I saw Miller in Beyond the Fringe - I'm still dazzled

The Guardian's theatre critic was at the sketch group's first show in 1960. It was the beginning of a friendship ... and a satire boom that changed the world.

The big hits were loaded into episode one last week. Now this political prank show is more about quick raids on corporate foyers, and the unending delight of people with strong opinions who keep giving them long after they should have realised that their interlocutor is bogus.

In fairness, some don't know they're being filmed and, in the case of noted intellectual Jonathan Miller, his rant when he's doorstepped on election day by an openly corrupt Tory is rather magnificent. The members of anti-monarchist protest group Republic fare less well - and two hugely profitable utility companies haven't a hope.