Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Entertainment & Performing Arts

In each episode of this BBC Radio 4 series Mark Steel visits a UK town and researches its history, heritage and culture, after which he performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents. Mark's destinations in Series 1 & 2 are Skipton; Boston; Lewes; Walsall; Merthyr Tydfil; Portland; Dartford; Wilmslow; Dumfries; Penzance; Gateshead and Kirkwall. Duration: 6 hours approx.

Join Professor John Lloyd and curators Jimmy Carr, Humphrey Ker, Phill Jupitus and Sarah Millican as they plunge down the badger hole of ignorance in a search for the universe's most mind-boggling oddnesses. The Museum of Curiosity is BBC Radio 4's monumental comedy edifice and the only one with gargoyles in the foyer. It allows nothing inside that doesn't make you scratch your head, stroke your chin or, at the very least, go 'hmm'.

The complete fifth series of BBC Radio 4's award-winning sketch show, written by and starring the writer of Cabin Pressure. John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme has won a host of awards, including the 2015 BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Scripted Comedy with Live Audience. Written by and starring John Finnemore, this fifth series of the hit show returns with more witty wordplay and laugh-out-loud sketches.

Born the same year as Radio 4 itself, Just a Minute is one of the BBC's longest-running and most popular panel games. In these five series from 2016-2018, collected together to mark the 55th birthday of the show, Nicholas Parsons presides over more hilarious linguistic shenanigans. Highlights include a festive edition, Just a Minute Does Panto!, which sees the players journeying through Panto-land in search of the missing Golden Whistle. Also featured is Just a Minute: 50 Years in 28 Minutes, which was specially compiled to celebrate the show's 50th anniversary.

Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Ian Lavender, and Bill Pertwee star in the radio sequel sitcom to Dad’s Army.

With its brilliant blend of the silly, the serious and the satirical, The News Quiz has been a must-listen for comedy fans since it started 46 years ago. Recorded in front of an audience, these three series see Andy Zaltzman presiding over a motley crew of comedians and journalists as they trawl through the biggest (and smallest) news stories of 2024 to provide comedy, commentary, irony and irreverence.

Chaired by Simon Brett (author of the hugely popular Charles Paris series), this intriguing, interactive panel show challenges professional crime novelists to put their experience and expertise to the test as they try to unravel various mind-bending mysteries. Each episode features a death and a denouement - with various red herrings and misdirections along the way. As the murder scenario is described and the clues laid out, our writer-detectives take turns cross-examining the suspects.

Four more series of the long-running satirical panel show chaired by Miles Jupp. Since its inception in 1977, The News Quiz has been taking an irreverent sideways look at the headlines, playfully poking fun at the issues, incidents and individuals that make the news. These 32 episodes, first broadcast between January 2017 and February 2018, see Miles Jupp in the chair once more, as he shepherds the panellists through the top stories from that eventful period.

Presented by writer, comedian and self-confessed listomaniac Susan Calman, this hilarious show celebrates the power of the humble list—from 'Buzzfeed' to 'bucket' and everything in between. Accompanying Susan for a spot of comic categorising are a panel of special guests, including Lucy Porter, Joe Lycett, Richard Herring, Katherine Ryan, James Acaster, Miles Jupp, Lucy Beaumont, Nat Luurtsema, Alun Cochrane, Sarah Millican, Ricky Wilson, Roisin Conaty and Isy Suttie. Together, they participate in a variety of anarchic games themed around lists both magnificent and mundane.

For years they thought it was just them. Irritated and tormented by everything around them from call centres to nose studs, from speed bumps to ring tones. Then along came the BBC2 series Grumpy Old Men, and the subsequent best-selling book, and they knew they were not alone.

Just a Minute has been entertaining generations of listeners since its first series in 1967. This collection of five series from 2018-2019, commemorating the programme's 55th anniversary, contains the last ever episodes chaired by broadcasting legend Nicholas Parsons, as well as several shows in which Gyles Brandreth sits in for him as temporary host. Between them, they keep the scores and the peace.

