Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain

Ronnie Corbett - the pint-sized national treasure, retired comedian and arguably the finest anecdotalist of the last century - is now 80 years old and as sharp as he ever was. Disregarding a slight limp, he also doesn't appear to have aged much in the last 20 years - proof that laughter is indeed the best medicine. Tonight, feeling that it's time for "a new adventure", he embarks on the first leg of a two-part tour through the history of British comedy.

It's basically a victory lap, in which Corbett meets up with a variety of comedy luminaries - from John Cleese to Stephen Merchant to Miranda Hart - and chortles about the good old days. In the hands of a less charming figure this could easily have been a piece of self-indulgent schedule filler, but Corbett has a wonderfully light touch and the programme skips along. The first leg is dedicated to double acts, touching upon Morecambe and Wise, Mitchell and Webb, Matt Lucas and David Walliams and, needless to say, The Two Ronnies. Jokes, anecdotes and clips from the archives abound - look out for the story of how Corbett and Barker made the TV big-time, thanks largely to a power outage and some clever ad-libbing.

Pete Naughton, The Telegraph, 5th August 2011

Ronnie Corbett: 'Comedy's in my soul'

Legendary comedian Ronnie Corbett tells TV Times magazine why he loves everything about modern comedians - and why he'll never retire!

What's On TV, 5th August 2011