Mel Brooks

BBC4 retrospective of Mel Brooks last night, with the highlight being a run of The Producers, probably his best ever work. The man has had a hit and miss career, his humour not always translating well, but The Producers and Young Frankenstein are enough to make him legendary. He looked and sounded as sharp as ever, being interviewed by Alan Yentob for BBC, who also did a documentary on him 20 years ago (also shown last night). He surely owes a lot to the genius of Gene Wilder, who sparkles in the aforementioned movies - I was in stitches over his comic timing and characterisation last night; it has been a long time since I'd seen it and it struck me as so ahead of it's time - Brilliant. Kx