Walliams & Friend. David Walliams. Copyright: King Bert Productions
Walliams & Friend

Walliams & Friend

  • TV sketch show
  • BBC One
  • 2015 - 2017
  • 7 episodes (1 series)

Sketch show starring David Walliams, with special guest stars. Also features Morgana Robinson, Mike Wozniak, Ashley Gilmour, Mikel Sylvanus, Emmanuel Kojo and Jason Lewis

Episode menu

Series 1, Episode 1 - Jack Whitehall

Walliams & Friend. Image shows from L to R: David Walliams, Jack Whitehall, Mrs Hudson (Judy Loe). Copyright: King Bert Productions
This week it's award-winning comedian Jack Whitehall who joins David Walliams for a variety of comedy sketches.

Preview clips

Further details

See Jack Whitehall as you've never seen him before. This episode includes Jack and David's inappropriate take on Sherlock and Watson; the world's worst dating show contestant and Jack doing something David has never done before - dressing as a woman.

Also includes the launch of Britain's cruellest reality TV show, Celebrity Slammer, in which David finds himself locked up with the likes of The Chuckle Brothers and Bob Carolgees.

Broadcast details

Date
Friday 25th November 2016
Time
9:30pm
Channel
BBC One
Length
30 minutes
Recorded
  • Saturday 8th October 2016, 18:00 at The London Studios

Repeats

Show past repeats

Date Time Channel
Monday 28th November 2016 10:45pm BBC1
Monday 28th November 2016 11:40pm BBC1 Wales
Monday 28th November 2016 11:45pm BBC1 Scot

Cast & crew

Cast
David Walliams Various
Mike Wozniak Ensemble Actor
Ashley Gilmour Ensemble Actor
Mikel Sylvanus Ensemble Actor
Emmanuel Kojo Ensemble Actor
Guest cast
Jack Whitehall Various
Judy Loe Mrs Hudson
Cariad Lloyd Lindsey (Dating Game Contestant)
Jason Lewis Sammy (Dating Game Contestant)
Hilary Whitehall Beatrice (Gideon's Mother)
Michael Knowles Monty (Gideon's Father)
Vernon Kay Self
Barry Elliott (as Barry Chuckle) Self
Paul Elliott (as Paul Chuckle) Self
Christopher Ellison Self
Bob Carolgees Self
Eamonn Holmes Self
Christopher Biggins Self
Writing team
David Walliams Writer
Andrew Dawson (as Dawson Bros) Writer
Steve Dawson (as Dawson Bros) Writer
Tim Inman (as Dawson Bros) Writer
Kevin Cecil Script Editor
Harry Enfield Writer (Additional Material)
Ben Ashenden Writer (Additional Material)
Alexander Owen (as Alex Owen) Writer (Additional Material)
Production team
Matt Lipsey Director
Sarah Fraser Producer
Gregor Sharp Executive Producer
Jo Sargent Executive Producer
Chris Evans Post Production Producer
Gavin Buckley Editor
Richard Drew Production Designer
Andy Brierley Casting Director
Annie Hardinge Costume Designer
Lisa Cavalli-Green Make-up Designer
Martin Hawkins Lighting Designer
David Arnold Composer
Vivien Ackland-Snow 1st Assistant Director

Videos

Sherlock parody

Jack Whitehall and David Walliams present an alternative take on the Sherlock and Watson story.

Featuring: David Walliams & Jack Whitehall.

Celebrity Slammer

It's the launch of Britain's cruellest reality TV show, Celebrity Slammer.

Featuring: David Walliams, Mike Wozniak, Vernon Kay, Barry Chuckle, Paul Chuckle, Christopher Ellison, Bob Carolgees, Eamonn Holmes & Christopher Biggins.

Middle class Jeremy Kyle

Gideon has a very valid complaint to make about his parents.

Featuring: David Walliams, Jack Whitehall, Hilary Whitehall (Beatrice) & Michael Knowles (Monty).

Press

Walliams & Friend was presumably given a full series off the back of the seasonal goodwill (hic!) shown by viewers towards the pilot last Christmas Eve. Aside from the funnier of their two Sherlock skits there was little to stretch the talents of Walliams or his first friend Jack Whitehall in the opener on Friday night. In fact, some of the sketches were so lame it would be an insult to CBBC if I suggested they would have been turned down by CBBC.

It's a real shame. Walliams is one of the sharpest off-the-cuff comics out there. Sadly, when it comes to scripted sketch shows he's like a bald man on a windy day. Just stick the wig on and hope for the best.

Ian Hyland, The Mirror, 27th November 2016

Walliams & Friend review

The problem for most of these sketches are so blandly decontextualised they could have been written any time in the past 40 years, and the punchlines tend to be feeble.

Jasper Rees, The Arts Desk, 26th November 2016

The conceit here is that every week David Walliams's sketches are played opposite a different sidekick. Tonight, it is Jack Whitehall, who proves a surprisingly versatile counterpoint, as a pathological status-flaunter and a passive-aggressive Sherlock Holmes, among others. It doesn't all land - dating shows have long been in on their own joke - but the album of operatic football chants feels as if it could one day be revealed as prophecy.

Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 25th November 2016

There was a time when David Walliams was everywhere, and it was not a particularly good time. When a celebrity becomes "flavour of the month" and is pushed at us relentlessly things becomes wearying, no matter how good they might be. Years back Walliams was in sketch shows, sitcoms, took on various presenting roles and did the rounds of the chat show couches as a children's author. The Walliams mania has mercifully died down and perhaps he has now subsided to being a camp Christmas thing.

In this new series he appears in sketches with a "friend." There'll be a different one each week and tonight it's comedian Jack Whitehall. It kicks off with a scene which borrows so heavily from the Monty Python "nudge nudge wink wink" sketch that you can see the punchline coming a mile off. Other targets for the mild jokes include Cumberbatch's Sherlock and embarrassing dating gameshows.

Julie McDowall, The National (Scotland), 24th November 2016

Share this page