Humour

When he worked in the Met, Mike Pannett was used to dealing with riots, drug gangs and even staring at the wrong end of a sawn-off shotgun. Now, as a bobby in rural North Yorkshire he finds himself chasing bullocks and solving country crimes. Here he amusingly describes his first year on his new patch.

Oozing with satire and sass, these fun-size yet deliciously satisfying musical comedies do for your ears what chocolate does for your taste buds.

Based on the lives and careers of well-known public figures, each one takes a politician or VIP who has hit the headlines, and gives them a West End make-over. Their fabricated stories are told in an original, never-heard-before, musical that will have your toes tapping to the rhythm and shoulders shaking to the laughs. All the conventions of a musical are followed (huge production numbers, tender ballads and emotional reprises) - but artistic licence is well and truly taken as celebrities such as David Cameron, Simon Cowell and Morrissey are hilariously lampooned in song

28 Acts in 28 Minutes is a traditional variety show with a difference: the performers have just 60 seconds in which to entertain a live audience. Making the most of their minutes are a plethora of top-class talents, including Adam Buxton, Jason Manford, Nicholas Parsons, Sarah Millican, Richard Herring, Miles Jupp, Frankie Boyle, Isy Suttie, Tim Key, John Bishop, Tim Minchin, Jason Byrne, Stephen K Amos, Shappi Khorsandi, Stewart Lee, Marcus Brigstocke, Phil Cornwell and John Finnemore.

Featuring a mix of award-winning comedians and newcomers to the scene, there's something for everyone, from stand-up to sketches, satire, songs and poems - with a few surprises thrown in. And if you don't like any of the acts, well... another will be along in about 55 seconds. 

Stand-up fans rejoice - this cracking collection contains a whole seven series of top-drawer comedy, recorded live at London and Manchester's legendary Comedy Store and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Enjoy over eleven hours of laughs from some of the biggest and best stand-ups on the circuit, hosted by three fantastically funny comperes: Simon Bligh, Ross Noble and Adam Hills.

Included here is an A-Z of top-drawer comic talent, from Dan Antopolski to Andy Zaltzman, by way of Richard Ayoade, John Bishop, Alan Carr, Omid Djalili, Noel Fielding, Rhod Gilbert, Reginald D Hunter, Shaparak Khorsandi, Sean Lock, Lee Mack, Dara O Briain, Lucy Porter, Gina Yashere and a host of other peerless performers.

It's all the fun of a comedy club, without the need to leave your armchair - just sit back and laugh along as these classic comic talents work their inimitable magic on stage.

Over the course of a year award-winning comedian Rachel Parris asked members of her live audience for advice. Here she takes those random bits of wisdom - such as 'Be Kind' or 'Never Pass Up the Opportunity for a Wee' - and explores them in ways that are funny and serious, hilarious and heart-breaking. This uplifting feminist manifesto of a book outlines the essentials of living in the modern world; dealing with everything from Tampons to Tories and from #hashtags to Staying Hydrated. 

Africa Is Not A Country is a kaleidoscopic portrait of modern Africa, that pushes back against harmful stereotypes to tell a more comprehensive story.

You already know these stereotypes. So often Africa is depicted simplistically as an arid red landscape of famines and safaris, uniquely plagued by poverty and strife. In this funny and insightful book, Dipo Faloyin offers a much-needed corrective, creating a fresh and multifaceted view of this vast continent.

To unspool this inaccurate narrative, Africa Is Not A Country looks to a wide range of subjects, from chronicling urban life in Lagos and the lively West African rivalry over who makes the best Jollof rice, to the story of democracy in seven dictatorships and the dangers of white saviourism and harmful stereotypes in popular culture.

It examines how each African country was formed, by white European explorers who turned up with loose maps and even looser morals, and how 90% of Africa's material cultural legacy was stolen during the colonial era, and the fight to get those artefacts back.

By turns intimate and political, Africa Is Not A Country brings the story of the continent towards reality, celebrating the energy and fabric of its different cultures and communities in a way that has never been done before.

