila Reid

Radio Times review

Benidorm is ailing. I speak as one who loved the earlier series but, as the eighth opens, it can barely crank out an ounce of credibility in the storylines, let alone a decent laugh. The Garveys are gone and with them any clout Steve Pemberton, Sheila Reid and Siobhan Finneran brought to the show (although Reid will be back for a guest spot).

A new family, the Dawsons (headed by a shrill Julie Graham), make little impact, while Joyce (Sherrie Hewson) seriously considers hiring the deeply unsavoury Marcus (Robin Askwith).

On a positive note, Jacqueline gives her late hubby Donald a touching send-off, aided by hairdresser Troy (Paul Bazely, returning after four years away).

Radio Times review

Among this week's treats are a poolside spit-roast and a pork-gobbling contest... Now, now! Don't misconstrue. This is Benidorm but an actual pig is involved. Unfortunately it's a carcass sourced by Cyril (Matthew Kelly) from a butcher's dumpster, and the meat snarfed down is soon challenging the bowels of even the hardiest, lardiest Solana fun-seekers. This is the level of humour (and it made me snigger).

Meanwhile, Tonya insults Janice in the spa, love is in the air (and water) for Michael, and bilious Madge is being uncommonly pleasant to all - are her days really numbered? Surely, no one would be silly enough to ditch that creosoted mini-marvel, Sheila Reid.

Radio Times review

A pensioner expires under the hairdryer in Blow 'n' Go, leaving Kenneth and Liam in a pickle. Drippy Martin wakes up after the stag do in bed with (he believes) a teenage girl. Donald and Jacqueline, cavorting in lycra and anti-grav boots, take on the lads, Michael and Tiger, in a beach-volleyball contest. And Tonya Dyke (magnificent Hannah Waddingham) resorts to Abba at the karaoke to get the better of oily Mateo.

Sounds a riot, doesn't it? But apart from the odd racy line, Benidorm is creaking like an old banger in need of lubrication. The Garveys (Steve Pemberton, Siobhan Finneran and Sheila Reid - all of them a gift to any writer) deserve better material.

Interview with The Garveys

RT's Patrick Mulkern meets his sitcom heroes, Steve Pemberton, Siobhan Finneran and Sheila Reid.

Four episodes in and this comedy about a deluded wannabe politician in the Scottish town of Broughty Ferry is still failing to live up to expectations. The books (and subsequent radio show) by Neil Forsyth have gained quite a following but this series is just not funny, despite the best efforts of Brian Cox in the title role. Tonight Servant, ahead of the by-election, messes up a television interview when answering a question about his political ambitions by saying he wants to be seen as Annie Lennox. His mother (Sheila Reid) doesn't help his cause by telling a journalist that her son has "a head full of mince".

The central conceit was that a succession of famous women from history subject themselves to the enquiries of a shrink, played with cooing aplomb by Rebecca Front. Joan of Arc is shown to be a petulant teen in a breastplate who justifies herself by saying "God made me do it", Eva Braun lists the virtues of her new boyfriend ("When he walks into a room, everyone really respects him") before confiding, "He might be a bit of a racist", and Beatrix Potter reveals that animals tell her mucky stories.

I laughed immoderately at Sharon Horgan's portrayal of Frida Kahlo with a long droopy moustache, blithely ignoring the shrink's subtle enquiries ("Is it possible that you've ... cultivated something that might be keeping him at arm's length?") and at Sheila Reid doing Mother Teresa as a chain-smoking Northern harridan. But the humour relied tiresomely on the juxtaposition of primness and smut, on Jane Austen and blowjobs, the Bible and bonking. In one sketch, Mary Whitehouse reveals a liking for gay porn. Mary Whitehouse? Which decade are we in now?

At times I wished the women had been invited to improvise. They might have brought some welcome diversion from the writers' one-track minds.

The performances in Psychobitches are funnier than the one-track script in the latest addition to the Playhouse strand. Directed by Jeremy Dyson (The League of Gentlemen), the comedy sees a succession of famous women apparently revealing their true selves in front of a questioning psychiatrist (Rebecca Front, above). Cue an aggressive Mother Teresa (Sheila Reid), a lovestruck Eva Braun (Catherine Tate), a sex-obsessed Jane Austen (Sharon Horgan) and a deluded Joan of Arc (Katy Brand).

Sheila Reid interview

Puffing on a fag, swearing like a trooper and having a swig of beer is not how anyone would think of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It is why veteran actress Sheila Reid thought long and hard about playing the Catholic nun in just such a fashion in a new comedy.

Sheila Reid: 'Mother Teresa would love this!'

Look out for Benidorm star Shelia Reid playing a comedy Mother Teresa in Psychobitches on Sky Arts 1.

Sheila Reid: 'We're mobbed like JLS!'

What's On TV caught up with Sheila Reid on the set of Benidorm, where she revealed that Madge is about to make a new friend and gave us the lowdown on the Garveys, fake tan and the possibilities of doing wheelies on that mobility scooter...