Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Comedy & Humour

A BBC radio recreation of the Marx Brothers’ lost shows, starring Michael Roberts and Frank Lazarus. First broadcast on America’s NBC network between 1932-33, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel charted the exploits of shady lawyer Waldorf T Flywheel (played by Groucho Marx) and his dopey assistant, Emmanuel Ravelli (played by Chico Marx). The original recordings were lost, but the scripts were rediscovered and edited by Michael Barson. These were published as Flywheel, Shyster & Flywheel: The Marx Brothers Lost Radio Show and licensed for a dramatic adaptation by the BBC.

Love in Recovery follows the lives of five very different recovering alcoholics. Johnny Vegas is Andy, the sweet but simple self-appointed group leader. Sue Johnston plays straight talking Julie, who's been known to have the odd relapse here and there - and everywhere. Rebecca Front is the snobby and spikey Fiona, an ex-banker who had it all and then lost the lot.

What with those dirty Sloanes next door, the men's group meeting upstairs and the stay-at-home dads, we can hardly hear the phone ring - and it could well be Mel's agent offering her a role in something tasteful. Luckily Leslie, the show's resident announcer, is on hand to keep things moving and to introduce the variety aspect of the show: perhaps a tap dance, or Armed Forces sweetheart Edie Trinder, or maybe just one of the celebrity voices in Mel's head.

Radio 4's longest-running panel show, in which contestants are challenged to speak on a on a given topic for 60 seconds without hesitation, deviation or repetition, returns with Sue Perkins at the helm for this complete collection of episodes from 2023. Featuring quickfire improvisation, inspired ad-libbing and spontaneous hilarity - as well as a live studio audience - join Sue Perkins and her guests as they battle for points, glory and the perfect, uninterrupted minute.

Room 101 is the anti-Desert Island Discs. Instead of picking the tracks, books and luxuries they love, guests are invited to banish their least favourite things to Orwell's eponymous chamber of horrors. Twenty-seven episodes of the show were broadcast on Radio 5 between 1992 and 1994, and it went on to run for 18 hit series on BBC TV before relaunching on Radio 4 in 2023. This specially curated collection contains 16 of the very best editions of the original radio series.

When the Reverend Elaine Metcalfe is inducted as the vicar of Pontvale, she hopes the job will have more to it than lending out spare sets of keys. She soon discovers there's plenty of challenges in her new home - not least the daily needs of her parishioners, which range from community theatre productions, arranging a wedding and a funeral for the same day, and local scandal over the vicar's culottes.

Award-winning actress and comedian Maureen Lipman has been entertaining audiences for over half a century. Her career has encompassed film, theatre, TV and radio; she has written several bestselling autobiographies; and in 2020 she was made a Dame in the Queen's Birthday Honours List. In this sparkling collection, the irrepressible 'Queen of Coronation Street' takes to the airwaves with her hilarious monologues, diverting duologues and amusing anecdotes - all recorded in front of a live audience. Also included are four comedy dramas showcasing her manifold talents.

A collection of BBC readings and dramas celebrating the much-loved schoolboy terror. First featured in five books by Geoffrey Willans, with cartoon illustrations by Ronald Searle, Nigel Molesworth is one of the funniest comic creations in literature. A superbly satirical chronicler of 1950s England, he influenced a generation with his anarchic take on life.

The world of wildlife is full of surprising and magical quirks - and Sue Perkins - comedian, broadcaster and Just a Minute host - is on a mission to discover them all. In this fantastic series, recorded at ZSL London Zoo and the Eden Project, she's joined by a diverse group of comedians and natural history experts for some entertaining sessions of 'Show and Tell'.

Rediscover the most popular family in Britain! The Huggetts dominated the airwaves in the 1950s. For nearly a decade their family capers entertained listeners with the trials and tribulations of everyday life in post-war Britain. An unashamedly working-class family, the Huggetts epitomise the spirit of a united nation relishing simple pleasures with a cheery, down-to-earth smile.

Eight dark comic dramas narrated by Alexei Sayle and adapted from his original short stories. Dramatised from Alexei Sayle's hilarious, highly acclaimed fiction, these satirical, surreal and surprising tales feature some of the UK's foremost comic actors, and are introduced by the award-winning comedian himself.

Rediscovered and restored by radio enthusiasts, The Radio Circle, it was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme on the 10th May 1955, just two days before Tony Hancock’s 31st birthday. Tony Hancock had taken an unscheduled trip to Italy, leaving Hancock Half Hour’s producer to ask Harry Secombe to step in to star for the first three episodes of the second series. The fourth episode saw Tony return, and begrudgingly make ‘A Visit To Swansea’, to thank Harry Secombe for stepping in.

Everyone has an online life, and when the great British public put pen to keyboard to leave a review, they almost always write something hilarious. One Person Found This Helpful is the panel game that invites an all-star line-up to celebrate the good, the bad and the baffling. Over the course of six episodes, the celebrity guests are presented with a selection of hilarious reviews and tasked with working out what exactly is being described. Maybe they'll even have a go at writing their own reviews along the way.

Columnist, critic and award-winning author Craig Brown is well known for his Private Eye parodies lampooning politicians and celebrities. He has written for numerous newspapers, both under his own name and as his alter egos Wallace Arnold and Bel Littlejohn. Collected here are Brown's four fantastic radio series, plus two bonus programmes in which he discusses his life and work.

Martin Christmas is a local government worker in the Sanitation department, whose days are shaped by endless recycling initiatives and green league tables, and whose nights are shadowed by his failed relationships and curmudgeonly interior monologues. While Martin is trying to cultivate his inner peace, things keep getting in his way.

A secret descendant of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin, Ricky Lenin is a dyed-in-the-wool Marxist, fervently committed to overthrowing to the decadent world of British football. As a midfield maestro, he's perfectly placed to infiltrate England's top club, Felchester Rovers, where he proceeds to introduce his radical ideas. But there's more to his fellow players than meets the eye, and Ricky soon discovers he's not the only one seeking to foment revolution.

The show that holds a mirror up to nature and then proceeds to give it a rather embarrassing haircut.

These 29 episodes encompass classic cosmic conundrums - including whether there is intelligent alien life out there, if infinity exists and how wormholes could allow us to time-travel - as well as probing more down-to-earth human quirks like our differing pain thresholds, our attraction to 'bad' foods like chips and chocolate and our varied regional accents. Plus, the duo embarks on a cheery evolutionary thought experiment as they wonder what would happen if humanity became extinct....

When his marriage breaks up and he loses his job, Dave Preston has no choice but to move all his possessions – and himself – into The Storage Garden. But he’s not alone in his predicament – his fellow storage dweller, the mysterious and slightly psychotic Geoff, is in the same situation, and both are under the watchful eye of cultured security guard Ron. As he hunkers down among the boxes of pebbles, unidentifiable bits of metal and cups without saucers, Dave picks over his failed relationship with ex-wife Sarah, and prepares to face the future.

Comedian, activist and 'libertarian anarchist' Mark Thomas believes that, as a nation, we are drifting—economically, politically and socially. Where, he asks, are the big ideas, theories and visions that will help our country in its hour of need? Tired of the status quo, he sets out to change the world by compiling a People's Manifesto, gathering policy suggestions from his studio audience and getting them to vote for the best.