Josie Long presents four entertaining and educational comedic essays, aided by Maeve Higgins and special guests. Award-winning comedian Josie Long has performed nine hit stand-up shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, subsequently touring them around the UK and internationally. This BBC Radio series was adapted from her hit 2009 stage show, and finds her attempting to unravel the mysteries of the universe through ad hoc research. Using the knowledge she's gleaned, she gives us the lowdown on her selected subject - with the help of her special guests, who join in with questions, illustrations and interruptions.

In Astronomy for Dummies, Josie uses the textbook of the same name to try and get to grips with the complexities of the solar system. As she flicks through its pages, she learns how to identify constellations, joins the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence - and finds her cosmic twin... The Enlightenment sees her pondering the history of collecting things. From her childhood frog collection to the Pitts Rivers Museum, she considers why we love acquiring, categorising and displaying objects - and how doing so makes us better people... In Obscure Animal Facts, Josie attempts to level up, and become unbeatable at Trivial Pursuit. Sharing her favourite facts about the animal kingdom, she recalls her animal-activist past, interrogates her father over his quiz-buff history and reflects on the deep joy of being dorky. And in Propriety, Plants, Grandparents and Growing Your Own, she finds out how being outside connects us to nature, muses on apple names and adventure botanists, and discovers how her granny's gardening book holds the key to al fresco happiness.

The gentle and sharply-observed diary of the young James Lees-Milne who, invalided out of the Army before the end of the Second World War, joins the tiny staff of the National Trust, visiting stately homes to discover whether they are suitable for acquisition by the Trust.

First broadcast in 1990 and 1991, here are all 14 episodes of the cult comedy sketch show written and performed by Tim Firth, Tim de Jongh, Michael Rutger and William Vandyck. Join the team as they whisk the audience away on a series of adventures, including a day trip to Margate, Territorial Army manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain, an excursion to Nevada for NASA astronaut training, a Euro link-up in France and a luxury tour of London. Along the way, they entertain us with a plethora of precision comedy sketches, interspersed with songs, jokes and banter. You'll get drawn in to the architects' improvisation game, Whose Pencil Line Is It Anyway?, discover an unusual way of plotting a novel, step inside the mind of a Shakespearean actor, and listen to some rather surprising Books at Bedtime... There's also a phone-in for people having problems with their phones, a car valeting service with a twist, and a James Bond theme as written by Richard Stilgoe - plus Cockney rhyming slang for dyslexics, the news for suspicious people, Crufts for ordinary dogs and scores of other comic skits. And in two fantastic festive specials, it's party time as the quirky quartet serve up some far from traditional Christmas fare - including dried fish, advocaat and an exploding rabbit...

Set in the Cornish cultural mecca of St Ives, Artists centres around a close-knit community of artists whose talent is matched only by their dysfunctionality. When they're not bitching about each other's work, they're bickering with one another - but as genius goes hand-in-hand with an artistic temperament, they never take their squabbles too seriously.

Sharing a studio with landscape painter Tamsin are sculptor Dolores, who pushes the boundaries of papier mache; her bank manager partner, Nisha; and laissez-faire installationist Josef, Tamsin's lodger and sort-of boyfriend. Along with pub landlord Marcus, who provides inspiration in alcoholic form, and Tamsin's avuncular agent Gerard, they spend their time searching for their muse, suffering for their art - and making a thorough exhibition of themselves.

In these 10 episodes, Tamsin competes with Josef to create a self-portrait, Marcus goes away for a weekend to save his marriage, Nisha proposes to Dolores - hypothetically, and Gerard takes a cross-Channel booze cruise that almost ends in tragedy...

Written by award-winning radio producer Gareth Edwards, whose credits include That Mitchell and Webb Look and Bleak Expectations, this slow-burning, character-driven comedy features a stellar cast including Vicki Pepperdine, Pauline McLynn, Mina Anwar, Ben Miller, Dave Lamb and Graham Crowden, with guest appearances from Miranda Hart and Bertie Carvel.

Byron Rogers is a journalist who has travelled around Britain searching for the more eccentric happenings in the country. This collection brings together his quirkiest articles; from the octogenarian tri-athlete to the 'Ghost train' of Stalybridge.

