You'd have to be a complete cynic to think that the BBC were eager to sign up Little Britainer, Matt Lucas, for the part of Friar Tuck in next year's series of Robin Hood purely because of the show's poor reception might get turned around by his well-established fan base.

Equally so to think the Beeb excluded the core character from this series because of his defining features of media-unfriendly portliness. The channel stated at the time that the character was left out because they didn't want him to be in just as a 'laughing stock'. It's strange how hypocritical that statement sounds now that they're begging for a top comedian to play the part.

Anyway, even though the show's producers reckoned Lucas would be very happy to take the part it seems that he is unable to. You'd have to be a complete cynic to presume he's just making excuses because he doesn't want his good name sullied by the poorly executed production. He's genuinely busy. Got lots of other things on, you know? Despite the Little Britain tour of Australia and the filming of the show for the US and the potential feature film he's actually washing his hair that night.