Are the Goons still funny in 2012? I wouldn't have thought so, but it was a question John Sergeant seemed determined to answer in the affirmative in Sergeant on Spike (ITV1), even if it meant forcing a class of primary schoolchildren to sit through half an hour of them. Sergeant's verdict - that they were all laughing their heads off by the end - didn't quite chime with the puzzled looks on my TV - but heigh-ho. Sergeant, out and about in a tweed bucket hat, was amusing in his own right, walking backwards in Marylebone station (with Spike's I'm Walking Backwards for Christmas playing in his head) to the visible concern of commuters. Much of the programme was about Spike Milligan's zany genius, but also how difficult he could be. Did Spike's own children find him funny? There was no word from them.

Sergeant on Spike, ITV1, review

Christopher Howse reviews Sergeant on Spike, the latest instalment of ITV1's Perspectives arts strand in which John Sergeant explores the influence of Spike Milligan on his life.

Perspectives: Sergeant on Spike, ITV1

Shallow documentary on the late Goon leaves grave stones unturned.

The life and career of Spike Milligan has been incredibly well-documented over the years. We know about the scars left by war, the misanthropy, the depression and the freaky and original humour. It's hard to argue that this John Sergeant-helmed doc adds very much to the world's sum of Milligan-knowledge but it's watchable enough all the same. Sergeant, in news that won't be particularly surprising to Strictly fans, began his career as a comedian. He's always been in awe of Milligan and here, he visits a few of Spike's old haunts and chats to the likes of Michael Palin, Noel Fielding and Esther Rantzen. Finally, he plays The Goon Show to a classroom of modern kids to see if Milligan's comedy stylings still cut the mustard. And cheeringly, it seems that they do.

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