David Mitchell, who you may know from Peep Show or his opinionated column in The Observer or as one half of That Mitchell and Webb Look, has written a book about his life including meditations on: the pain of being denied a childhood birthday party at McDonalds, why it would be worse to bump into Michael Palin than Hitler on holiday and that he’s not David Mitchell the novelist, despite what David Miliband might think.

Driven by his own passion for collecting Hunter Davies sets off in search of Britain's maddest museums. As he explores these hidden gems he soon discovers that they celebrate just about everything, from lawnmowers in Southport to pencils in Keswick. These eccentric collectors are Britain's finest and could live in no other country in the world.

Adam Hills is one the UK's best loved comedians. For 30 years he has been performing stand-up, hosting TV shows and winning the hearts of a nation. Taking us from the early days of the Sydney Stand Up scene to hosting his own radio show, touring the world and eventually landing on British TV, Best Foot Forward is a story of a life in comedy. Along the way Adam shares some childhood tales and a few backstage blunders and encounters some fairly famous faces - the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, Billy Connolly, and that guy who sang The Macarena. Yes, him. This is an utterly hilarious and honest collection of stories about Adam's ups and downs in the world of comedy. It's a lesson in following your heart, being positive and discovering that what makes you different also makes you unique.

In this classic TV soundtrack, Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie explore a seemingly inexhaustible list of subjects with a delicious turn of phrase and elaborate wordplay. The hilarity includes regular acts such as not so super spy Tony Mercheson and his boss Control, yuppies, John and Peter and the Critics. With four brilliant series of great satire, comic genius and hilarious use of language, the show cemented Fry & Laurie as a double act and paved the way for their future stardom.

Writer, actress and stand-up star Bridget Christie has won numerous awards, performed 12 hit Edinburgh Festival Fringe shows and written the critically-acclaimed comic memoir A Book for Her. She's also created three hilarious and thought-provoking radio series, all of which are included here. 

In Bridget Christie Minds the Gap, she gives us her personal take on feminism, asking why it became a dirty word and whether women still need it. From a bookshop fart to the 'Bic for Her' and a fish called Michael, she recalls the key incidents which led her to an epiphany and a call to arms - with the help of token man Fred MacAulay. And in Series 2, she takes her activism to a new level as she deconstructs a yoghurt ad, tries to find an icon who doesn't replace the word 'feminism' with 'bootylicious', and reveals the consequences of wearing an 'End FGM' badge on a popular TV show...

Bridget Christie's Utopia sees her embarking on a comic quest for her Shangri-La. Worried about world events - melting polar ice-caps, Brexit, Donald Trump - she attempts to find a way of living that will calm her anxiety. In these four episodes, she explores political disengagement, spirituality, a new life in the country and being mega-rich: but will any of them make her happy? 

And in Bridget Christie: Mortal, recorded from her home during lockdown, she turns her attention to the metaphysical questions we all spend our life avoiding (while being interrupted by cats, chores, children and her own dead self from beyond the grave). Do twins share a soul, or do they get one each? How do you live in the moment? And who's blocked the toilet again? Covering 'Birth', 'Death', 'Life', and 'The Afterlife', this informal, personal series will appeal to anyone mortal.

In Britons Through Negro Spectacles Merriman-Labor takes us on a joyous, intoxicating tour of London at the turn of the 20th century. Slyly subverting the colonial gaze usually placed on Africa, he introduces us to the citizens, culture and customs of Britain with a mischievous glint in his eye. This incredible work of social commentary feels a century ahead of its time, and provides unique insights into the intersection between empire, race and community at this important moment in history.

The 2 Johnnies' massive success has taken them as far afield as Sydney, Compton and Abu Dhabi. But for them nothing compares to living in Ireland. And in C'Mere and I Tell Ya they dig into the tastes, habits and rites of passage that have made them who they are.

Whether it's... Dressing for the debs, succeeding in a band, doing a Strictly fundraiser for your GAA club, or recognizing the no-go moves at a stag... Johnny B (O'Brien) and Johnny Smacks (McMahon) capture it perfectly. And they have down-to-earth advice for every conceivable situation - and a few inconceivable ones.

