TV Review: John Bishop's Sports Relief Hell

The programme was broadcast at 9pm on BBC 1 last night.

It is hard to dislike a man who runs, rows and cycles nearly 300 miles for a charitable cause, unless of course that man is John Bishop.

Britain's least funny and smuggest comedian takes on the admirable task of getting from Paris to London entirely under his own steam in order to raise money for Sport Relief. But the question is why the rest of us had to endure the equally hellish feat of watching sixty minutes of him and his fellow celebrity pals trying to act wacky?

Equally unwelcome cameos from loud-mouthed pie-lover Chris Moyles, and Davina McCall, inexplicably one of Britain's most popular television presenters, ensured this programme remained a charisma-free-zone.

Although the aims of Sport Relief are entirely admirable, these types of show seem like a way to simply massage the egos of Britain's most average entertainers. This is perfectly demonstrated in the opening montage where Bishop's son proclaims: "My dad is a national hero now."

The only plus side was Bishop's extreme physical efforts left him gratifyingly mute for large sections of the programme.