Rudy's Rare Records

Lenny Henry on performing in Rudy's Rare Records

After two acclaimed dramatic roles, Lenny Henry returns to the stage in a comedy about three generations of one family running a record shop together. Along with the funny lines, Rudy's Rare Records is giving him reason to think hard about his own father.

Lenny Henry to appear on stage in Rudy's Rare Records

Actor and comedian to make his first appearance at Birmingham Rep theatre in adaptation of BBC Radio 4 comedy.

Meanwhile, another new comedy on Radio 4: Rudy's Rare Records. This is a patchy comedy starring Lenny Henry, about a son who goes to Birmingham to take over his hated father's record shop while the latter recovers from a supposed heart attack. (The father, it turns out, is dissembling about this.) In it, we are asked to believe that Henry's character is a geeky weed who likes nothing better than filing records in alphabetical order.

The problem is that everyone in this country knows that Henry is actually built like a brick shithouse, and has little of the geek about him. Not that this is the show's greatest problem. That would be the overall lack of really good jokes. It's not bad - but that's because it's the situation that's interesting, not the comedy.

Radio Review: Rudy's Rare Records

Rudy is like Bernard Black of Black Books; so in love with his world that he doesn't want anyone to share it.

Lenny: Why I used white writers

Henry discusses his new sitcom.

Lenny Henry is back on radio and on familiar territory - comedy, music and Birmingham. Unusually, though, this time he's the straight man as the classical music-loving son, Adam Sharpe, of the eponymous Rudy, the owner of a specialist record shop. This doesn't mean, though, that Henry doesn't get a few laughs along the way, which is only fair since the script by Danny Robins and Dan Tetsell is absolutely stuffed with them. The set-up can be briefly explained - father and son are estranged, father suffers slight heart murmur which becomes a full-blown heart attack so son will return to Brum to run record shop for nothing. But you'll go a long way to find better and more consistent one-liners and, as a bonus, some fine vintage ska and reggae music used to link the scenes. A joy - and there are three more episodes to follow.