The Best Of Tommy Cooper

Maybe you would expect a programme like this to be on at Christmas, not after it - but the timeless nature of Cooper's act and art makes a fine clip show, whenever it's broadcast. A lugubrious physical comedian, Cooper was never "off" - he died on stage - and resisted efforts made by interviewers to get into his psyche. To that end, this includes his appearance on Parkinson, during which he makes the perspicacious interviewer simply another prop in his act.

John Robinson, The Guardian, 9th January 2017

Radio Times review

See where Tim Vine got his pun-slinging, and Count Arthur Strong his comic ineptitude, in this daily collection of sketches. Tommy Coopers shtick of useless conjuring was endlessly funny. Typically he would get a big laugh from apparently hashing a trick, then a roar of appreciation when it succeeded - and he'd top that by unwittingly revealing the mechanics of the trick. Three steps to comedy heaven.

Look out in tomorrow's show for a surreal walk-past by "Oliver Hardy" ("It wasn't was it?" asks Cooper), a ventriloquist "Cooper at Sea" on a rocking set, and eternal straight man Allan Cuthbertson struggling to keep the star on his feet during a karate sketch - Cooper was 6ft 4in and big with it.

Mark Braxton, Radio Times, 24th November 2015