Walliams & Friend

We know who Walliams is, appearing in this new sketch show, but who's the friend? That'll be Joanna Lumley, who radiates such professionalism - whether playing herself, leading a troupe of Lumley-decoys, or a Hollywood-besotted Mary Berry ("A woman of my age knows her way around an eclair, Paul"; "I master-bake thinking of you") - she tosses armfuls of pixie-glitter into every crevice. Highlights include a rude tanning salon, a boy band with an incongruous member, and Walliams's unique take on Oscar Wilde.

Walliams And Friend review

Overall the show is an effective one-off that will surely lead to David Walliams being paired up with more friends in the future.

Here's one that will make you feel really old: it's 10 years since the final series of Little Britain aired on BBC One. The show that made David Walliams a bona-fide star served as a launchpad for a career that has seen him take on a judging role on Britain's Got Talent, undertake jaw-dropping charity work (his Thames swim remains a crowning glory), and become a successful children's author.

Now he's going back to his comedy roots with a one-off Christmas TV special. Titled Walliams & Friend, it sees the comedian return to the type of sketches that helped make his name - and his 'friend' is a very special guest indeed. It is, of course, the absolutely fabulous Joanna Lumley, who remains a brilliant comedic presence.

By its very nature sketch comedy is hit-or-miss, but Walliams & Friend is thankfully more of the former - from a hilariously terrible gameshow contestant played by Walliams, to a meeting between Joanna Lumley and her own personal team of, erm, other Joanna Lumleys.

And then there's the Bake Off sketch - you'll never look at Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry in the same way ever again.

The 40-minute special is daft fun - and likely to be even funnier after a few Christmas Eve sherries. Here's hoping for more Walliams & Friend episodes in the future with a different guest star each time.

Review: Walliams & Friend, BBC1

It's about time David Walliams got round to doing some proper comedy.

Review - Walliams and Friends: five things we learned

nlikely double act David Walliams and Joanna Lumley coin a new catchphrase and soil the Bake Off forever.

Walliams & Friend preview

For me Walliams & Friend mixes the best of David Walliams' comic abilities, the impressions from Rock Profile shine through in the Bake Off sketch, his clever writing shines through in so many of the sketches.

The friend of the title is Joanna Lumley, as David Walliams accesses his inner Two Ronnies to generally profitable effect. There's a product-placement skit worthy of Ronnies Barker and Corbett, as well as Oscar Wilde as a lewd northern comedian, a team of Joanna Lumley lookalikes, a Bake Off pastiche and much, much more. Better than you might expect.

Radio Times review

The "Friend" is Joanna Lumley, who accompanies David Walliams through an inevitably uneven, but more-winners-than-losers sketch show. There's a disturbing pastiche of The Great British Bake Off with Paul Hollywood (Walliams, alarming with hedgehog hair) and Mary Berry (Lumley) unable to conceal their lust for one another.

In what feels like an updating of Ronnie Barker's classic Mispronunciation Sketch, Walliams is a party guest who invented autocorrect, and he drags up to play a passive-aggressive, glowing orange tanning salon receptionist. But maybe you'll prefer his Oscar Wilde, or the businessman dad who gives his little daughter a bedtime story in bullet points.