The Lectures

In each episode of this award-winning BBC Radio 4 series, comedian 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 7 and 8 are: Stockport, Colchester, Hebden Bridge, Kingston upon Thames, Lynton and Lynmouth, Gibraltar, Bedford, Matlock and Matlock Bath, Inverness, Portishead, Hull and Ventnor on the Isle of Wight.

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 3 & 4 are Berwick-upon-Tweed; Holyhead; Basingstoke; Douglas on the Isle of Man; Bungay; Wigan; Whitehaven; Tobermory; Corby; Handsworth; Ottery St. Mary and Chipping Norton. There's also a special episode recorded at the Edinburgh Festival.

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.

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 5 and 6 are Glastonbury, Derry/Londonderry, St. Davids, Southall, Birkenhead, Huddersfield, Melton Mowbray, Fleetwood, Shrewsbury, Barnard Castle and Saint Anne.

Andy Hamilton is a familiar and much-loved voice on Radio 4. With this collection he presents a collection of observations and reminiscences about both his personal life and his 40 years working in comedy. Andy looks at Childhood, Politics, The Human Body and Animals. Using comic observation and personal anecdotes he explores each theme, examining how much (or how little) things have changed in the 60-ish years he's been on this planet.

In his fascinating and hilarious BBC Radio 4 stand-up show, comedian and quizzer Paul Sinha shines a light on the important historical moments that you never got taught at school and explains why so much of what you did learn is wrong. There will also, as ever, be puns.

The Godfather of alternative comedy, Alexei Sayle, mixes memoir and philosophy from behind the counter of his imaginary sandwich bar, serving up wit, wisdom and illusory baguettes as he muses on a multitude of topics. In these 12 shows, he explores his impulse to pretend and his love of sandwiches, discusses his childhood in a communist household and his physical attraction to Boris Johnson, explains why he will never go on Strictly Come Dancing and draws a striking comparison between capitalism and all-you-can-eat buffets. 

In the first series, Armando Iannucci and his guests pull apart the news with a heady mix of topical comedy, messed-about archive, chat and outrageous fibs, recorded in front of a live studio audience. Across the complete six episodes, they start a new religion and update some Cockney rhyming slang, and as the strike by BBC workers starts to bite and the army steps in, we hear a debate on breastfeeding from 'Woman's Hour' hosted by Gunner-Sergeant Harry Donaldson of the 5th Norfolk Fusiliers.

Eight more episodes featuring a panel of comedy guests who trawl through news stories big and small to provide comedy, commentary, irony and irreverence. Guests include; Hugo Rifkind, Zoe Lyons, Andy Hamilton, Lucy Porter, Susan Calman and Desiree Burch. Each week, the panellists discuss the week's top stories including Vladimir Putin's suggestion to log off from the World Wide Web, Theresa May's return to Brussels to discuss the backstop, and the Polar Vortex.

Dead Ringers is back with more topical comedy, political vituperation, media mauling and celebrity savaging from Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Debra Stephenson, Duncan Wisbey and Josh Berry. In the six shows from series 18, ‘Brexit Bulldog’ David Davis decides to go back in time to 1973 and prevent Britain from joining the EEC in the first place, Joan Bakewell explains Love Island to Radio 4 listeners and we hear the team’s unique take on the summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump.

Jeremy Hardy returns with a brand-new series that not only seconds that emotion but explains it, too. Yes, BBC Radio 4's most passionate polemicist returns to the airwaves with a new format which promises to be both personal and profound, and to present sides of Jeremy you won't have heard before. He may even sing. (He won't sing.)

Writer, broadcaster and recovering comedian Natalie Haynes mixes comedy and conversation to bring the ancient world entertainingly up to date in these four radio series. Each episode sees her profiling a key figure from ancient Greece and Rome, and, aided by her special guests, creating a stand-up show around them. 

Marcus Brigstocke persuades his reluctant guests to try new experiences: things that they've perhaps always meant to try but haven't had the time, the courage or possibly the inclination. Enjoy hearing some famous names embrace new challenges, such as Phill Jupitus drinking absinthe, Mark Steel constructing flat-pack furniture, Esther Rantzen finally joining Facebook, Kelly Holmes trying her first deep-fried Mars bar, Giles Coren having a go at being vegan, and Frank Skinner getting a spray tan.

Just when you thought that it was safe to start showing off again, John Lloyd and John Mitchinson are back with another busload of mistakes and misunderstandings. Here is a new collection of simple, perfectly obvious questions you'll be quite certain you know the answers to. Whether it's history, science, sports, geography, literature, language, medicine, the classics, or common wisdom, you'll be astonished to discover that everything you thought you knew is still hopelessly wrong. 

The complete Series One of Andy Hamilton's award-winning BBC Radio 4 comedy set in Hell. It's not easy being Satan. Thrown out of heaven, he is condemned for eternity to listen to Edith Piaf and Elvis Presley. Still, there are new arrivals to welcome: the Professor (James Grout), whose unerring optimism is a nasty blow and Thomas (Jimmy Mulville), one of the vilest people around. Andy Hamilton stars as Satan in the comedy that's satirical, philosophical, inventive, topical - and timeless.