Episode 1

Synopsis

The sketch show about modern communication kicks off a fourth series. Described as "brilliant" and "first-rate" by the Telegraph, it takes aim at such idiocies of modern life as TV talent show formats, disclaimers at the end of emails, and using good reviews of a previous series as a way of enticing listeners.

Recorded in front of a studio audience, the show features a cast whose credits spread from Radio 4 afternoon plays, via award-winning fringe theatre, to Star Wars: Rachel Atkins, Dominic Coleman, Lewis Macleod, Julie Mayhew, Ingrid Oliver and Ben Willbond.

The show had an open-door policy, meaning that anyone could send the show sketches. Some 1500 were sent in this way, with every single one being read by a script-editor or producer - with the funniest stuff getting recorded and broadcast. In addition, a small number of the new writers who got material broadcast this way in series three were given one-to-one script-editing notes and feedback from the production team as part of BBC Radio Comedy's commitment to discovering and developing new writing talent.

The scripts were edited by award-winning writers James Cary, Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris. James' writing will be familiar to Radio 4 audiences from the his sketch show Concrete Cow to his sitcoms Think The Unthinkable and Hut 33. He also co-writes, with Milton Jones, Another Case of Milton Jones. Jason and Joel have written sketches for Mitchell & Webb on both TV and Radio, The Armstrong & Miller Show, The Peter Serafinowicz Show, and are the best-selling authors of Bollocks to Alton Towers: Uncommonly British Days Out.