BCG Daily Sunday 5th April 2015

Clinically depressed comic starts monthly comedy club

"The branding of the venue is yellow. The posters are yellow. So today, when I knew I was meeting you," Juliette Burton told me yesterday, "I put on a yellow top. Maybe I over-think things a little bit."

Hugh Dennis: 'I would love to a big straight drama'

Dennis lives in West Sussex, his children go to school in Portsmouth and his wife grew up in the city. Hugh has extended his commitment to the area by becoming a patron of The Kings Theatre on Albert Road - a position he has had since October last year. Hugh says: "The reason I was asked was because I am local, my kids go to school in Portsmouth and because I had done shows at The Kings."

Hancock's lost Half Hours to go live at the Fringe

Missing episodes of classic BBC comedy Hancock's Half Hour are to brought back to life at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, more than half a century after their original broadcast.

Radio Times review

Variety is dead, apart from the several annual TV spectaculars that show it isn't. This one is fronted by cool people's least favourite stand-up, the superb Michael McIntyre, and takes place in a proper West End theatre.

Other comics on the bill include Eddie Izzard, Bill Bailey and, intriguingly given that she's no longer known for solo stage work, Catherine Tate. There's music from US star Sia and our very own Ella Henderson, and some magic, too: Mat Franco, who is getting people talking in the States, makes his UK debut.

Radio Times review

"Now let's really see those chests come out!" Kenneth Williams urged Barbara Windsor in Carry On Camping - triggering the saucy, bra-pinging reveal that opened the floodgates for the bawdier tone of the Carry Ons that followed in the 1970s.

Jacki Piper and the Amazonian Valerie Leon are among the former totty invited down Memory Lane in this concluding part, while June Whitfield lends an air of dignity (despite playing Miss Prodworthy in the startlingly anti-feminist Carry On Girls). The tone struggles to keep celebratory while charting the grim demise of the franchise into single-entendre smut, as well as the deaths of the Carry On stalwarts - some so long ago now.

Opinion: how to get your Edinburgh show reviewed

There is nothing more exciting than uncovering new talent. But I'm only human. I can't see everything and write about everything.

The story of The Comedians - part 2

In part one we told about how the show came about, by the end the stars had become household names as the series became an overnight success. The story continues with Part 2 taking us up to the 40th Anniversary Show in 2011.

Interview: the daddy of comedy, Paddy McGuinness

He's a comedian and TV presenter who's equally at home on an arena stage, in front of a TV camera or treading the boards of a traditional theatre.

Reece Shearsmith on his dark comedy Inside No. 9

An interview with Reece Shearsmith about comedy dram series Inside No. 9.