Harry Enfield's Television Programme (1990–1992) User Reviews (5)

Retro comedy in many faces

[gibbs-18172 · 8/10 · 16 June 2019]

Im going to review as when this was made and not now.

Hilarious, fun , vibrant and new.

Kathy Burke a joy.

Kevin and Perry still Legend with us 40 somethings who now have our own Kevins and Perrys.

Yes it may have aged a little but a lot of the characters are like processed tinned food in which they have a lobg life span.

Give it a go , very enjoyable

"Now I Don't Believe You Wanted To Do That!"

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 20 February 2007]

It seems like only yesterday that Harry Enfield was the brightest comedy star on British television. His appearances on 'Saturday Live' ( as 'Stavros' and 'Loadsamoney' ) and 'Filthy, Rich & Catflap', as well as the brilliant 'Norbert Smith - A Life?' seemed to confirm him as the natural successor to the great Peter Sellers. In 1990, he departed Channel 4 for the B.B.C.

'Programme' was a traditional sketch show in which he played characters as diverse as the revolting 'Wayne Slob', the toothy 'Tim Nice-But-Dim', the irritating pensioner 'Mr.Don't Want To Do It Like That', the '40's public information film presenter Mr.Grayson, the over-excited 'Little Brother', the Alan Freeman-inspired D.J. 'Dave Nice' ( Freeman could not have been offended. He later guested on the show ) and of course, one half of the decrepit and senile Old Gits.

Within weeks of its debut, the show's catchphrases were being repeated in schools and workplaces all around the country. All of the characters had some small grain of truth to them; haven't we all encountered someone as ghastly as 'Don't' at one time or another? Some fared less well than others; 'The Double Take Brothers' used to react with exaggerated excitement each time the unexpected occurred, and caused me to press the 'mute' button on my remote, and the first series featured a superhero spoof which fell embarrassingly flat, but there were enough good characters for Enfield to develop over two seasons, and into the spin-off 'Harry Enfield & Chums'. For instance, 'Little Brother' mutated into the miserable teenager 'Kevin'.

Earlier I mentioned that this was a 'traditional' sketch show. By that I meant the show owed a great debt to the late, great Dick Emery's long-running Saturday night series. By his own admission, Enfield was a big fan of Emery's, and intended 'Programme' as a homage.

Writers included Ian Hislop and Nick Newman, who had worked on 'Spitting Image', and Charlie Higson, later to create the popular ( but inferior, in my view ) 'The Fast Show'.

Special mention must be made of the fine supporting cast, in particular Paul Whitehouse and Kathy Burke. Many of the best sketches featured pairings either of Enfield and Whitehouse or Enfield and Burke. But it was with Whitehouse that Enfield really shone. Whether it was as idle garage mechanics 'Lee and Lance', 'The Old Gits' or 'Smashie & Nicey', Whitehouse and Enfield were one of the funniest comedy teams I can recall seeing.

Its not every day that a television comedy show panics a radio station into dumping its presenters, but 'Smashie & Nicey' had that effect. With their cheesy patter, outdated fashion sense and over-reliance on the hit 70's record 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet' by The Bachman Turner Overdrive, the aging disc jockeys were a stinging criticism of the old school of Radio 1 broadcasters. The consequences were devastating: Dave Lee Travis famously resigned on air. Simon Bates, Alan Freeman and even Gary Davies were shown the door. Luckily for Tony Blackburn, he'd moved on a long time before.

In recent years, Harry Enfield has become the 'forgotten man' of British comedy. His series for Sky Television - 'Harry Enfield's Brand Spanking New Show - was so bad even he admitted to never having watched an episode. It was recently confirmed he would be teaming up again with Paul Whitehouse for a new show. If it will be as funny as this one, I can hardly wait.

Harry Enfield is a quiet surprise find in America

[daleholmgren · 9/10 · 18 January 2015]

Since there is only one review of this on IMDb in 8 years I thought I would comment as well. Enfield's sketches are hit and miss, but a review of his work over the last 25 years shows a great honing of his wit, and when his skit is on, it is deadly. Some of the sketches require a bit of knowledge of British culture. For example, the Smashie and Nicey sketches are a send up of the BBC Radio One DJ's of the era. You wouldn't know, for example, that Paul Whitehouse as Mike Smash moaning on-air about his wife leaving him and playing the same record over and over again is a joke about the real life broken-heart goings on by Tony Blackburn on BBC Radio One in 1976. Even not knowing the origins of the sketch it's quite hilarious, but knowing it makes it wickedly funny.

