The Fast Show has returned!
Rowley Birkin
The best comedy series ever is back. Well, that’s my opinion anyway and I’m sticking to it!
The Fast show 2011 is being shown every Thursday at 1pm and is only available online, so do yourself a favour and watch.
Loads of our favourite characters are back. It’s particularly great to hear from Rowley Birkin QC again. As the great man himself once said: “She was half woman, half fish. Terrible in the kitchen, but a bloody good swimmer.”
Now if you don’t know what I’m talking about, well … you should.
But just in case …. Rowley, a retired barrister, tells unintelligible, but terribly posh, stories at his fireside, occasionally breaking out into lucid speech for a phrase or word, like: “The whole thing was made completely out of matchsticks” or “Snake, Snake!”.
And for aficionados; the Birkin character was also seen as a working barrister in The Fast Show’s spin-off feature “Ted and Ralph”.
Virtually every one of Rowley’s tales tells ends with “I’m afraid I was very, very drunk” and the QC usually has a glass or cigarette in hand with a decanter of scotch or brandy by his side.
In the final episode of series 2, there was a surprisingly touching moment from Rowley as he recalled a lost love in a sorrowful voice: “I was in absolute floods of tears [mumbles..] it was very, very cold … I held her in my arms … I’m afraid I was very drunk” … a clock chimes plaintively as Rowley appears deeply moved and has a tear on his cheek.
Pure pathos! And Paul Whitehouse proves he could have been a great actor had he chosen that route.
Thankfully, he didn’t and he’s back with us as Rowley for The Fast Show 2011.