A BBC Radio full-cast dramatisation starring June Whitfield as Miss Marple, the deceptively mild spinster sleuth. 'A murder is announced and will take place on Friday, October 29, at Little Paddocks, at 6:30pm. Friends please accept this, the only intimation.' Nestled among the usual notices about dogs for sale and appeals for domestic help, the startling entry in the personal column of the Chipping Cleghorn Gazette has the the entire village agog with curiosity. Is it a game? And who is meant to attend?

Loved by Radio 4 listeners since 1967, Just a Minute is the deliciously devious word game that asks players to speak for sixty seconds on any given subject without hesitation, deviation or repetition. Putting them through their linguistic paces—and keeping order over the proceedings—is chairman Nicholas Parsons. Included here are five series from 2013-14, collected together to celebrate the show's 55th birthday and featuring its 900th episode and a Christmas special.

Milton Jones, Milton Jones - so good, they named him. The most popular living comedian on Radio 4 and officially Britain's funniest Milton is here with the complete three series of his award-wining show that leapt from late night to prime time - a show which costars regular guests Alexander Armstrong ( Pointless, Armstrong & Miller), Dave Lamb (the voice of Come Dine with Me) and Joanna Scanlan ( The Thick of It, Getting On).

In these 24 episodes, Tom Wrigglesworth phones home for his weekly check-in, giving us a funny, fascinating glimpse into his family background and the influences that have shaped his temperament, opinions and hang-ups. As the conversations unfold, Tom takes time out from the calls to explain the situation and his parents’ reactions, and relate various anecdotes from the past which illustrate his family's views. And sometimes he just needs to sound off about life’s everyday annoyances.

Just a Minute is the grandaddy of panel games, entertaining Radio 4 listeners since 1967 with wit, whimsy and wonderful wordplay. To mark the show's 55th anniversary in December 2022, here are five fantastic series from 2011, 2012 and 2013, all chaired by the legendary Nicholas Parsons. Among them is Series 62, which commemorated JAM's 45th birthday with an episode tackling the same subjects given out in the very first series, and featured two special editions from Mumbai.

Four further series of the award-winning satirical panel show. For over 45 years, The News Quiz has been taking a scalpel to the headlines, dissecting them with its inimitable blend of satire, silliness and sharp-witted commentary. These 32 episodes, first broadcast between April 2018 and May 2019, find the team tackling stories big and small from that news-packed year.

The first ever publication of a long-lost episode of Hancock's Half Hour, featuring Peter Sellers - plus bonus material. Legendary sitcom Hancock's Half Hour ran for 102 episodes on BBC Radio between 1954 and 1959. Over 20 shows were subsequently lost - but now one of the funniest and most sought-after, 'The Marriage Bureau', has been rediscovered. The penultimate episode of Series 1, it features a unique appearance from Peter Sellers, standing in for Kenneth Williams. Available for the first time since its original broadcast in 1955, it sees Hancock looking for a job - and a wife...

Series 1 and 2 of the hilarious radio sitcom starring Harry H. Corbett and Wilfred Brambell, adapted from the much-loved TV series. Steptoe and Son ran for eight series on BBC TV and even spawned two feature films. Such was the series' popularity in the mid-1960s that the cast specially recorded several episodes for BBC radio. Here, collected together for the first time, are all 21 episodes from the first and second radio series, scripted by Hancock's Half Hour creators Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.

Ramesh has built his shop up over the course of 30 years, and it is a firmly entrenched feature of the local area. He is ably assisted by Dave, a 40-something underachiever who shares Ramesh's love of the art of shopkeeping, even if he is treated like a slave. Then, of course, there are Ramesh's sons, both surly and not particularly keen on old-school shopkeeping. However, they are the natural successors to the business, and Ramesh is keen to pass all his worldly wisdom on to them - whether they like it or not....