Come Fly With Me

I hated Little Britain... but rather like Come Fly With Me. Which is not racist and - according to everyone except me - not funny.

So harmless comedy character duo Matt Lucas and David ­Walliams stand accused of BNP-style white ­sup­remacism? Unbelievable. If that's what you think... PC off! Should we ban the boys from dressing up as anyone who isn't Anglo Saxon? No.

And now on to the more legitimate criticism that BBC1's airport spoof is about as side-splitting as Heathrow in a snow storm. Fair enough. But if it doesn't make you laugh, forget the ­furious complaints. Try the off switch.

Anyway, after last night's second instalment, I remain the founder - and possibly only - member of the CFWM fan club. Sure, it's tasteless. What did you expect... stylish satire?

At least it wasn't awash with bodily functions. Unlike revolting Little Britain. And by the way, with a staggering ­audience of nearly 11 million, Come Fly With Me was the highest-rated ­comedy of 2010. A smash hit.

The key to this show's comedic worth will be time. After four episodes will we have catch phrases of the same four characters over and over? We can only hope not: you see this was actually funny, even if some portions of the media are complaining of racism. Several of the characters are not white so there is some blacking up of sorts, I'd point out this isn't the first time the Walliams/Lucas duo have done this and that these characters are based upon the original documentaries as well as rolling in some general stereotypes. Oh well, sod it, throw in some complaints and let's make BBC comedy guidelines more strict so no one is ever made fun of, yeah?

The writing may not reach the heights of Little Britain at its best (what does?) but Come Fly With Me has enjoyable moments. Matt Lucas's way with a reaction shot is always a joy. There's a good sketch involving a couple complaining about their experience on FlyLo's new cruise service, where David Walliams plays an overbearing wife, but Lucas's worn-down husband is the real star. Similarly when we re-enter the tense world of Simon and Jackie Trent (Britain's first husband-and-wife pilot team), it's Lucas who shines as penitent Simon. Plus cheapskate airline owner Omar shows off his idea of a flat bed seat and hopeless immigration officer Ian Foot gets a geography lesson.

Come Fly With Me is tasteless comedy

The latest comedy series on BBC1 by David Walliams and Matt Lucas is not racist, but it is full of crude racial stereotypes.

Viewers protest at Lucas and Walliams's 'minstrel show'

Thousands of viewers have complained that the Christmas Day show by comedy duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams on BBC1 was racist.

Come Fly with Me, a spoof documentary series from Matt Lucas and David Walliams, was a little unlucky in its timing, following a week or so in which the only airport stories that mattered were about cancellations and flight delays. Quite a few of its potential viewers must have felt sick at the thought of even looking at a terminal building. It needed some luck too, because although it had some good characters there's a coarseness to much of the comedy that matches the unconvincing prosthetic work. Perhaps it's all meant to be cartoonish and obvious, and I'm guessing that Little Britain fans will have a good time. But with all the blacking-up and dragging-up and camping-it-up it sometimes felt as if it had been resuscitated from the Seventies without any modernisation work. Dick Emery would have loved it.

It was funny that Matt Lucas and David Walliams's much-heralded airport-based mockumentary, Come Fly With Me, crowned a week when Heathrow was full of people not flying with anyone. But was anything else funny? The two of them are terrific mimics, and their array of characters is vast and all are well played. And it had its broad moments of hilarity - I liked the Japanese schoolgirls waiting for Martin Clunes and the security officer cupping the genitals of male passengers. But too much of the material was thin, too many of the sketches overworked and the punchlines too obvious. At this time of year one hopes for ho, ho, ho, but I came away thinking no, no, no.

Review: Come Fly With Me, BBC1, Christmas Day

Lucas and Walliams fail to take off in their airport mocumentary.

Matt "Little" Lucas and David "Britain" Walliams return with a mockumentary centred on a budget airline called Fly Lo. The direction is slick, and "difficult second album" syndrome is avoided via an equal opportunities approach to racial stereotypes. Among the grotesques is gregarious Afro-Caribbean coffee-stand proprietor Precious, globular airline poobah Omar Baba and Irish trolley-dolly Feargal ("I'm one of 10 brothers. We're all gay. Except for Finbar. He's bi"). Economy class all the way.