Press clippings Page 5

Thanks to a spread of guests ranging from mediocre to tolerable, McIntyre's last stop on his televised tour is underwhelming. Headline act Ardal O'Hanlon peddles his usual awkward material with sloppy delivery. Canadian comic Sean Collins and Londoner Andi Osho seem to impress the audience (made up of most of the Emmerdale cast including Pauline Quirke), but would surely be hard pressed to squeeze a smirk from a crowd not already lubricated by such a clever compere. McIntyre is in Leeds for the last leg, so naturally he's tried to think of some funny things to say about the locals. He does well, picking them up on their tendency not to say "the" and also gently mocking Yorkshire folks' love of a carvery. His material isn't pioneering (at times it's pretty thin), but when he adds a silly walk and his twangy delivery, it usually comes together.

Ruth Margolis, Radio Times, 23rd October 2010

Pauline Quirke eyes 'Birds of a Feather' return

Birds of a Feather actress Pauline Quirke insists she's ready to resume the role she's best remembered for - if it's in an old folks' home.

Paul English, Daily Record, 7th August 2010

Although not quite as miscast as fellow BBC family ent host Graham Norton, Steve Jones is nevertheless an odd choice for this, another TV quiz show. A Question of Sport-lite (circa 1970) with a bit of Screen Test thrown in, Jones struggles to make his scripted one-liners and banter seem anything other than forced. One senses that, like Norton, he's desperate to add some irreverence with a less-santised commentary. The feeling of to be or whoquite knowing what it wants to be or who it wants to appal to isn't helped by the show's erratic quest list, which by the show's erratic guest list, which runs from Pauline Quirke to Lauren Laverne.

Lisa Campbell, Broadcast, 24th July 2009

Steve Jones chairs this quiz themed on the TV archives, with Fern Britton and Jason Manford captaining two teams of celebrity guests, whose calibre this week runs to Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Pauline Quirke. Unable to decide whether it's edgily hip or comfortably staid, it includes items such as a human beatboxer rendering theme tunes, alongside a straightforward steal of the "What happened next?" bit from A Question of Sport.

The Guardian, 17th July 2009

Responding to the nationwide clamour for a return of Telly Addicts, the BBC have a new panel show about TV. It is positioned as a sort of Mock The Week for people who find current affairs a bit taxing. Handsome idiot Steve Jones from T4 is your host, while the deeply personable Fern Britton and Jason Manford are the team captains for a trivia quiz, while tonight's guests give you a fairly accurate read on the sort of 'hilarity' that will ensue: Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Lauren Laverne, Pauline Quirke and Tina Hobley.

TV Bite, 17th July 2009

An agoraphobic housewife who takes up a death row murderer as a pen pal is more commonly the stuff of lurid real-life exposés than comedy, so I had initial reservations about Sue Teddern's play In Mates. But Pauline Quirke, as Michelle from Orpington, as she was often introduced on radio phone-ins, softened me with her performance of vulnerability only partly clothed by determined cheerfulness. And Teddern conjured up a host of entertaining characters with walk-on parts, who visited Michelle and spoke to Death Row Randall on the tape machine used to record her audio letters. Although the play's denouement was clunkingly obvious from early on, I enjoyed the way Randall offered sage advice to the bewildered folk of Orpington, solving problems from plumbing to psychological issues, like a remote agony uncle.

Moira Petty, The Stage, 14th July 2009

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