THEY say you should never go back and I feared Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse's return to the sketch show format after seven years might be a terrible mistake on the scale of Rocky Balboa.

But Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul' (BBC2 last night and shown last Friday on BBC1) thankfully managed to be funny and relevant.

OK, the pair might no longer be the spring chickens of the comedy world, and like most shows of this genre, not every sketch hits the spot, but they proved there's still life in the old dogs yet.

With some genuinely laugh-out-loud funny moments including a near-the-knuckle sketch about Nelson Mandela flogging alcopops to schoolchildren, and Bono and The Edge trying to make poverty history from a dingy bedsit, it was a pleasure to watch.

Another new character who I sense will prove popular in some quarters is José Arrogantio, a spoof of an hilariously self-regarding Portuguese football manager who is too busy pouting for the cameras to notice the seriousness of an incident in which one of his players stabs an opponent in the groin with the corner-flag: "I don't think he meant any real harm. It was just a friendly stab."

All in all, the show is the same old Enfield and Whitehouse we all remember from the Fast Show glory days.

If you're feeling particularly giddy, their silly humour is contagious. I mean what's not to love about a footballer called Emile Pesky?