Professor Branestawm
- TV comedy drama
- BBC One
- 2014 - 2015
- 2 episodes (2 series)
Adaptation of the Norman Hunter's children's stories with Harry Hill as the original mad professor. Stars Harry Hill, Madeline Holliday, Simon Day, Vicki Pepperdine, Sophie Thompson and more.
Press clippings
12 Days of Christmas Specials - Professor Branestawm
This was a side to Harry Hill that we'd never seen before, but he made a fantastic nutty professor.
The Comedy Blog, 24th December 2019Preview: Harry Hill in Professor Branestawm Returns
It is fair to say that this will be a pretty Marmite affair, dependent very much on whether you find Hill's brand of inoffensive, zany, slapstick-silliness funny, or a total turn-off.
Joshua Worth, On The Box, 24th December 2015A second outing for Harry Hill as the Steve Jobs of slapstick inventions, absent-mindedly terrorising the quaint village of Great Pagwell with his daft contraptions. Branestawm's pre-eminence is challenged by snide Professor Algebrain (Steve Pemberton), a heel-clicking Euro-rival determined to win a lucrative inventing competition bequeathed by the late Lady Pagwell. A considerable amount of buffoonery ensues. The game cast includes Vicki Pepperdine and Simon Day.
Graeme Virtue, The Guardian, 24th December 2015Harry Hill on Professor Branestawm
Madcap comic says he is always interested in testing himself - even if it means making brave failures like presenting Stars in their Eyes and writing his X Factor musical I Can't Sing.
Ben Dowell, Radio Times, 24th December 2015Preview: Harry Hill's Professor Branestawm is back
The show is cheesy, corny but winningly charming as Charlie Higson packs his script with all the silliness he can muster.
Ben Dowell, Radio Times, 24th December 2015Radio Times review
Harry Hill returns as the multi-spectacled boffin of Norman Hunter's children's books. After Branestawm's TV introduction last Christmas, his cartoonish adventures are once again adapted by in-demand writer Charlie Higson. This time the chocolate-box village of Pagwell is, fortuitously, hosting an invention contest. But has Branestawm met his match in the ingenious Professor Algebrain (Steve Pemberton)?
Among an extraordinary cast giving fruity performances are Diana Rigg, Simon Day, Vicki Pepperdine, Matt Berry and his absurd intonations, Sophie Thompson and David Mitchell. From the clips available to RT, it's wildly eccentric, old-school and very funny - with a barking mad chase sequence.
Mark Braxton, Radio Times, 16th December 2015Pictures: Harry Hill filming Professor Branestawm
Harry Hill looked worlds apart from his usual appearance when he was pictured filming scenes for a short film about inventor Professor Branestawm for a BBC One Christmas special.
Daily Mail, 18th October 2015Harry Hill begins filming another Professor Branestawm
Filming is underway on The Further Adventures Of Professor Branestawm, a second episode of the show in which Harry Hill plays the famous inventor character.
British Comedy Guide, 6th October 2015BBC orders another Professor Branestawm special
Harry Hill will return as eccentric inventor Professor Branestawm for another one-off BBC TV special in December 2015.
British Comedy Guide, 17th March 2015Harry Hill was the perfect Professor in The Incredible Adventures of Professor Branestawm, a gag-a-minute Heath Robinson come to life with some delightfully grown-up gags, and some delightfully childish ones, and I wished, while watching, that I was 12 years old again and able to revel in simple glees.
His pretty village, Pagwell, is impossibly representative of an England lost for decades now, and David Mitchell and Ben Miller impossibly representative of cartoon villainy, but I didn't mind in the slightest because Norman Hunter's children's books have been re-rendered as impossibly good fun. I almost used the word zany but I've got through a whole 'nother year without using it, hurrah. Oops.
Euan Ferguson, The Observer, 28th December 2014