It's a Smack the Pony comeback! Comedy trio reunite with new material for Red Nose Day
Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips will perform together on screen for the first time since 2003
Even if you are "in the middle of nowhere" on Red Nose Day, you should rush back to your sofa and turn on the TV – because Smack the Pony is back for the first time in 15 years.
The Emmy-winning comedy show starring Fiona Allen, Doon Mackichan and Sally Phillips first aired in 1999 and ran for three series, but there have been no new episodes since the 2003 special.
Now the comic trio will reunite on Friday 24th March for charity, with the BBC promising "a series of sketches from the popular comedy show". The team will be performing brand new material for Red Nose Day.
Smack the Pony, which originally aired on Channel 4, featured such classic sketches as "the insensitive English teacher" (in which a teacher corrects her sobbing foreign student's grammar: "it's simple past – the lorry swerved once and killed your family") and a skit which saw lipstick travel around the room at a party. (It's funnier when you watch it, so you should just watch it.)
Could this reunion see updates to some of the original sketches – like the famous dating agency videos, which saw Fiona, Doon and Sally record special messages to potential suitors?
Phillips has also put on her red nose to become a member of the presenting team for the first time, leading the audience through a night of TV favourites – from a Love Actually reunion to a special edition of Carpool Karaoke to a preview of All Round to Mrs Brown's.
“I’ve never done any presenting before I’m going to be a car crash," she joked. As for pre-show routines? “I think I run around in terror!”
Red Nose Day will air from 7pm on Friday 24th March on BBC1
