Spinal Tap’s Shearer to star in BBC radio comedy

Published Tuesday 27 June 2006 at 10:25 by Liz Thomas

Harry Shearer, star of Spinal Tap and the voice of Mr Burns in hit television comedy The Simpsons, is to appear in new BBC Radio 4 comedy series Not Today Thank You, which starts in August.

Veteran phone-in presenter Brian Hayes plays Brian Hughes, a washed-up radio presenter, who falls on hard times and is forced to share his grandmother’s house with six tenants.

Shearer plays Nostrils, one of Hughes’ preposterous tenants who convinces himself that he’s so ugly he cannot bear to be seen by anyone - not even himself.

He said: “Having grown up listening to the Goons, Hancock and many of the seminal Radio 4 comedy projects in the years since, I’m honoured to be doing a BBC comedy. I hope it means I get to be Steve Coogan when I grow up!”

Ex-Morrissey drummer Andrew McGibbon, who created and wrote the show, signed Shearer to the cast after meeting him earlier this year.

McGibbon said: “I couldn’t believe it when he agreed to take part.”