The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Walliams returns – with a new set of friends
If you didn’t see the one-off Christmas special of the same name, then the title of this new series - Walliams & Friend (Friday, BBC1, 9.30pm) may initially look like a typo.
After all, surely it should be Walliams & Friends, plural? As a hugely successful actor, comedian, children’s author and talent show judge, not to mention a man who once swam the Channel for charity, David W al li a ms must have more than one mate.
But don’t worry - the title is really a nod to the fact that David, who many people first became aware of thanks to Little Britain, is going backto his sketch show, double-act roots. It’s just that he’s going to have a new comedy partner each week.
David says there is definite upside to swapping comedy partners: “It means the show can reinvent itself week to week. It feels very fresh and never gets boring. In other sketch shows, there are a lot of reasons why you end up doing the same characters every week. You need at least a hundred sketches for a series, and that’s very hard. But if you’re writing for specific people, you can constantly reinvent the show.”
The first Christmas special saw David joining forces with actress and all-round national treasure Joanne Lumley, and it was such a success that he’s been able to recruit an impressive line-up to take part in this series.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll see him team up with a couple of people who certainly know their way around a sketch show-Harry Enfield and Meera Syal of Goodness, Gracious Me fame.
He’ll also be working with award-winning actresses Sheridan Smith and Miranda Richardson, as well as Downton Abbey’ s Hugh Bonneville.
But the first friend to join David to play an array of com- edy characters is stand-up and actor Jack Whitehall.
David says of his co-star: “He’s so, so funny. In fact, he is too funny. He needs to be stopped! He made me feel really old when he told me, ‘I used to love watching Little Britain when I was at school.’ [I said] ’I’m sorry, how old are you?’ He’s still in his 20s. It’s absurd!”
We’ re going to be seeing Jack as we’ ve never seen him beforefor a start, he’ll be dressing as a woman. (If he wants any hints on that, he should probably ask David, who as anyone with even a passing knowledge of his CV will know, is no stranger to dresses).
They’ll also be straying into Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman’s territory with their own, somewhat inappropriate take on Sherlock and Watson, and bringing us the world’s worst dating show contestant.
Just in case this year’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here! is proving a little too tame for your tastes, we’re being treated to the launch of Britain’s cruellest reality show, Celebrity Slammer, in which David finds himself locked up with the likes of The Chuckle Brothers and Bob Carolgees.
And although it’ s Friend singular in the title, keep your eyes peeled for the impressive supporting cast, which includes Mike Wozniak, Jason Lewis and Morgana Robinson.