Danger Mouse: The Snowman Cometh review

Brian Blessed and Richard Ayoade join the cast of Danger Mouse for its new Christmas Special, a festive classic in the making...

Christmas is cancelled! The double-length special introduces a slightly against-type Brian Blessed as a subdued Santa, and a perfectly cast Richard Ayoade as rubbish villain The Snowman. This icy fiend has atrocious bad-guy patter ("Snow you won't!") and a dastardly plan to overcome his apparent vulnerability to mild heat. Can Danger Mouse and Penfold thaw Earth before Christmas morning? Stay alert for a Walking in the Air gag that's a killer, even if you're five and don't get the reference.

I come to the first CBBC programme I think I've ever reviewed for this site however it's one that's quite dear to my heart. As somebody who grew up in the late 1980s/early 1990s Danger Mouse was a show that I probably watched almost every episode of. So it was with great trepidation that I approached the new series that aired all this week on the BBC's children's channel. After suffering through the sub-par Thunderbirds remake I didn't have high hopes but I was pleasantly surprised by what was on offer. Although the graphics were inevitably better than those offered in Danger Mouse's original incarnation everything else about the show remained untouched. I did feel that, unlike Thunderbirds are Go, Danger Mouse offered something for everyone with the central plot appealing to younger viewers whilst older children and parents would've liked the wicked humour employed by writer Ben Ward. I particularly liked the fact that the voice of Come Dine With Me Dave Lamb provided the narration as he added an extra comic touch to proceedings. He was also there to provide a little nod and wink to the audience at home especially at the end when he tried to debunk several aspects of the plot. In voicing DM, Alexander Armstrong had particularly big shoes to fill but I felt he did an admirable job. Although it was quite obvious to picture him providing the voice he still brought a mix of bravado and comic timing needed to pull off the role. However I thought the best contribution came from Kevin Eldon who provided a note-perfect Penfold voice-over which gave some added authenticity to the piece. Although I know I'm not the target audience for Danger Mouse it was nice to see that those behind this reboot didn't insult those who watched the cartoon the first time around. Ultimately this was a show that provided something for everyone and I wouldn't be surprised if it got a weekend repeat on one of the main BBC channels so more people can experience its charm.

The originalDanger Mouse was an Eighties cartoon on ITV that was essentially a rough parody of James Bond. DM, with his eye patch and his flying car, was charged with saving the world from a large toady Blofeld called Baron Greenback. David Jason used to voice the mouse with Terry Scott as Penfold. Now Alexander Armstrong is "DM" and the comedian Kevin Eldon as Penfold the hamster.

I also wondered what children would make of Danger Mouse v2.0's narrative style, which was so self-reflexive and knowing that at times it was like an episode of Sherlock. "Now, the world's 12th greatest sidekick Penfold will speak the first line of the new series," said our narrator early on, before going on to point out the show's improbabilities, saying "I'm sure the writers will have perfectly reasonable answers to these questions."

But just when I was about to get really angry about what had been done to another childhood memory I went back and watched a few vintage DMs. It turned out they were all pretty arch too.

My instinct was that all of this would go way over the heads of my kids, who tend to laugh at pratfalls and fart gags (and I hardly need stress that I have no idea where they got that from). But I have a feeling that the wordiness and the ironic humour seeps in. That might be one reason why I remember Danger Mouse fondly without, until this week, being quite sure what it was that I fondly remembered.

Danger Mouse reboot review

Rebooting a much-loved children's classic is a risky business, but thankfully the folks at CBBC have managed to make a rollicking 21st century Danger Mouse.

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But sadly, like the Thunderbirds reboot that flopped badly earlier this year, it's a homage destined to fail. These revivals never work -- too knowing, too pleased with themselves, they lack the anarchic energy that made the originals magical.

Danger Mouse returns in triumph

It is clearly being formed with a highly marketable blend of Britishness in mind in the hope to export to international audiences and, as with other famous revamps, it veers towards fan fiction and near self parody at times. However, if the double length pilot is anything to go by Danger Mouse will be sticking around London long enough to repeatedly foil von Greenback for a whole new generation.

After Thunderbirds and Clangers, another risky return for a beloved children's TV classic. The wham-bam scenes that kick off Danger Mouse V2.0 initially suggest a particularly inelegant reboot. But all the Hollywood overkill is in service of a gag, and soon we're back to the very British, fourth-wall-breaking silliness that defined the original. Suave Alexander Armstrong and squeaky Kevin Eldon make for a winning DM and Penfold, while Dave Lamb, the voice of Come Dine With Me, is the very hands-on narrator.