— Press Coverage —

02.03.06 - BBC Online: Pete and Dud return to the stage

04.03.06 - Guardian Guide Comedy Preview by William Cook
"An engrossing tragicomedy about the price of talent and the true cost of laughter"

04.03.06 - The Times Theatre Critics Choice by Benedict Nightingale

07.03.06 - Evening Standard Column by Francis Wheen
"This time it's Dud who steals the show, in an irresistibly energetic performance by Kevin Bishop"

08.03.06 - Daily Telegraph Interview with John Bassett
Kate Devlin meets the man who brought Peter Cook and Dudley Moore together

08.03.06 - Daily Mail review - Cutting Cook, cuddly Dudley... and a few fringe benefits - by Quentin Letts
"It is the lack of spite that makes this show so commendable. It is comforting to be reminded of the merry chaos Cook, with his English attachment to failure, could cause on stage. This amusing, touching evening is a reminder that the path to comic success is one often brambled by unhappiness. Laughs are won at a price"

08.03.06 - Evening Standard review - A Dud that's a big hit - by Fiona Mountford
"Sparky duo ensure this revue is no dud"

08.03.06 - Whatsonstage.com review by Mark Shenton
"Beyond the meticulous renderings of some of their comic set piece routines, there’s also the tug of something at once human, tentative and unresolved about the painful demons that stalked them both... in a theatre, resounding the sound of laughter for much of the time, the stillness of such moments is accentuated."

08.03.06 - Chortle.co.uk review by Steve Bennett
"Success here depends entirely on the ability of the actors to capture the spirit of the original performers – and this is where the production scores a major hit. Kevin Bishop offers a close impersonation of Dud’s nasal delivery and easy laugh, while Tom Goodman Hill recreates Cook’s aloof superiority, without attempting to be a carbon copy."

08.03.06 - Britishtheatreguide.info review by Philip Fisher
"Poignant and funny... in addition to Pete and Dud, the first flashback of many sees the versatile Colin Hoult playing Jonathan Miller and Fergus Craig as a convincing Alan Bennett providing laughs galore."

08.03.06 - London Theatre Guide - First Night Feature by Matthew Amer

08.03.06 - London Theatre review by Peter Brown
"Those of a 'certain age' will find this a riveting reminder of the humour of Cook and Moore, but there's more than sufficient to provide a great evening's entertainment for younger theatre goers too, because it's not only a well-written and well-directed show, but the humour is razor sharp and not at all dated or outmoded. Essentially, it's an irresistibly funny show with some cracking one-liners."

09.03.06 - Theatre Guide London review by Gerry Berkowtiz
"Audiences who come in expecting merely a tribute show will find considerably more going on, and will leave having laughed their fill but also thought a bit. And that's not a bad way to spend an evening."

09.03.06 - The Times review by Benedict Nightingale
"Kevin Bishop can grin and mug as goofily as Dud and even bang out Beethoven parodies on the piano, and the laidback Pete of Tom Goodman-Hill can barely say a sentence without finding some absurdity in it."

09.03.06 - Ham&High interview with Tom Goodman-Hill by Bridget Galton

10.03.06 - Camden New Journal review by Peter Gruner
"The actors go beyond simply mimicking their alter egos. They portray Cook and Moore as they might have been in real life, beyond reach of the cameras and microphones. A great script by Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde and excellent support by Alexander Kirk, as chat show host, Tony Ferguson, Colin Hoult and Fergus Craig."

10.03.06 - Daily Telegraph review by Charles Spencer
"I laughed a lot... irresistibly funny"

11.03.06 - Daily Telegraph Critics Choice by Charles Spencer
"This show is a joy"

11.03.06 - Rogues & Vagabonds review by Amanda Hodges
"Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde's highly entertaining play, which boasts a strong cast, is at its best when Cook (Tom Goodman-Hill) and Moore (Kevin Bishop) are sparring on-stage, their script ably assisted by superb performances from both actors who capture the essence of each man to perfection."

12.03.06 - Mail on Sunday review by Georgina Brown
"Kevin Bishop has real sweetness and charm as the unlikely ‘sex thimble’. His accent is a hilarious nasal hybrid of Dagenham and posh, and he frequently loses his thread altogether in an infectious giggle. He seems to be underplaying himself, just as Dud often did. Tom Goodman-Hill is also spot-on as Cook: a witty, withering, chain-smoking, rather sour, stuck-up toff. But it’s the way the actors bounce off each other with the apparent spontaneity of the real thing that dazzles. Moore and Cook’s comic freewheeling is superbly caught in a deconstruction of Aretha Franklin’s song Respect. Those who know the original sketch on which this is based will laugh as much as those hearing it for the first time."

13.03.06 - musicOMH.com review by Neil Dowden
"A comedy partnership made in heaven, as we are reminded by the brilliantly re-staged skits in Owen Lewis’s slick production"

14.03.06 - The Guardian review by Lyn Gardner
"Kevin Bishop and Tom Goodman-Hill do considerably more than merely impersonate the comedy greats, and the supporting cast do enjoyably malicious turns as Bennett and Miller as well as playing a host of other roles. It all adds up to an affectionate and yet perceptive evening, with some great put-downs."

16.03.06 - The Spectator review by Toby Young
"Hiring young comic actors to recreate the classic routines of Britain's most famous comedians of yesteryear has become a mini-genre in the past five years... this is the best of the ones I have seen, principally because the original material is so strong. There's surely nothing funnier in the West End at the moment than watching Goodman-Hill and Bishop faithfully rehash the best bits of Derek and Clive Live. The entire play lasts only 2h15m, but I could have happily sat there all night."

17.03.06 - The Sun review by Bill Hagerty
"Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde's new play aims to examine the hazardous partnership of two more dead stars but succeeds mainly in reminding us what an inspired coupling the real thing was. Kevin Bishop produces uncanny facial and vocal impersonations of Moore and Tom Goodman-Hill perfectly captures aloof comic genius Cook. Their story didn't end happily for either - but you'll be helpless with laughter as it unfolds."
Also you can listen to an exclusive broadcast by Kevin Bishop and Tom Goodman-Hill via iTunes if you click this link to subscribe to The Sun's podcast

18.03.06 - The Guardian Guide #1 Comedy Critics Choice by William Cook
"A West End transfer for Bartlett and Awde's absorbing play about Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, a hit at last summer's Edinburgh festival."

18.03.06 - Daily Telegraph Critics Choice by Charles Spencer
"I've been asked to point out that the sketches in this show, though clearly inspired by original Peter Cook and Dudley Moore material, are in fact the work of authors Chris Bartlett and Nick Awde. So accurate is their homage that I found it indistinguishable from the real thing. Sorry, lads, and well done."

19.03.06 - The Observer review by Veronica Lee
"Kevin Bishop does an uncanny impersonation of Moore, chirpy but chippy Essex boy made good, while Tom Goodman Hill's Cook is a masterclass in urbane sneering. Owen Lewis directs with aplomb."

19.03.06 - Daily Express review by Mark Shenton
"Real-life characters also brilliantly live again in Pete and Dud: Come Again, a new play detailing the troubled off- and on-stage lives of comedians Cook and Moore. At the recording for a 1982 Wogan-like TV interview, Dud, by now a Hollywood 'sex thimble', is promoting a new movie and is unexpectedly reunited with Pete. The interviewer rewinds over their past, deeply competitive and personal lives. This canny device is propelled by the uncanny impersonations of Kevin Bishop (a far from dud Dud) and Tom Goodman-Hill (a dry, laconic Cook)."