Showing results by publisher "BBC Audio" in Film & TV

Clever, funny and poignant, Alan Bennett’s masterful plays are rightly regarded as modern classics. Kafka’s Dick is Bennett’s brilliantly clever comedy drama that examines the relationship between life and art, and asks what was Kafka’s embarrassing little problem... Alison Steadman...

This witty and unexpected show brings you toponyms, abbreviations, euphemisms, old words, new words, cockney rhyming slang and Greek gobbledegook. Find out the meaning of words like giff-gaff, knock-knobbler and buckfitches; the difference between French marbles, French velvet and the French ache; hear the glorious poetry of the English language, as practiced from writers varying from William Shakespeare to Vanilla Ice; and spend time laughing and learning with some of the finest Wordaholics in the business.

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.

What do you get if you put a comedian, a scientist and an internet expert in a room together? The answer is Great Unanswered Questions, a panel game in which resident funnyman Colin Murphy teams up with brainiac Dr David Booth and computer geek Matthew Collins to tackle ludicrous questions and provide the correct (or at least the funniest) answers.

For over 40 years The News Quiz has graced the Radio 4 airwaves with an irreverent sideways look at the headlines. Having first appeared in 1977, it boasts a tantalising archive of episodes to remind us of the news from yesteryear, refracted through the satirical gaze of regular panellists including Alan Coren, Andy Hamilton, Mark Steel, Francis Wheen and Jeremy Hardy. Among the many guest panellists featured here are Boris Johnson, Nigella Lawson, Jo Brand, Eddie Mair, John Sergeant, Linda Smith and Roy Hattersley.

Released from prison early, chirpy Cockney conman Terry King is given a chance to find his feet again. His challenge is to breathe new life into a run-down community centre - with the support of Sandra Gaines, a social worker with a warm heart but an unhappy past. If he succeeds, he'll prove that rehabilitation is possible. But if he fails, he'll be sent back to jail.... Situated in the middle of a rough council estate, Grove Hill Farm needs a lot of work. The windows are broken, the plumbing's out of action and part of the centre was burned down during a riot.

This compilation brings together wonderful highlights of Kenneth Williams’ career. For more than 30 years, Kenneth Williams kept the nation in stitches with his outrageous gallery of comic creations and an effortlessly brilliant barrage of repartee and innuendo on radio and television. In...

1994 saw one of Peter Cook's most acclaimed performances since his 1960s' heyday. Chris Morris' surreal and inventive questions brought out the very best of eccentric aristocrat Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling - a character whom Cook had carried with him through 'Beyond the Fringe' and 'Not Only...

In these 20 episodes, presenters Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis are accompanied by a wealth of special guests including Phil Wang, Rose Matafeo, Beardyman, Ahir Shah, Sindhu Vee, Ken Cheng, Nicola and Rosie Dempsey (as Flo and Joan), Suzi Ruffell, Emma Sidi, Pierre Novellie and Lucy Porter (who also takes a turn as guest host). As ever, they give us their searing hot satirical take on subjects ranging from Trump, Brexit and the 2019 General Election to NASA spacewalks, social media and the Spice Girls reunion.

Nothing escaped the eye of the satirical eye of Britain's phenomenally successful all-Asian sketch show that was Goodness Gracious Me. The complete BBC Radio series 1-3 fore-ran the award-winning BBC TV series that ran in the late 1990s, and features the same cast. Prepare for your heart to pound in the Indian recreation of Brief Encounter, sing along to the profound words of wisdom with Fifty Ways to Leave your Mother, and enjoy pop classics such as Hindi People and Punjabi Girl.

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.

Move over Grumpy Old Men - it's time for the Grumpy Old Women to have their say in this hilarious guide, read by the narrator of the BBC TV series Alison Steadman. OK, enough is enough. Grumpy Old Men have had their turn at complaining and now the Grumpy Old Women are taking over. It's about...

Against his better judgement, Andrew Patterson accepts a job as a lecturer in English literature at a remote Northern redbrick university. His departmental colleagues are an eccentric bunch: doddery Head of English Professor Misty, who looks like he went to school with Little Dorrit; Amy Spade, who's suffering from an identity crisis and given to sending anonymous letters, and man-eating Melissa Murgatroyd, the honeypot of the Senior Common Room. Fortunately, Patterson has old friend and fellow lecturer Victor to show him the ropes - but even so, his first day does not go well.

A BBC Radio 4 drama by Hugh Costello, about some gripping events at the Vatican. After the short reign and mysterious death of Pope John Paul I, the election of a new Pope takes place in an atmosphere of high tension between opposing factions. Including those who want to elect the first...

David Dickinson is a household name, the king of the catchphrase, undisputed darling of daytime TV and a rising star. He's a respected antiques expert and exudes a taste for the finer things in life. But the road to his success has not been as smooth as his patter and he's learnt a lot at the...

A BBC Radio 4 dramatic adaptation of Keats' sensual narrative poem ‘Lamia’, about the ill-starred love affair of the serpent Lamia, and the innocent mortal Lycius. Featuring original music by John Harle, and singer Sarah Leonard. With Paterson Joseph as the Narrator, Charlotte Emmerson as...

A special compilation of highlights from cuddly Ken’s television and radio shows. Kenny Everett was one of radio’s great innovators, the funniest DJ of our time and a one-off whose madcap comedy burst the boundaries of broadcasting. Introduced and presented by Barry Cryer, this recording...

It's the 1970s, and you're invited behind the scenes of Doctor Who. You'll go on location to witness the recording of two classic TV adventures (The Sea Devils and Robot) and spend time inside a vintage BBC television studio. You'll also learn how to write a script or make a monster, 1970s-style! Authors Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke will guide you through the first ten years of Doctor Who history, detailing how it was created, the people who brought it into being, and the actors who portrayed the Doctor, his friends and their monstrous enemies.

These adaptations of four 1974 episodes of the BBC1 comedy series The Liver Birds feature two incompatible Liverpudlian girls, Beryl and Sandra. What they have in common are a tiny flat, boyfriend problems, and a passion for the latest fashion. In the title episode, it's Beryl's birthday, and...

Welcome to the strange world of Armstrong and Miller, which includes some comedy sketches with tough-guy cops in 'Parsons and Lampkin' (and Lampkin’s mate Steve), and there’s an insider’s view of National Trousers Day – ‘because involvement should be as easy as a walk to the...