Comedy favourite is back with new late-night show
Harry Hill’s Clubnite (Channel 4, tonight, 11.05pm)
IT is almost 25 years ago to the day that Harry Hill made his television breakthrough in 1994, when he starred in BBC Two black-and-white silent comedy series Harry Hill’s Fruit Fancies.
In a similar format to his radio show Fruit Corner, 1992 Perrier best newcomer award winner performed a series of sketches, with a number of celebrity guests making cameo appearances, and the series ran for six episodes between October and December 1994.
Then three years later, the comedian made a television adaptation of Fruit Corner for Channel 4, unimaginatively titled Harry Hill, which ran for three series between 1997 and 2000.
Among the regular characters were Hill’s big brother, Alan (Al Murray), and his adopted son,
Alan Jr, played by Dr Matt Bradstock.
Burt Kwouk also appeared in many episodes of the programme, as Harry’s ‘Chicken Catcher’.
Despite the series being a cult success, it was cancelled in April 2000, but later revived in March 2003, as The All-New Harry Hill Show by ITV, who broadcast it along with episodes of Harry’s new show TV Burp.
The Channel 4 series was revisited in August 2012, for a retrospective documentary entitled Whatever Happened to Harry Hill, but apart from that, Harry hasn’t worked with Channel 4 again. Until now that is.
Tonight the comedian extraordinaire who has fronted You’ve Been Framed, Harry Hill’s Shark Infested Custard, Stars in Their Eyes, Harry Hill’s Tea Time and Harry Hill’s Alien Fun Capsule returns to Channel 4 with a brand-new late-night series which promises a mix of controlled chaos and his favourite funny people.
When the commission of six hour-long episodes was announced in January, Channel 4’s head of entertainment Ed Havard said: ‘I’m thrilled that a huge star like Harry is excited by the opportunities in our new 11pm slot.
‘We’ve wanted to work with him for a very long time – he has always been a champion of new comedy talent and with Harry at the helm, the series is a fantastic chance to introduce a raft of the best new faces to Channel 4’s audience.’
Harry will introduce his favourite acts on the comedy circuit alongside sketches, games, music and all the madness you’d expect from his award-winning shows.
Recorded during the week of transmission, in front of a live audience, ClubNite will see Harry acting as both host and curator, and in addition to well-known and established acts, many of the new performers will be handpicked and approved by Harry and introduced accordingly.
Performances on the night could take the form of an interview with Harry, audience participation, regular returning comedy segments or simply taking to the stage to do their act.
However, given Harry’s reputation for the anarchic, it promises to be full of surprises.
Joining Harry in the first episode are English stand-up Bridget Christie, actor, comedian and writer Spencer Jones, Bridlington funnywoman Rosie Jones, double act Anna Leong Brophy and Emily Lloyd-Saini, aka EGG and Anna Mann, the alter-ego of comic Colin Hoult.
While other names during the series include Mawaan Rizwan, Rachel Parris, Suzi Ruffell, Huge Davies, Lucy Pearman, Eddie Kadi, and Tim Renkow.