Who Do You Think You Are?

There's something very basic about impersonating someone; we grow up imitating others as we develop our own personalities, be it behaviour, opinions and beliefs. We  think we have at least one good impersonation in us. Bad impersonators are doubly unfunny - their impersonation sucks and the jokes aren't funny. Good mimicry, is like an elephant, something you know when you see but hard to describe. Both John Culshaw and Debra Stephenson are excellent mimics and 'The Impressions Show with Culshaw & Stephenson' (BBC1) hits the target more times than not. Stephenson is a fine comedienne and, 'thetvreviewguy' particularly enjoyed her take on Jennifer Anniston; Stephenson, like Ronnie D'Ancona, is a good looking woman who can assume most appearances really well. Her Katie Price, aka Jordan, was spot-on; preening, pneumatic and self-obsessed. John Culshaw has been doing impressions for years ('Dead Ringers' was a noteworthy calling card of his in the early Noughties) and he sparks off Stephenson extremely well. His Gordon Brown does, however, sound like his Tom Baker. He does an excellent Boris Johnson (Culshaw as Boris as Travis Bickle) and Ian Hislop (Hislop's fogey-dom perfectly captured). Watching the show, 'thetvreviewguy' noted how most of those impersonated were British celebrities; while this was a funny show, light and witty, it won't do any business for the BBC accross the Pond. An enjoyable half hour, worth it for the Robert Peston and Davina McCall impressions alone.