RaDIO/Podcasts

I’ve been making radio programmes and podcasts for over ten years, often as a producer and editor, and increasingly as writer and presenter/performer. Here’s a selected audiography. (Is that a word? It is now.)

THE ULTIMATE CHOICE

A devious and dastardly game of Would You Rather, suped up like never before, The Ultimate Choice is a new comedy entertainment panel show for BBC Radio 4, hosted by the brilliant Steph McGovern. Series 1 is currently airing in the primetime weekday 6.30pm slot, and series 2 is in pre-production. Guests to appear on the show so far include Ria Lina, Russell Kane, Zoe Lyons, Chris McCausland, Dane Baptiste, Josie Long, Dave Johns, Pippa Evans, Amy Gledhill, Kiri Pritchard-McLean and many more. It’s co-created by me and Joseph Morpurgo.

RADIO 5 LIVE PANELLIST

I’m a regular guest on BBC Radio 5 Live, appearing as a panellist on programmes including The Laura Whitmore Show and Will Gompertz’s Heat Map, to talk comedically about the week’s news and create authored packages.

ROB NEWMAN

I have produced five series of comedy legend Rob Newman’s acclaimed shows for BBC Radio 4. In the process we’ve won two BBC Audio Awards: Best Scripted Comedy (Longform) for 2019’s Total Eclipse of Descartes and Best Scripted Comedy with Live Audience for 2017’s The Entirely Accurate Encyclopaedia of Evolution. His most recent series, Rob Newman On Air, is available to listen to on BBC Sounds here. Our other series together are: Neuropolis and Rob Newman’s Half-Full Philosophy Hour. Co-stars in the show have been Claire Price, Richard McCabe and Dame Jenni Murray.

The world of Simon Rich

Simon Rich is one of the funniest writers in America, with credits including The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live and The New Yorker, and the upcoming movie Wonka. I’ve collaborated with Simon on three seasons of comedy shows, creating audio adaptations of his fantastic short stories with a top-drawer cast of British talent. Performers to take part include Peter Serafinowicz, Tim Key, Robert Webb, Cariad Lloyd, Jamie Demetriou, Freya Parker, Lewis Macleod, Adjani Salmon, Ed Eales-White, Claire Price and Joseph Morpurgo.

Could an ancient athenian fix britain?

My debut factual series for BBC Radio 4 as writer/presenter was broadcast in January 2020 and is now available online. It’s an exploration of modern politics through an ancient lens, and features interviews with some fantastic guests including the playwright James Graham, Stephen Doughty MP, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, Professor Sir John Curtice, Professor Paul Cartledge, Astra Taylor, Roslyn Fuller and the Swiss Ambassador to the UK Alexandre Fasel.

I’m currently developing the format for TV and am writing a book on it, with interest from a number of publishers.

WHAT ON EARTH? WITH COUNT BINFACE

In November 2021, to celebrate the astonishing intergalactic achievement of coming 9th in the London Mayoral Election (in the process beating Piers Corbyn and UKIP), the omniverse’s favourite politician Count Binface secured a special programme, simulcast on Sigma IX and BBC Radio 4. It featured exclusive interviews by his excellency with the likes of Martin Bell, Heidi Allen and Guinness World Records, plus a very special appearance by a computer that sounds suspiciously like legendary BBC commentator Barry Davies. It’s a triumph, says the Count, and the inevitable follow-up podcast will go to the highest bidder.

austentatious

I’ve produced three special editions of the smash hit Jane Austen-themed improv show Austentatious for BBC Radio 4, bringing the UK’s finest improv troupe to broadcast for the first time. The ensemble includes Cariad Lloyd, Joseph Morpurgo, Andrew Hunter Murray, Rachel Parris, Amy Cooke-Hogdson, Charlotte Gittins, Daniel Nils Roberts and Graham Dickson, with violin by Oliver Izod. In a neat device, we recorded two episodes each live night, with a view to choosing the best one for transmission. But the stories were all so good that we were able to offer an extra bonus edition to the BBC, Undead and Unwed, as a seasonal ghost story, which on BBC Sounds has become the most successful of the lot!

Lobby Land

I created, produced and wrote this topical sitcom for BBC Radio 4, based in the dirty world of Westminster lobby journalism and following the trials and tribulations of up and coming hack Sam Peakes. After a pilot in 2017, a full series was broadcast in 2018 and was so successful that for 2019 a second series was comissioned for the primetime Friday 6.30pm slot, the first time that narrative comedy had filled this prestigious place in the schedule. The show made full use of the fast turnaround of radio and, inspired by the likes of Drop The Dead Donkey, dropped in super-topical jokes to make the programme feel extra fresh. Across 10 episodes the cast included Ophelia Lovibond, Gemma Whelan, Yasmine Akram, Charlie Higson, Cariad Lloyd, Lewis Macleod, Dan Tetsell, Ryan Sampson, Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Claire Price and Abigail Burdess.

DAVE PODMORE

For over 10 years I’ve produced the continuing misadventures of England’s sleaziest cricketer Dave Podmore, as he concocts unlikely schemes to make the most out of commercialisation, earn a few bob and ideally give the Aussie backside a good spanking in the process. Yeah, no, very much so. Pod is eternally watched over by loyal lapdog DJ Andy Hamer, of Radio One County. The show is written by Chris Douglas, Andrew Nickolds and Nick Newman, with Chris and Andrew starring as Pod and Andy. The cast is completed by the brilliant Nicola Sanderson and Lewis Macleod, with exec producing from Richard Wilson and editing by John Whitehall. Sadly in recent years we have lost both John and Andrew, but they are always in our thoughts, not least for creating such a wonderful set of very funny programmes.

SUDDEN DEATH

My first ever stand-up comedy special aired in July 2022 on BBC Radio 4. It’s an abridged take on my book A Fan For All Seasons, translated into a solo comedy show. It takes listeners from how I inherited my brother Dan’s Crystal Palace season ticket (arguably a fate worse than death) and then wet on a mission to see as many different sporting events as I could in a single year in his memory. The show was picked as the BBC’s Comedy Podcast Of The Week and you can listen to it here on BBC Sounds. The book version is out now, published by Vintage.