A Comedy Roast

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TV review - Barbara Windsor: A Comedy Roast

The hair, the chest, the men - Babs's comedy roast is more of a gentle braising.

"A roast is where we show someone we love them by constantly ridiculing them. It's a bit like a marriage," explains host Jimmy Carr, as he lines Barbara Windsor up for the affectionate comedy drubbing. After 50 years in showbiz, she has plenty of friends willing to step up and insult her age, upbringing and career, including Bernard Cribbins, Christopher Biggins, Sean Lock and Alan Carr. Although the jokes are cruel, it's surprisingly loving, and more wholesome than it seems.

Christmas has come and gone but if you've still got an appetite for scorched old bird, don't miss the Carry On star's rip-roaring roast. Jimmy Carr comperes while celebs line up to hurl biting but mostly soft-centred abuse at their target. Barbara greets her tormenters (including Sean Lock and Christopher Biggins) with an "'ello' darling" or an "'ello sweet'art", then chuckles like a drunk kookaburra throughout their monologues. Three topics dominate: her age, her bosoms and her controversial support of the Kray twins. The latter is greeted with an almost imperceptible unease and it's curiously entertaining.

Barbara Windsor's Comedy Roast: too cruel?

Five sample jokes from the Comedy Roast (or public humiliation) that a group of top comedians will be inflicting on Barbara Windsor on Channel 4. Are they funny - or do they go too far?

"A roast is where we show someone how much we love them by constantly ridiculing them. It's a bit like a marriage," says host Jimmy Carr in one of the funnier lines from tonight's "tribute" to Barbara Windsor.

For reasons known only to herself, the 73-year-old Carry On actress agreed to sit through this hour of public humiliation at the hands of comedians such as Alan Carr, Patrick Kielty and Rich Hall.

Although some of the observations are affectionate, they're mostly cruel jokes about her age and sexual history. Windsor gets her own back with a scathing riposte at the end, but otherwise it's pretty uncomfortable viewing.

There comedy roasts are a curious beast but tonight's ribbing of Barbara Windsor is downright uncomfortable.

Most of the gags are about her age, the number of lovers she's had and her criminal connections. The problem is the line-up. While Bernard Cribbins and Cheryl Fergison have earned their place here, the same can't be said for Patrick Kielty, a regular fixture usually sniggering childishly at his own gags.

Comedian Sean Lock looks like a body double for EastEnders' Billy Mitchell and as for Rich Hall - as Babs puts it herself: "I don't know who you are."

The former Queen of the Vic does her best to sit gamely through this, muttering, "Ooh, you gotta larf," but the only bit that feels affectionate is a sketch from her former EastEnders co-stars about how much they're missing her. Or not.

"A roast is where we show someone how much we love them by constantly ridiculing them. It's a bit like a marriage," says host Jimmy Carr in one of the funnier lines from tonight's "tribute" to Barbara Windsor. For reasons known only to herself, the 73-year-old Carry On actress agreed to sit through this hour of public humiliation at the hands of comedians such as Alan Carr, Patrick Kielty and Rich Hall. Although some of the observations are affectionate, they're mostly cruel jokes about her age and sexual history. Windsor gets her own back with a scathing riposte at the end, but otherwise it's pretty uncomfortable viewing.

Has any other presenter ever invested their heart and soul in a show as much as Davina McCall did with Big Brother? Not many people would have put as much enthusiasm into their last day at work as she did on the Ultimate Big Brother Final. And how does C4 repay her? By rounding up a bunch of comedians to insult her in an amusing manner. There's gratitude for you.

Jimmy Carr hosts as Patrick Kielty, Jack Whitehall, Rich Hall, Ed Byrne and Debra Stephenson poke fun, with tributes from her showbiz mates such as Dermot O'Leary, Chris Moyles and Julian Clary. Plus, of course, some former housemates, including Sam Pepper.

Sam's unique talent in the house was rubbing people up the wrong way without even trying. Wonder what he'll do to get under Davina's skin now that he's a free man?