Exploding pressure cookers, a thwarted wife's deadly revenge and transvestites in distress - manning an ambulance in the seventies kept you on your toes. It's quite a life for Les Pringle, and one that he and his shift mates tread with warmth and humour in equal measure.

When he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast, Sedaris envisions long, relaxing vacations spent playing board games and lounging in the sun with those he loves most. And life at the Sea Section, as he names the vacation home, is exactly as idyllic as he imagined, except for one tiny, vexing realization: it's impossible to take a vacation from yourself.

Continuing his witty accounts of life amongst the upper classes, this volume of the diaries opens with an account of Lees-Milne’s visit to Charlecote Park on behalf of the National Trust.

A woman troubled by pornographic dreams about Tom Jones. An 80-year-old man who can't remember why he's come to see the doctor. A woman with a common cold demanding (but not receiving) antibiotics. A witty insight into the life of a family doctor.

Tom Phillips (Humans; Truth) and Jonn Elledge (The Compendium of Not Quite Everything) team up to debunk the greatest conspiracy theories humans have ever espoused - to teach us how not to fall for them.

From the Satanic Panic to the anti-vaxx movement, it's always been human nature to believe we're being lied to by the powers that be (and sometimes, to be fair, we absolutely are).

But while it can be fun to indulge in a bit of Deep State banter on the family Whatsapp group, recent times have shown us that some of these theories have taken on a life of their own - and in our dogged quest for the truth, it appears we might actually be doing it some damage.

In Conspiracy, Tom Phillips and Jonn Elledge take us on a fascinating, insightful and often hilarious journey through conspiracy theories old and new, to try and answer an important question: how can we learn to log off the QAnon message boards, and start trusting hard evidence again?

Inquisitive investigators Dr Adam Rutherford and Dr Hannah Fry are back to crack open another batch of baffling cases sent in by the great British public.

Using the power of science, they find the surprising solutions to tricky questions such as 'Is anything really random'?, 'Why do we have hangovers?', 'Is hypnotism real?' and 'How do you make gold?' 

As broadcast on BBC Radio, these 29 episodes encompass classic cosmic conundrums - including whether there is intelligent alien life out there, if infinity exists, and how wormholes could allow us to time-travel - as well as probing more down-to-earth human quirks like our differing pain thresholds, our attraction to 'bad' foods like chips and chocolate, and our varied regional accents.

By turns poignant, comic and uplifting, this is a book of stories, all of them true, though sometimes perhaps a little bent out of shape in the telling. Sometimes things are more ordinary than you think. And sometimes they're a whole lot odder than you can possibly imagine.

Danny Wallace heard about a manhole cover, on a small street, in a small town, tucked away in a remote part of Idaho. The manhole cover had been declared the Centre of the Universe. And the name of the town? Wallace. It was a cosmic coincidence Danny couldn't resist... Quick Reads.

Seven more series of the popular BBC Radio 4 impressions show - plus a selection of unbroadcast material Since the turn of the millennium Dead Ringers has been giving us its skewed hilarious take on the famous and the infamous. The show has won a British Comedy Award a Sony Gold Award and a Press Guild Award for Radio Programme of the Year - and won a legion of fans with its merciless parodies mocking every programme institution and politician you hold dear.

Satire meets silliness in these seven series as the gravelly-voiced Doctor inquires about interstellar travel on the London Eye Scooby Doo and the gang enter the terrifying London Congestion Zone and Stephen Fry presents a BAFTA tribute to someone - but he's not entirely sure who... Elsewhere some familiar voices phone up the European Space Agency the team add a bit of festive cheer to Crimewatch and Embarrassing Bodies and Mel and Sue give their double entendres a good old squeeze in The Great British Innuendo. Also featured is a sparkling selection of unbroadcast material from the razor-sharp BBC Radio 4 comedy. NB: Contains humour and language that some listeners may find offensive.

The popular topical comedy show is back with another helping of political vituperation, media mauling and celebrity savaging. Series 20 sees the team faced with the challenge of finding the comedy in Covid, as they look back at the key moments since the pandemic began. There's a special maths lesson from Matt Hancock, a fight between Good Boris and Bad Boris about when lockdown should start, and Michael Portillo grapples with wearing a mask on Great British Railway Journeys.

