Harry Hill’s Alien Fun Capsule
MY VERDICT ON…
Full disclosure: I bow to no one in my admiration of Harry Hill. But even I’d reluctantly admit that the great man’s search for a hit TV vehicle to rival the iconic TV Burp hasn’t been plain sailing. His maverick reimagining of Stars In Their Eyes was so bold and daring, it felt like more of a pop art stunt than a regular prime-time game show. And his recent spoof cooking show on Sky1 was full of bonkers delights, but it’s never going to become a popular TV phenomenon. But now we have the utter joy of this ITV panel show, which, as Harry himself explained in heat last week, is really just an excuse for him to do whatever the hell he likes for half an hour, with some lovely celeb guests and a load of brilliantly chosen archive and online footage as its basic raw material. There have been myriad eyewateringly
funny moments in the series so far, but it reached a new plane of inventive brilliance in the second episode, when he showed an old promotional video for Coventry market (don’t ask why), complete with stall-holders and shoppers singing lines like, “Although I’m not complaining / It can be financially draining/when you fall in
love with the lady who sells rugs!” Then, in classic TV Burp style, he persuaded his famous guests to re-create the “music video”, complete with many of the eccentric real people who appeared in the original clip. The sight of Kathy Burke, Lorraine Kelly and Ainsley Harriott belting out the Coventry market song is up there with that South Korea expert on BBC News getting interrupted by his kids in the Funniest Thing On Recent TV stakes. Harry Hill has found a perfect new vehicle. Rejoice!