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 Radio 4 Autumn season
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Autumn highlights and the new Spring schedule on 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4
Comedy programmes
October
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Wednesday 5 October
Miles Jupp's Real World 1/4
11.00 to 11.15pm
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Miles presents his own radio show in which he discusses, analyses and pontificates upon an aspect of the "modern world" (ie post-Chaucer), daring to engage with and try to understand it, however vulgar it may seem.
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So religion, politics, arts and shopping - one per show - are each given the Miles Jupp treatment.
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Miles is a fish out of water, albeit an aristocratic fish out of a private lake. The character is warm and bumbling and continually confused as to the way the rest of the world operates.
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His own social inadequacies are as often the butt of his jokes as the "proles" he looks down on.
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The show is jointly written by Miles Jupp, Frankie Boyle and Nick Findlay Coulson, who all met on the stand-up circuit in Edinburgh.
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Frankie Boyle, rising star of TV, including a regular slot in Mock The Week and FAQ U, also appears in each show.
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Miles Jupp is a rising star. At 25 he has several times had to interrupt his MA in Theology at Edinburgh to make way for comedy and acting jobs.
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This year he finally collected his degree and is already famous in children's circles for his character Archie in the C91Èȱ¬ show, Balamory.
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Miles Jupp's fantastic ultra-gentrified character is an excellent comic creation. His material is top drawer, sharp, pukka, and definitely not for CBeebies.
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Miles was nominated for Perrier Best Newcomer at Edinburgh 2003.
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Producer: Jane Berthoud
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Thursday 20 October
Deep Trouble 1/4
11.00 to 11.30pm
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February 2012. Somewhere in the North Atlantic.
In an increasingly uncertain defence environment, a deadly new arms race has begun. In an attempt to secure her boundaries, Britain has deployed the very latest sub-sea military technology.
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Beneath and beyond the front line, these are the adventures of the HMS Goliath.
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A 55,000 tonne M-Class nuclear stealth submarine, prowling 5,000 metres below the surface, manned by idiots.
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This multi-million pound floating gadget is commanded by an unstable but watery mix of hot-headed and limp-wristed officers - headed, due to a clerical error, by bumbling desk-jockey Captain Paul Wade, on a permanent quest for lunch; and underneath him, an equally disenchanted, uninformed and easily distracted crew.
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Each week the crew finds itself in a different part of the world, maybe on exercise, maybe helping a team of elite US Navy SEALS onto an enemy shoreline; or stopping to pick up a ditched astronaut who's been in space for far too long.
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Wherever they are, they don't know where they are, but they're probably not far from trouble.
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Captain Paul Wade is played by Jim Field Smith; Commander Alison Fairbanks by Katherine Jakeways; Lieutenant-Commander Jack Trainor by Ben Willbond; and Petty Officer Lucy Radcliffe by Miranda Raison.
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The series is written by Ben Willbond and Jim Field Smith, both of whom have a long list of credits in comedy on stage, film and TV.
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Producer: David Tyler
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Wednesday 26 October
The Problem With Adam Bloom 1/6
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Top stand-up Adam Bloom returns with six half-hour programmes, aided and abetted by special guests Alistair McGowan, Hattie Hayridge, Brendon Burns, Rob Rouse, Alfie Joey and Stefano Paolini.
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Adam Bloom aims to put the world to rights and this time round he's got a whole half hour. He'll be tackling technology, taking up reading, getting to grips with God and talking about his parents.
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It's not so much a radio series, as a one-man self-help group.
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Producer: Adam Bromley
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Thursday 27 October
Genius 1/5
6.30 to 7.00pm
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Genius is the radio comedy series which sees Dave Gorman and a celebrity guest chew over the ridiculous, unworkable but sometimes genius inventions, schemes and policies of the public.
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Each pitcher, taken from a well-researched audience, gets their chance to join Dave and his guest and explain their original idea.
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Tapping into the great British sense of inventiveness, Genius invites its pitchers to be completely unlimited in the type of ideas they bring.
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Ideas that have been pitched in the past include: the shower coat (a coat you wear in the shower, so you can keep your clothes on); laughing gas rather than tear gas being used at protests; the House of Commons being run by the rules of Just A Minute; summer clothing for Goths; and a mobile phone breathalyser that stops you making calls when you're drunk.
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Dave and his guest ask the pitcher questions and discuss the idea at their leisure, for as long as they see fit.
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After listening to as many pitches as time permits (normally between five and six ideas per show), Dave's celebrity guest chooses his or her two favourite ideas, leaving the audience to vote on which of the two they think is the most inspired.
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The pitcher with the most votes wins an immense sense of self-fulfilment and the 'legendary' cut-glass Genius trophy.
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The series was recorded at The Almeida Theatre, Islington and special guests for the series include Richard Madeley, John Fortune, Paul Daniels and Stewart Lee.
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Dave Gorman is a Perrier-nominated comic and award-winning writer. His book Googlewhack climbed to Number One in the Sunday Times non-fiction best-selling list.
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Ali Crockatt and David Scott devised the show.
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Producer: Simon Nicholls
Ìý Thursday 27 October
Mastering The Universe 1/6
11.00 to 11.15pm
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Dawn French stars as Professor Joy Klamp in Mastering The Universe, a new comedy series.
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With Professor Joy Klamp as the guide, Radio 4 takes its listeners on a journey into the heart of sulkiness.
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Joy puts people in touch with their inner spoilsport and releasing that right miseryguts who'd rather be seen dead than having a good time.
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Using fake archive material, workshops, role-plays and the very latest interactive sulking technology, Joy shows the way to tackle knotty problems like how to ruin parties and visits to the cinema, how to spoil a holiday and how to make the most of that migraine.