Plus, Keir Starmer makes his Dead Ringers debut, a former Prime Minister performs in Alan Bennett's latest Talking Heads monologue, Joan Bakewell explains Kanye West, and Her Majesty the Queen tells us why she's helping out the FBI. We also hear a startling out-take from Normal People, meet a special guest at Downton Abbey - and finally find out what Michael Gove's real job is... Also included are three Brexity, Covidy, Trumpy, Bideny Christmas specials - so sit back and treat your ears to a bumper helping of superb satirical impressions from Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis MacLeod, Debra Stephenson and Duncan Wisbey.

The complete 21st series of the award-winning BBC Radio 4 impressions show - plus three Christmas specials

The award-winning topical satire show returns with an online audience to serve up more mimicry, mockery and mordant wit. Series 21 brings us exclusive footage from Boris and Carrie's secret wedding, the truth behind the historic summit between Presidents Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin and the real secret of Andy Murray's success.

We hear tips from Michael Moseley on how to stay healthy in post-pandemic Britain, Liz Truss shares the details of her latest whizzo trade deals and Sir Chris Whitty reveals what it's really been like working with Boris Johnson. And as the Euros kick off, a virulent case of optimism sweeps the England squad.

The world of TV takes an unexpected turn, as Keir Starmer shows the nation his Ramsay MacDonald in Naked Attraction, Ted calls the Line of Duty detectives back together to figure out a better end to the series and Sean Bean learns the harsh rules for surviving a Jimmy McGovern drama. Plus, we meet some surprising new contestants in Love Island...

To top it all off, there are also three fantastic festive specials, in which a host of politicians, media pundits and celebrities are given a Christmas roasting - with lashings of satirical gravy.

The complete 22nd series of the award-winning BBC Radio 4 impressions show - plus three Christmas specials. The popular topical comedy show is back with another helping of political vituperation media mauling and celebrity savaging. So sit back and treat your ears to a bumper helping of superb satirical impressions from Jon Culshaw Jan Ravens Lewis MacLeod Debra Stephenson and Duncan Wisbey.

Welcome to Jeremy's farm. It's an idyllic spot, offering picturesque views across the Cotswolds, bustling hedgerows, woodlands and natural springs. Jeremy always liked the idea being a farmer. But, while he was barrelling around the world having more fun with cars than was entirely reasonable, it seemed obvious that the actual, you know, farming was much better left to someone else

Then one day he decided he would do the farming himself.

After all, how hard could it be?

Well . . .

Faced with suffocating red tape, biblical weather, local objections, a global pandemic and his own frankly staggering ignorance of how to 'do farming', Jeremy soon realises that turning the farm around is going to take more than splashing out on a massive tractor.

Fortunately, there's help at hand from a large and (mostly) willing team, including girlfriend Lisa, Kaleb the Tractor Driver, Cheerful Charlie, Ellen the Shepherd and Gerald, his Head of Security and Dry Stone Waller. Between them they enthusiastically cultivate crops, rear livestock and hens, keep bees, bottle spring water and open a farm shop. But profits remain elusive.

And yet while the farm may be called Diddly Squat for good reason, Jeremy soon begins to understand that it's worth a whole lot more to him than pounds, shillings and pence . . .

Life hasn't always been straightforward for Daisy May Cooper: growing up in rural poverty in Gloucestershire with her brother, Chaz, she had to work a myriad of low-paid and unrewarding jobs just to make ends meet. Don't Laugh, It Will Only Encourage Her is the endearingly honest and hilarious memoir from the creator and star of award-winning BBC comedy This Country.

Author, curmudgeon and master of the complaining letter and the abusive email, Ed Reardon is back for a fourteenth fantastic series. In these globally unprecedented times, Ed is also experiencing new and unusual circumstances. For the first time in 20 years, he's financially independent thanks to the timely arrival of his state pension, and living in a stylish, newly affordable 'capsule urban living unit' (a former office space converted into a flat). He has the luxury of three (organic) meals a day, all the premier catfood Edgar can eat, and even a new car - as well as free time to devote himself to his own long-cherished projects. 

