STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning It would appear the British public like nothing better on their Friday and Saturday nights than to stay in and have a good chuckle. The comedy sketch show is certainly a popular trend for this, coming ten a penny nowadays from any duo with the kudos to pull it off. But in Harry & Paul, we have two old timers, who came before a lot of the more modern ones with Enfield's Harry Enfield and Chums and Whitehouse's The Fast Show. But as the years have passed, the boundaries have been crossed more and more and gloriously non PC humour is now the trend. It has now emerged that the Phillipino government is in uproar over a skit involving a Phillipino maid and is, amongst other things, starting a petition to have the show makers apologize. It's also emerged that Enfield wanted to play a paedophile priest and a Muslim hoodie but was refused, so like many comedy performers nowadays, he's willing to be outrageous to get the attention.There's nothing in this that's made me really laugh out loud, but it's amiable and distracting enough, and not afraid to cross the line when the skit requires it. ***

Wow, I must say I'm amazed at the negative reaction. I loved Harry Enfield and Chums and eagerly awaited this series, and was not disappointed at all. I've watched the whole series at least 5 times in the last week since I bought the DVD.The sketches are generally based on observations of things in real life and are things I particularly find amusing, and I think Harry and Paul have dealt with them exceptionally well. Other sketches seems to be just a bit bonkers which is also quite fun I guess. Particular favourites of mine were 'I saw you coming', the builders, and the surgeons Sheridan and Sir Charles Curtis. Indeed some sketches were miss, for example the Jamie and Oliver one and the ones about Pete Doherty being arrested. Some I found to be slow burners but immensely funny when I got into them, for example the Nelson Mandela one and the 'Leccy Spongers'.So, don't let the above comments put you of watching it by any means, there are some people that really love the series! As for comments about the humour being too 'obvious'- firstly I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, and also the previous 'Harry Enfield and Chums' has plenty of so-called 'obvious' humour and that seems to be well-loved. I would genuinely say that this is just as funny as 'Chums', and it's more of the same (ie, predominantly 'class-based' humour: 'The slobs' and 'Tim nice but dim' and others from 'Chums' and 'I saw you coming', 'The builders', 'Clive the Geordie' etc from 'Ruddy Hell').

What happened to these two former heavyweight champs of Brit comedy? I used to think in the early 90s that Paul Whitehouse couldn't be unfunny if he tried and I really liked the Fast Show, Hary Enfield and Chums, etc.Maybe time really has caught up with them and they can't do it anymore, just like boxers who go on too long.It's sad because I was really looking forward to this 'comeback'. You get the feeling that Whitehouse was at a loose end after his comedy partner ran into his legal troubles and that Enfield has lost whatever he had (which was always less than Whitehouse in his heyday)The only half decent sketch is the posh scaffolders... the rest are pathetic. I would rather these two never did anything again if this is all they've got. Quit while you are ahead guys!

You know how it is when you meet an old girlfriend in the street, and wonder what it was you saw in her in the first place? I felt that way after watching the first few episodes of this new series.Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse have been brilliant together in so many shows, yet here they could barely raise a chuckle. As one sketch after another went down like a lead balloon, I became embarrassed for them. 'Revolver' was better, and that was dreadful. Why ridicule a decent man like Nelson Mandela? Where was the humour in the Polish coffee shop sketches? And the obese schoolboys were considerably less funny than the 'Billy Bunter' comic strips I used to read as a boy. Whoever came up with the idea for the 'Laurel & Hardy' spoof on 'Brokeback Mountain' deserves to be horsewhipped.Enfield and Whitehouse should have made an effort to keep on board Ian Hislop, Nick Newman, and Charlie Higson, who wrote for them so successfully in the past. Their replacements are utterly hopeless. The absence of Kathy Burke is noticeable too.Part of the problem for Enfield is that his earlier work is repeated endlessly on Sky, which means in effect he is in competition with himself. I do not see the point of watching an off-form Harry when a click of a button on my remote can conjure up the man at his peak.The show may well improve ( I hope it does ), but the signs so far are it will shred what's left of Harry and Paul's reputations. Perhaps they should team up with Ben Elton ( another '80's comedy icon currently making a chump of himself in an effort to win a new audience ) and do a show called 'The Three Ninnies'!