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

Frustrated copy man Ken Handley cannot help but conceive of the world in advert form. Over three series witness Ken coping with a drunken boss, straight-laced colleagues and an overactive mind, as we follow his exploits and moral dilemmas in this advertising satire. Martin Jarvis stars as Ken, alongside a cast that includes Miriam Margolyes, Imelda Staunton, Christopher Godwin and Joss Ackland.

Enter a surreal universe where David Dickinson goes looking for weapons of mass destruction in 'Weapons Hunt', the Queen sells off the royal jewels on the QVC shopping channel and Delia Smith turns homicidal and starts cooking up the competition. Elsewhere, Anne Robinson votes off The Weakest Disciple, and Simon Schama and David Starkey battle it out - literally - in order to become television's leading historian.

Mention Milton Jones to most people and the first thing they think is 'Help!'. Milton Jones is a man who can help anyone, anywhere - whether they need it or not. Because, in his own words, there's ''no problem too problemy''. When you're close to the edge, then Milton can give you a push...

Adapted and narrated by Caitlin Moran, this brand-new radio adaptation intersperses dramatised scenes from Moran's life (from her teenage years in a crowded council house in Wolverhampton, to setting out as a music journalist, to getting married and having children) with her thoughts on subjects that range from the necessity of big knickers to the experience of giving birth and having an abortion.

Anglo-Irish author Oliver Goldsmith was one of the most accomplished writers of the 18th century. A novelist, playwright, poet and essayist, he came to fame with his novel The Vicar of Wakefield and comic play She Stoops to Conquer. Both those classics are included here, with star casts including Julia McKenzie, Amanda Root, Peter Jeffrey and Sunny Ormonde.

Dave Mabbutt is having a crisis. He’s the richest man in Britain, a bona fide rockstar with fans, fame and fortune. He even has a personal assistant called Mr. Tumble, who is in fact an elephant - but he’s not happy. When you have more money than sense life can have hilarious consequences. And how rock and roll does it really feel to have your mum at every gig?

Gentle-mannered, former sweet factory security guard and versatile singer/organist, John Shuttleworth records his fascinatingly mundane life on a tape recorder. With contributions from his foolish next-door neighbour (and sole agent) Ken Worthington, his tight-lipped wife, dinner lady Mary, not to mention her blousy friend, man-eater Joan Chitty. In the hands of John, no idea is too small, no plot too trivial, and no subject unsuitable for a song played on his trusty portable Yamaha keyboard.

The popular topical comedy show is back with another helping of political vituperation, media mauling and celebrity savaging. So sit back and treat your ears to a bumper helping of superb satirical impressions from the team: Jon Culshaw, Lewis MacLeod, Jan Ravens, Jess Robinson, Duncan Wisbey and Jason Forbes.

Modern technology is terrifying. The average smartphone carries out 3.36 billion instructions per second. The average person can carry out only one instruction in that time. Stop and think about that for a second. Sorry, that's two instructions; you won't be able to do that. But what if modern technology was... literally terrifying? What if there really was a ghost in the machine? Prepare to travel through the bad gateway as acclaimed actor, writer and comedian Tom Neenan (The Mash Report) finds out what horrors may be lurking in our apps and gadgets.

The stars of Little Britain return for this one-off comic look at Brexit. Originally broadcast on Radio 4, Little Brexit includes exclusive, never before heard-or-broadcast sketches. Brexit. Brexit. Brexit. The referendum has united this country like never before. Everybody loves Brexit. But how...

Take It from Here (first broadcast between 1948 and 1960) was one of the most influential radio shows of all time, sweeping in a new era of comedy and introducing an enduring pair of writers: bright young things Frank Muir and Denis Norden. Their literate scripts, and the madcap adventures of the show's stars - Dick Bentley, Jimmy Edwards, Joy Nichols, June Whitfield and Alma Cogan - ensured 11 years of classic capers. The show is best remembered for introducing The Glums, who featured regularly.

Senior gardener Alec, his assistant Danny and new boy Jack are employed by the council to cut lawns, prune roses, trim hedges and maintain the municipal parks and gardens. What they actually do is spend their days hanging out in the potting shed, drinking tea and dodging the incessant rain and their short-sighted supervisor, Mr MacIntyre.

Buy Me Up TV is a live, 24-hour cable channel, described by its CEO, Jacky Tanner, as ‘the crop of the top of the television shops’. Its perky presenters Angela and Bob are experts at flogging you everything you could possibly want for your home, wardrobe and lifestyle – and if the price isn’t right, the Bargain Bee will sting it right down. From ceramic hammers and a home Satanist test, to Robert Mugabe beach towels and a guitar bra (with matching banjo briefs), it’s all on special offer for a limited time only – buy now, while stocks last…

Newsreader and ‘Godfather of Radio 4’ Brian Perkins and Spitting Image impressionist Kate Robbins star in this Sony Award-winning satirical show, set on New Year’s Eve at the turn of the millennium. As the Nineties come to a close, they recall the tumultuous, earth-shattering events of the years 1994-1999.

First broadcast in 1953, A Life of Bliss ran for six series and 118 episodes on radio, concluding in 1969 when a TV series was made. Sadly, most are missing from the BBC archive (including the first seven, starring David Tomlinson) - but 19 were rescued and rebroadcast by BBC Radio 4 Extra, and are included here. They chronicle the misadventures of shy, absent-minded bachelor David Bliss, who goes through life with his head in the clouds and his mind in a fog.

Bringing together both The Wildebeest Years and Forty Nights in the Wildebeest, this fantastic collection showcases the brilliant, pop-culture-filled and one-liner-rich comedy of Nick Romero and Dan Freedman. From Incy Wincy Quincy, spider pathologist, and The Archers abroad (and in a new sci-fi format) to an amoebic Top Gear, Richard Coles as Robin Would, and a family of salad starring in Tossed in Space, the cabaret-style show features music from the house band, The Gents, and is full of wit, fun, and all the puns you could ever need.

Comic phenomenon Kevin Eldon has appeared in almost every hit comedy series in the last 25 years, from Fist of Fun, Brass Eye and This Morning with Richard Not Judy to Jam, Harry & Paul and Inside No. 9. Having starred alongside Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, Chris Morris, Harry Enfield, Paul Whitehouse, Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, he's decided to take it up a notch with his very own show. It features sketches, characters, sound effects, a bit of music and a lot of messin' about.

Poet Ian McMillan is our host in this gleeful game of literary tomfoolery, outrageous parody and biting wit. Joining him for some lighthearted competitive wordplay are a quartet of writers and comedians, all ready and eager to run riot through the halls of great literature.

In these 22 episodes, the team ponders how to revamp tea to make it more dangerous and exciting, wonders why so many men went to ‘mow a meadow’, practises the dark arts with a lightly tossed salad and makes latex representations of a spaniel with the help of children's entertainer Jeremy Lion. Plus, Demis Roussos and Napoleon Bonaparte enter a witness protection scheme in Swanage, a 'ladies man' sings about his suspect personal hygiene, and two travellers stumble upon a very unusual pub quiz....

Set in the Cornish cultural mecca of St Ives, Artists centres around a close-knit community of artists whose talent is matched only by their dysfunctionality. When they're not bitching about each other's work, they're bickering with one another—but as genius goes hand-in-hand with an artistic temperament, they never take their squabbles too seriously.