Paul Whitehouse says The Fast Show specials were a 'time slip'

Paul Whitehouse found reviving his favourite \'Fast Show\' characters to be a "time slip".

The 62-year-old actor was one of main stars of the hit comedy show during its initial run and he\'s admitted to feeling a bit misty-eyed while making two specials for GOLD.

Asked which characters made him feel most nostalgic, Paul told \'The One Show\': "Strangely it was John Thomson\'s character Professor Denzil Dexter, who is a Californian hippie scientist who\'s more interested in actually trying out his pharmaceuticals than experimenting.

"But he had long hair and a beard and white coat, so when I saw John he hadn\'t aged and I was immediately transported back 25 years and I felt like we were filming \'The Fast Show\' again, not a retrospective. I felt a time slip."

The specials have seen Paul and Charlie Higson reunite for some talking heads retrospectives, but the comedy duo also decided to include some of the show\'s old characters.

Charlie said: "The idea is to do a talking heads clips show where we talk about the show. And we thought it would be fun to get some of the characters on in the same format as talking heads to talk about their time, so they\'re woven in with the show and it all becomes of a piece."

\'The Fast Show\' ran from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014, and Paul thinks the comedy sketch series - which also featured the likes of Mark Williams and Caroline Aherne - was a success because it had "quite a lot of heart".

He added: "You know, we can\'t underestimate the importance of the catchphrases, because it meant people can impersonate the character very easily and quickly.

"And we didn\'t really care, did we, Charlie? We had our sort of vision and idea and stuck with it."