But old habits die hard, and Ed's soon distracted by an unexpected meeting with his ex, Maggie; a fight to save an ancient oak tree; a request to write Ping's granny's memoirs and an eye-wateringly expensive trip to the vet. On his uppers once more, Ed is unexpectedly offered two potentially lucrative projects: scripting a movie for Jaz Milvain and writing a series of biographies for Maggie. But he can only choose one job - which is it to be? And in the festive special episode 'Ed Reardon's Christmas Week', Ed needs a room at the inn - the Lock Keeper's Arms, that is. But first he's got to square up to Scrooge...

Berkhamsted's most famous son is back, still ensconced in his 'stylish capsule urban living unit' (aka small office conversion) and continuing to pursue his part-time relationship with Maggie. However, he's once more on the brink of the breadline as his agent, Ping, has failed to come up with any major offers of work, and his best mate and deadly rival, Jaz Milvain, remains a perpetual thorn in his side. Ed also finds himself supporting his daughter Eli in her new career as a 'Storyteller', tutoring a new student in his creative writing class (Pearl having left to join the silver workforce as a store detective), and struggling to divert himself after the loss of Elgar.

Seeking distraction, he tries his hand at woodworking, starts a weekly 'Soapbox Corner', contemplates relaunching his online Quiz Nights and takes advantage of a 'blind recruiting initiative' to apply for a new role. Could the tantalising prospect of a real job - with a regular income - give him the impetus he needs to re-engage with the world? This fifteenth series is dedicated to its co-creator, Andrew Nickolds, who died in 2022. Christopher Douglas plays Ed, with Barunka O'Shaughnessy as Ping, Pippa Haywood as Maggie, Philip Jackson as Jaz and Lisa Coleman as Eli. Also starring are Geoffrey Whitehead as Stan, Sally Grace as Olive and Ellen Thomas as Winnie.

Series 5-8 of the curmudgeonly comedy starring Christopher Douglas

Freeloading freelancer Ed Reardon is back, and still trying to survive in a world where the media seems to be run by idiots and lying charlatans. Success continues to elude him, but at least he can eke out a living teaching creative writing, condensing modern classics and doing a spot of celebrity ghostwriting.

These four series find him shouldering his share of grandfatherly responsibilities; taking up residence in Berkhamsted's premier accommodation for the financially distressed; rekindling a romance with an old flame; and curating a moving tribute for Jaz Milvane's 'surprise' 60th birthday bash. Meanwhile, Ed's cat, Elgar, finds fame with an internet blog. Could he become a more successful writer than Ed? (Quite probably...)

And in a special seasonal edition, Ed is hoping to spend Christmas Day in the bosom of his family - but will he end up alone with Elgar, an Oxo cube and a cinnamon stick?

Scripted by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds, this furiously funny sitcom stars Christopher Douglas as Ed, with supporting roles from Stephanie Cole as Olive, John Fortune as Felix, Barunka O'Shaughnessy as Ping, Philip Jackson as Jaz and Geoffrey Whitehead as Stan.

Series 9-12 of the hit comedy featuring curmudgeonly author Ed Reardon

Author, pipe-smoker, fare-dodger and master of the complaining letter and abusive email, Ed Reardon returns for another four series. Despite many thwarted attempts at literary succes, he's still living a precarious existence with his trusty companion Elgar, reliant on any small morsels of work Ping can offer him to keep body, mind and cat together. He also continues to have regular run-ins with his nemesis, Jaz Milvane - who somehow manages to make money out of mad schemes, while Ed makes nothing - and his love life remains more than a little erratic.

Among his endeavours in these 24 episodes, Ed attends his first ever interview for a real job; finds himself facing homelessness as Stan throws him out on the street; enters the groves of academe as he becomes a student at 'Uni'; and gains a new agent, Maggie, who gets him a regular writing gig on Your Motorhome magazine. Can she help him to turn his fortunes around?

Also included is a special festive edition, which sees Ed spending the holiday season without Elgar. All he has for Christmas is a computer and a commission...

Christopher Douglas stars as Ed, alongside Stephanie Cole, Philip Jackson, Geoffrey Whitehead, Alison Steadman, Brigit Forsyth and Barunka O'Shaughnessy, in this acclaimed comedy by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds.