No joke after Harry Enfield comedy drafts stolen

Published on Sunday 18 October 2009 23:10

NEW material by comedy star Harry Enfield has been stolen, it emerged yesterday.

His thoughts for a new series of his BBC show were on a laptop computer taken from a car.

The BBC said filming would not start for six months, so it would not affect the programme.

Thieves reportedly broke into a Mini Clubman belonging to Enfield's wife, Lucy, outside their London home last week.

Some time later a phone caller demanded 750 for the return of the computer, containing jokes for his Harry & Paul show, with Paul Whitehouse, to be shown on BBC2 next year. Enfield did not pay and is working with police to get the computer back.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said yesterday: "We can confirm we are investigating an allegation of theft from a motor vehicle. There have been no arrests and inquiries continue."

A BBC spokeswoman said: "Filming doesn't start for another six months, there were only early thoughts on the laptop and not actual scripts, so it won't impact on filming for the series."

The incident recalls the temporary loss of the late comedian Bob Monkhouse's joke books in the mid-1990s.

For years, Monkhouse had jotted down his ideas in ring-bound books and he was devastated when two of them went missing in 1995. A 10,000 reward was offered for their return and, after an 18-month wait, he got them back.

A management consultant who found the books was accused of handling stolen goods, but the charge was later dropped.