Comics star in new podcast set behind-the-scenes at a sports radio station

Lolly Adefope, Fergus Craig, Jessica Fostekew and Helen Cripps are to star in a new comedy podcast written by Rhys James. Dial F For Football is set behind the scenes at a popular commercial sports radio station, Totalsport FM when it is trying to modernise its output with more diverse talent - to the chagrin of traditional listeners.

Review: Martin Fishback, BBC

Tactless, middle-class dad Martin Fishback wants to become a crime-writer... This is a small modest pilot, which is apt, because Fishback is a small, modest man. In the most boring suburban clothes in Christendom. With the most boring suburban voice in Christendom too. And very funny.

Martin Fishback review

Fergus Craig stuck viral gold during lockdown with his alter-ego Martin, the worst kind of middle-class, self-important boomer, making shouty video calls to his student son. Now wise BBC executives have commissioned this 15-minute taster to bring this socially inept twerp to a wider audience.

David Hasselhoff was probably always going to join the unending stream of daggy and/or washed-up celebs playing goofy versions of themselves in their own little sitcoms. So is this one any good? Well, it's better than Rob Schneider's execrable Real Rob (Netflix), but it doesn't have the morbid curiosity value of Andrew Dice Clay's (Stan) and it's not a patch on The Chris Isaak Show (which must be due for a rerun somewhere). It follows the bankrupt Hasselhoff as he moves to London, where he thinks his British manager, Max (Fergus Craig) has arranged for him to star in a biopic about himself. Turns out, though, that the movie is an arty kind of thing in which Hasselhoff is to be played by a bunch of different actors - and the man himself might not be among them. The characters surrounding Hasselhoff seem like one-note jokes, but it's still worth a look.

Hoff the Record is one of Dave's new roster of shows that it will help define it as something more than just a place to catch repeats of ]c]Mock the Week] and Top Gear. Dave has certainly been heavily promoting Hoff the Record even going as far as to rename the channel David for one day in honour of Mr Hasselhoff. The first episode sees Hasselhoff travel to the UK as he's under the impression that he's been asked to star in a biopic of his own life. In fact the director (Craig Roberts) wants to audition Hasselhoff to play an older version of himself. Hoff the Record includes the types of characters you would expect to find in a show such as this including David's incompetent British agent (Fergus Craig) and a well-educated PA (Ella Smith) who has no idea who he is. I do feel that Hasselhoff signed up for the show believing that this could work for him in the same way that Episodes did for Matt Le Blanc. Unfortunately the comedy in Episodes comes from the fact that Matt Le Blanc isn't like the character he portrays on the show and it's the same with Warwick Davies in Life's Too Short. Having seen Hasselhoff as himself, both on chat shows and as a reality TV judge, I don't think the version he portrays on Hoff the Record is that far from his real personality. Whilst the situations themselves have been crafted for comic purposes I don't think Hasselhoff tried hard enough to portray a fictionalised version of himself. Meanwhile there isn't really anybody amongst the supporting cast who really stood out and instead the majority of the characters where quite irritating. This is particularly true of Asim Chaudry's Terry Patel; Hasselhoff's driver who tells his new client several inappropriate stories whilst ferrying him about. The only thing I liked about the first episode was the performance given by Craig Roberts as the pretentious film director but unfortunately it looks like he won't be sticking around. Although I do appreciate that Dave are trying out some original ideas Hoff the Record simply wasn't nearly as funny as it should've been. Most of the blame for this can be laid at the door of Hasselhoff as I don't believe he fully committed to the idea of playing a truly fictionalised version of himself.

Interview: Fergus Craig goes Hoff the Record

Fergus Craig talks about starring in Hoff The Record.