IT seems a while ago that Lenny Henry was a cuddly stand-up comedian with a fine line in self-deprecation and a quick mimic of the famous.

Now, the 56 year-old has taken to straight acting so well it’s hard to recall those earlier comic days.

He’s currently appearing in BBC 1’s first-class Tuesday night programme The Syndicate, the latest series of brilliant Kay Mellor’s stories on ordinary people who won the Lottery.

Henry plays Godfrey, a gentle gardener with Asperger’s who is a computer genius. Everything about his performance screams acting talent; this new, streamlined Lenny looks cowed, confused and naively indignant about the worrying disappearance of another character, Amy.

All the Brummy wit, the funny voices, the sharp lines and the deep laughter are very far away from this clever characterisation and reveal just why Henry earned such plaudits for playing the lead role in Shakespeare’s Othello.

It also reveals once more how multi-dimensional are so many of our best-loved comedians, once they get the chance to prove it.