My Animals, and Other Animals by Bill Bailey review – dogs and monsters
The comedian’s endearingly zany tribute to the creatures that populate his life, from guinea pigs to peacocks
February 2024
TV tonight
TV tonight: it’s Peaky Blinders week on Bring The Drama
Bill Bailey’s strangely addictive acting competition heads to Birmingham. Plus: more witchy love on Domino Day. Here’s what to watch this evening
Bill Bailey: a comic maestro of bits, bobs and barbs at the Tories
Thoughtifier, a new European tour, brings familiar whimsy from the Strictly Come Dancing champ. But does the mirth cramp his musical stylings?
Honest playlist
‘I used to roundly mock Bryan Adams’: Bill Bailey’s honest playlist
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: Alice & Jack; The Space Shuttle That Fell to Earth; The New Look; Bring the Drama – review
TV review
Bring the Drama review – Bill Bailey’s new acting competition is a warning sign for us all
December 2023
Flashback
Bill Bailey looks back: ‘My comedy audience is similar to Strictly’s demographic – an eight-year-old next to an 80-year-old’
The comedian on his punk years, being the ‘wurzel’ on Buzzcocks, and his late pal Sean Lock’s Strictly warning
November 2023
Observer TV reviews
The week in TV: The Crown; A Murder at the End of the World; Bill Bailey’s Australian Adventure; The Curse – review
TV review
Bill Bailey’s Australian Adventure review – you don’t get this level of strangeness from Michael Portillo
July 2023
TV tonight
TV tonight: Timothy Spall stars in dark drama about true story of seduction and murder
A repressed academic is taken advantage of by a student. Plus, Chris Packham explores the mind-bending reaches of geological time. Here’s what to watch this evening
March 2023
TV tonight
TV tonight: Kathy Burke’s wonderfully uplifting documentary about getting older
Just before her 59th birthday, Burke is on typically frank form as she speaks to Jennifer Saunders and Bill Bailey about ageing. Plus: The Bay returns. Here’s what to watch this evening
December 2022
Stream team
Black Books: a hysterical bookshop sitcom about the stupidity of being alive
Absurd, slapstick-driven British TV series revolves around a trio of hapless bookshop workers who have zero grip on reality
July 2022
‘It comes down to taste’: how the Edinburgh comedy awards find tomorrow’s funniest stars
Comedy Q&A
Bill Bailey: ‘Keep saying funny things – that’s quite profound advice’
April 2022
Crossword blog
From Jane Austen to Bill Bailey, who is famous enough to be in a crossword?
Writers of the past, comedians of the present and folk-rockers Indigo Girls in our weekly look at cryptic clues
December 2021
TV review
Travel Man: 96 Hours in Iceland review – farewell Richard Ayoade, hello Joe Lycett
Bill Bailey: En Route to Normal review – a joyful reconnection
December 2020
Observer New Review Q&A
Bill Bailey: 'I dreamed I was cha-cha-cha-ing between the stones at Stonehenge'
This year’s Strictly winner on bringing heavy metal to the Beeb, finding an unlikely fan in Janet Jackson and inspiring older dancers
Dance schools expect to see Bill Bailey effect with rush of midlife men
Strictly winner and comedian, 55, hopes he will be inspiration to ‘self-conscious blokes of my vintage’
Strictly Come Dancing final watched by more than 13 million viewers
BBC One show in which Bill Bailey and Oti Mabuse lifted the Glitterball trophy was most watched across all channels