Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Lunch in the Park

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Lunch in the Park
ITV
21 October 1997
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B

This has a slow start but stay with it, as the two-person show gradually moves from small talk to shared confidences to confessions of love to...treason?  Paul and Josie again work very well together and it's a pity they didn't appear more regularly as a team on television.  (Even on Whose Line is It Anyway? it was never more than a couple times a year.)

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Sealed with a Loving Kiss

Paul Merton in Galton and Simpson's...: Sealed with a Loving Kiss
ITV
16 February 1996
Sketch Comedy
DVD
B

The concept behind this programme was that Paul would act in updated G & S scripts that had been performed more than 30 years earlier.  As I haven't seen the earlier versions, I won't compare them.  On its own terms, this is solid, not only giving Paul/Josie shippers much fodder but being an interesting character study.  The humour is gentle and, yes, a bit old-fashioned.  Note that both characters lie and their lies are never revealed, but at some point she'll presumably see photos of his father and the truth will come out.  And, amusingly (in light of Caroline Quentin's Room 101 items), Paul's character refers to a Teasmade.

This is sort of the 200th British show I've reviewed, although I guess I should've counted the music videos of Paul McCartney, the Spice Girls, etc. as well, but not all of those were shot in Britain, despite the national origins of the performers.  It gets a bit murky sometimes with the tags.