Enfield and Whitehouse, being older now themselves, target an older crowd for their barbs, and it fits them better than doing routines like Kevin or LoadsaMoney. Nevertheless, there is plenty in the 1990's era Enfield that is outstanding. I only found Enfield accidentally through YouTube; I suppose the inside-joke nature of their British targets makes it difficult to translate over to a broad cross section of American audiences, but I find it devilishly dead-on.

If only the times allowed this comedy now

[malcolmjohnston · 9/10 · 10 August 2021]

After being given a dvd box set of the complete Harry Enfield and chums have I come to realise this kind of comedy just can't be made in today's world That being said it doesn't stop this being the start of some of the funniest people ever to work on British tv

All these years later I have to wonder what Lilly Alien and her little brother Alfie make of the sketches of them as babies played by Harry and the wonderful Kathy Burke It's a long way from here to Game of Thrones!

''Is that what you want because that's what'll happen!''

[Rabical-91 · 9/10 · 13 October 2015]

Like many great comedians, Harry Enfield first shot to fame in the 80's after providing voices for 'Spitting Image', as well as making regular appearances on Channel 4's 'Saturday Live'. It was on 'Saturday Live' that Enfield conceived a host of memorable characters such as Greek kebab shop owner Stavros, loud-mouthed Cockney Loadsamoney and drunken Geordie lout Buggerallmoney. In 1989, Enfield played the leading role in 'Norbert Smith - A Life', a mockumentary charting the life and times of a fading British actor and by the start of the 90's, Enfield had gained enough respect from viewers to be awarded with his first weekly comedy show - 'Harry Enfield's Television Programme', shown by BBC 1.

'Television Programme' was a big step for the likable comic. It was here where he first introduced us to some of his best comic creations such as the revolting Wayne & Waynetta Slob, obnoxious know-it-all Mr. Don't Wanna Do That, buck-toothed Tim Nice But Dim, The Old Gits, The Scousers, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore inspired Lee & Lance ( who first appeared as car mechanics and then later as flower stall holders ) and ageing disc jockeys Smashey & Nicey ( both of which were based on real-life disc jockeys Alan Freeman and Tony Blackburn ), who ended each sketch by playing 'You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet' by The Bachman Turner Overdrive. Smashey & Nicey became cult characters, later landing their own one-off show, 'Smashey & Nicey - The End Of An Era'.

Some sketches fell flat such as those containing the annoying double-take brothers ( who would react with exaggerated surprise whenever the unexpected occurred ) or Les The Forgetful Barman ( ''Maureen, its getting a bit busy down here, my love!''. ''Les, you're not married!''. ). Fortunately, many of the sketches hit the target more than they missed.

As well as a strong production team behind him, Enfield was also backed up by a fine supporting cast who included Paul Whitehouse, Kathy Burke, Gary Bleasdale, Joe McGann and Jon Glover. Guest appearances included Martin Clunes, Caroline Quentin ( both of whom Enfield worked with on the first series of 'Men Behaving Badly' ), Kate Robbins, Doon Mackichan and Alan Freeman. Kate St. John wrote the show's excellent theme tune.

Two series were made in total, concluding with a Christmas special in 1992 entitled 'Harry Enfield's Festive Television Programme'. A year and a half later, 'Television Programme' was revamped as 'Harry Enfield & Chums' which, if anything, was even funnier. 'Harry Enfield & Chums' retained many of the original characters but also introduced some new characters such as Kevin The Teenager and The Lovely Wobbly Randy Old Ladies.

Enfield seems to have lost his touch with comedy these days. His Sky One series 'Brand Spanking New Show' unsurprisingly never made it past the first series and his latest effort for the BBC entitled 'Ruddy Hell, It's Harry & Paul' was so poor it gave me the urge to stick my foot through the screen. Thankfully, we have repeats on UK Gold of 'Television Programme' and 'Enfield & Chums' to remind us of how great he once was. A pity about the continuing delay of the DVD release though.