David Mitchell and Robert Webb are this week's Radio Times cover stars
The comedy duo on their first sketch show in 15 years, how Peep Show killed their sitcom dream – and why laughter is the best therapy.
When I was a lad there was always a slightly subversive sketch show on TV that your school friends delighted in repeating parrot-fashion in the playground. Back in those days, it was Monty Python's Flying Circus and schools up and down the country reverberated to shouts of 'Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!' or 'My hovercraft is full of eels'.
As the years went on, the popular catchphrases would change, lifted from shows, like Not the Nine O'Clock News, The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, The Armstrong and Miller Show and, of course, That Mitchell and Webb Look.
That series finished 15 years ago, but this week David Mitchell and Robert Webb are back, performing silly sketches on TV. I have no idea if schoolchildren recite TV comedy any more but, if not, they could do worse than reviving the tradition using the gems on show in Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping.
Also in the issue is the astonishing story of Ann Ming, whose story of fighting the judiciary and getting an 800-year-old law changed has been dramatised with Sheridan Smith in the lead role. By the end, if you're anything like me, you will wonder where on earth Ann found the reserves of grit and determination required to achieve what she did.
And after you've read the feature, don't miss the excellent I Fought the Law on ITV1 on Sunday and Monday.
The latest issue of Radio Times is out now – subscribe here.
Also in this week's Radio Times:
- Photographer Martin Parr pores over some of his best-known images - and reveals that he's never taken a perfect picture in his life.
- Educating Yorkshire's star teacher Mr Burton is back on TV - but what has changed in the classroom since the series first aired in 2013?
- Natalie Cassidy chats to RT about life after EastEnders.
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