Harry Hill: Harry's game

It is amazing what passes for television these days. A man sitting on top of a gigantic jelly singing 'We are the world', accompanied by a knitted puppet does not immediately sound like award-winning programming. But this is the norm for 'Harry Hill's TV Burp".

Since 2001, it has been surreally taking the mickey out of Britain's worst television. In October, Ebury publishes a tie-in book and it is easily as daft as the ITV show. MiddleEastEnders, comic strips featuring Kirsty and Phil from 'Location, Location, Location' and a Hello!-style interview with Hayley from 'Coronation Street' give the book the same madcap lunacy as its screen counterpart.

Hill also takes aim at the book trade, with a curiously familiar webpage of shopping site Amazulu. Along with listings for a 'Coronation Street' DVD Special: Ken and Deidre in Iraq ('React with dismay as Ken starts to argue in favour of democracy with a wayward Sunni rebel!') are the books Turning Your Child Into Your Career by Geri Halliwell and Peter Kay‚ My Story: The Interesting Bits This Time.

So Hill isn't a fan of the comic memoir, one of the big Christmas successes of recent years? "There have been a lot of comedians doing memoirs that have sunk without trace," Hill notes drily. "My theory about the ones that succeed is, say you take someone like Paul O'Grady. The thing about him is if you are a fan of his, and I am, you feel in some way that he belongs to you. Alan Carr is another. It's not an act with them, they give themselves over to the audience. You know from interviews that Paul O'Grady's autobiography would be packed full of incident."

Comedy gold

Hill (or Matthew Hall to his friends and family, "People who work with me call me Harry," he says) began poking fun at television when he stood in for Gary Bushell to write the Sun TV column about 10 years ago. He took the idea for a surreal look at television to ITV after it was rejected by Channel 4. "In the early days, we invited viewers to send in clips but most of what they spotted was utter tripe," says Hill. "Did you notice there was a cow in the background of a shot in Emmerdale? Spin that into comedy gold if you will."

He puts the enduring success of the show, which has won two BAFTAs since it was first broadcast, to the evangelism of the five-strong writing team. "It would be quite easy to do a show that was just nasty or a bit cheap. But we are very rigorous because I think we all really care about the show... The fear is because we seem to concentrate on the same shows every year we will end up repeating ourselves. The expectation does mean that it is getting harder and harder."

Hill's style, one part Eric Morecambe to two parts Vic and Bob, is also a big factor. Given the mass market appeal of "TV Burp", it is surprising when Hill begins enthusing about "Psychoville", a pitch black comedy from the creators of "The League of Gentlemen", and postmodernist author Mark Leyner. He also recently read David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. Although, given the central role in the book of a film so entertaining its viewers become lifeless and only want to rewatch it, it's probably not a surprise Hill enjoyed it.

"I like that darkness, particularly with doing medicine," he explains. Hill was a doctor for several years before becoming a stand-up comic. "I think you develop a bleak, dark sense of humour to cope with it. That humour is not in 'TV Burp' but it is a bit in my stand-up. But often what you are good at isn't what you like."

Jelly baby

Although Hill stresses that he is not exactly unhappy battling with puppet sharks or compering fights between Mr Blobby and Phil Mitchell. He says: "I just like the stupidness of it. I did a benefit recently and came out with two jellies as the band was playing Wipeout. I was just running through the crowd with these two plates and everyone was going crazy. I just thought to myself: 'This is ridiculous. You are a 45-year-old ex-doctor getting a laugh out of two plates of jelly and a surf tune.'"

Hill is no stranger to publishing, with a novel published in 2002 and several children's books under his belt. "I have written all kinds of stuff that I call my doomed projects," he says. "I have a very big stack of screenplays, sitcoms, book ideas, TV shows. I have a list of things I would like to do but the difficulty is finding the time."

But will Hill follow Alan Carr, Peter Kay et al and share his life story in print? Probably not. "I think they know better than to ask me. There is a lot there but if I were to tell it, it would hardly be family friendly. My time in medicine was very bleak and very dark. It was a tough time for me. Even now I think 'Oh God'. Maybe one day, when all the other work dries up. That's usually when you do it. There will probably be a manuscript sitting at the bottom of the doomed projects pile."