No Stiff Upper Lips at Night of Comedy

There is something so absurdly charming about the quintessential Englishness of British Comedy. Perhaps it is our normal reserve, our stiffe upper lips or even our famous eccentricity that makes us funny.

Whatever, British comedy is top hole and OTTC treated us to three of the best, all very different.

Yes Minister had a subtle humour that was savoured like good wine, Only Fools and Horses was an up-front belly laugh gags play and Blackadder was pure panto with panache.

Yes Minister was an absolute joy with every actor giving it fully welly in a precise and sharp phrased manner. I loved the TV show and these guys brought it alive again with all its delicate and hilarious peculiarities – and had perfect timing.

Every character was believable and some, I suspect, based on today's politicians. Eric, alias Lee Thompson, had a decidedly raffish Tony Blairness about him.

But it was Bob Charman who stole the show, first as Jim Hacker and then as Boycie in Only Fools and Horses. He slickly turned from the bumbling Parliamentary minister into a dodgy car salesman in a blink of an eye.

Grandad's grumpy old man, played by Stevie Nicholls was superb, and Julian Smith made a mighty stab at Del Boy.

Blackadder, with its risque double entendres and irreverent swipes at anything from politics to religion, was another gem, led rather classily by Owen Fishwick. Owen is a relative newcomer to OTTC but an obvious star in the making.

His fellow Adder were a buffooning delight but Baldrick, played by Paul Blonden, surprised me. He made Baldrick a likeable fool, whereas on the TV I found he irritated me. I like the fact that Paul put on his own interpretation.

OTTC had a broken lift to contend with which made set changing more cumbersome but it didn't detract from the stylish direction of all three plays.

Flicky Harrison