After the breakout hit of the first official Policeman's Ball, two years later they went harder in every direction. There are bigger names, there's a proper director, there are newer edgier comedians but they end up with a weaker show. Now, there's a few different versions of this floating around but the one I saw was pretty overloaded with music. It's more than two thirds Sting, Phil Collins et al warbling away and the final group number has Neil Innes and Tom Robinson joining in - where were they? It's nice to see a very young Victoria Wood and Alexei Sayle but the less said about the rest of it the better. The Cleese & Atkinson sketch at the top of the show is really the highlight of it all - and a glimpse of what they chucked away.
Review of The Secret Policeman's Other Ball