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By the end of the series listeners will have discovered how Christmas, birthdays, weddings or just an evening in front of the telly can be turned into a complete nightmare for all concerned - apart from themselves of course!
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Joining Dawn French on a regular basis are Christopher Douglas, Sally Grace, Lucy Montgomery and Dan Tetsell.
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The writers are Christopher Douglas (of Ed Reardon and Dave Podmore fame) and Nick Newman, perhaps best known as one of Britain's leading cartoonists and co-writer (with Ian Hislop) of My Dad's The Prime Minister.
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Producer: Simon Nicholls
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November
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Friday 4 November
Clare In The Community 1/6
11.30am to noon
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Sally Phillips stars as Clare, the social worker who sorts out everyone's lives but her own.
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In this, the second series, Megan has qualified as a social worker, and is now working at The Family Centre as a full-time member of staff. This elevated status doesn't stop Clare from patronising her.
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Clare's new student Ben is a sensitive boy who's forever on the verge of tears. He is always calling in sick with medically astounding symptoms, or making up increasingly implausible excuses not to come in.
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Irene is alone with her husband for the first time in 18 years after their son has left home, and faced with the prospect of actually talking to him, Irene channels her energies into socialising with the office team.
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Brian is desktop publishing his own literary magazine, which he hopes will deliver a broadside to the complacent literary establishment.
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Clare is still Clare.
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Clare In The Community is derived from the Guardian strip cartoon of the same name. It and the series are the product of Harry Venning and Dave Ramsden.
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Producer: Katie Tyrrell
Ìý December
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Wednesday 21 December
Ed Reardon's Week 1/6
11.30am to noon
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Welcome back to the world of Ed Reardon, writer and liver of life at the cutting edge - above the Cutting Edge, to be accurate, in a one-bedroom flat over a hairdresser's in Berkhamsted, where Ed has lived on his own since his wife and grown-up kids left him, forcing the sale of their London home.
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Ed's first (and to date last) published novel Who Would Fardels Bear? was bought by Hollywood, relocated from Oldham to San Francisco, and turned into a Sally Field movie (Sister Mom) in the mid-Seventies.
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It was directed by Ed's best mate Jaz Milvane, whose career has since gone stratospheric.
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Ed's own career broke up on re-entry - with the exception of an episode of Tenko in 1982, the royalties of which now amount to about £17 a year, but are anxiously awaited nonetheless.
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Ed, however, remains bullishly optimistic, as this new series reveals. He may have only one pair of trousers and a seven-figure Amazon sales ranking, but no writer knows more about stealing his agent's stationery and, as a freeloader, Ed Reardon is the acknowledged leader of his profession.
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With his diary establishing dramatised scenes, each episode tracks Ed's flawed attempts to escape poverty and gain the literary success he strongly feels is due.
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Regular characters joining Ed on this journey include his 'twelve-year-old' agent Ping, the lively pensioners he teaches a screenwriting class to, and the now irritatingly rich and successful Jaz Milvane.
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Christopher Douglas, who co-writes the scripts with Andrew Nickolds, plays Ed.
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Producer: Simon Nicholls
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Friday 23 December
Count Arthur Strong's Radio Show 1/5
11.30am to noon
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Count Arthur Strong, the raconteur, lecturer and all-round showbiz legend, begins his first series for Radio 4.
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Through his long career, spanning five decades, the Count has entertained and informed audiences from the highest to the faintly deplorable.
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He is the sole proprietor of Doncaster's Academy Of Performance.
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Each week the count is joined by his regular sidekick, Wilfred Taylor, Master Butcher, in whose shop he regularly takes refuge from the complexities of his world.
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His forgetfulness and slight deafness result in sporadic and unnecessary shouting reminiscent of an elder relation, to whom everyone can relate.
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The Count acknowledges his great debt to the writer and performer, Steve Delaney.
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Producer: Richard Daws, Komedia
January 2006
Thursday 26 January
The Arts And How They Was Done 1/6
6.30 to 7.00pm
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Radio 4 proudly announces a new series written and performed by the National Theatre of Brent, Patrick Barlow and John Ramm, whose previous outings on Radio 4 have netted them two Sony Golds and the Prix Italia.
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In this six-part series, Artistic Director Desmond Olivier Dingle (Barlow) and his assistant Raymond Box (Ramm) will be exploring the following Arts (and How They Was Done, obviously...): the Taj Mahal, Wuthering Heights, Swan Lake, Gone With The Wind, The Sistine Chapel and Cats.
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Producer: Liz Anstee, Celador
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March 2006
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Thursday 9 March
Ross Noble Goes Local 1/6
6.30 to 7.00pm
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A six-part series of live stand-up performances in which, with his wanderlust temporarily appeased, the intrepid traveller Ross Noble brings his insatiable curiosity, enviable improvisational skills, and ability to make absolutely anything funny, back home to the British Isles.
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Producer: Stunt Baby and 91Èȱ¬ Entertainment
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April 2006
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Wednesday 5 April
Nebulous 1/6
11.00 to 11.30pm
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Mark Gatiss (League Of Gentlemen) stars in Nebulous, a sci-fi comedy, which is returning for a second series.
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Set in a post-apocalyptic future, Nebulous is the story of a special government environmental investigative agency and dry cleaning service.
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Professor Nebulous (Mark Gatiss) is the director of KENT - the Key Environmental Nonjudgemental Taskforce.
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In a post-apocalyptic England, things will never be the same again.
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Cattle-clasm has wiped out the majority of our livestock, the year has been restructured to include new months such as Octember and Janril, and there's even a new season: Hamble, which falls between Spring and Summer and is generally drizzly.
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It is written by Graham Duff.
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Producer: Baby Cow
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