My Hero: Hugh Dennis On Ronnie Barker

To start with, this felt too much like a great big luvvie love-in, with the voice-over eulogising one comedian (Hugh Dennis) so he could eulogise another (Ronnie Barker). My heart also sank a little when Dennis, more at home deadpanning through Mock the Week, set off to visit the semi where Barker grew up, noting that little was known about his home life. I was braced for the revelation that Barker, a jovial comic giant who made the world seem a happier place with one glance over the top of his spectacles, was an anguished soul who collected broken dolls.
Happily nothing of the kind emerged, and the programme moved on to surer footing with a highly enjoyable trawl through Barker's work, from The Frost Report to The Two Ronnies, Porridge and beyond. Behind-the-scenes glimpses of Barker's creative mind included his meticulous diagrams choreographing a Morris dancing sketch, and a mock press release which chastised David Frost for hogging the credit for the Golden Rose of Montreux award by accusing him of stealing it with the help of unnamed and mysterious accomplices.

It was hard not to get misty-eyed at the footage of Barker accepting his lifetime achievement Bafta in 2004 with typical warmth and wit. The programme captured the end of an era, when Barker's innocent blend of postcard innuendo, verbal tomfoolery and physical hi-jinks personified British comedy - long before the days of Mock the Week.

When he was at Cambridge University, bookish Hugh Dennis was nicknamed "Desk Dennis" by his fellows because he was so serious about his studies. To this day Dennis is a quietly thoughtful rather than raucous comedian. So it's unsurprising that his comedy hero is the resolutely unshowbizzy Ronnie Barker.

In parallel with events in his own career, Dennis looks at Barker's life. He meets actress Dame Eileen Atkins, who got to know Barker during his days in rep, and there's a nice chat with Christopher Biggins about Porridge, which "almost made me want to go to prison," says Dennis.