The Stage

Fincham bids to reunite Enfield and Whitehouse on BBC1

Published Monday 15 May 2006 at 11:15 by Liz Thomas

Comedians Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse could be reunited as BBC1 controller Peter Fincham tries to reinvigorate the channel’s comedy output.

Talks with the pair, who wrote and appeared some of the Corporation’s big hitting shows in the nineties, including Harry Enfield and Chums, are believed to be in the early stages

Fincham told MediaGuardian in an interview to mark his first year in the job that investment was vital to the role. He said: “There is no shortcut, you’ve got to make pilots, invest in talent and keep your nerve. Comedies can be fragile things to start but can last the longest and resonate the longest.”

The executive, who spent 20 years at independent production giant Talkback Thames working on programmes such as Smack The Pony and Da Ali G Show, said that it was important to persuade talent that BBC1 was the ideal place for them to work.

He also revealed that he had ordered a pilot starring Nicholas Lyndhurst, best known as Rodney in the BBC’s highest-rating comedy Only Fools and Horses.

Fincham also confirmed that Andrew Davies, as The Stage exclusively revealed last week, is to tackle Charles Dickens’ Little Dorrit as a follow on from the success of Bleak House.