UK Radio Comedy

The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy	First appearing on BBC Radio, this Science Fiction comedy from the pen of (the sadly departed) Douglas Adams, spawned five books, a TV series, a computer game, and towels! Phrases from Hitchhikers have passed into everyday life, it's oft-quoted, and the number 42 achieved universal recognition as a result of this series. If you've followed the series or read the books, we highly recommend talking a look behind the scenes to learn more. This includes the DVD bonus material, and the several books available. 2005 was the Year of the Guide, with the Film in April & the final radio series in May See this site's Hitch-Hikers Guide page
Radio Active	Superb BBC Radio comedy, that later became KYTV on BBC TV. Starred Angus Deayton (Mike Channel), Geoffrey Perkins (Mike Flex), Helen Atkinson-Wood (Anna Daptor), Philip Pope (Nigel Pry) and Michael Fenton-Stevens (Martin Brown and Uncle Mike Stand). See this site's Radio Active page and our Radio Active Forum
Knowing Me, Knowing You	Alan Partridge in fine form. Most of us have seen (and cringed at) the TV series, but have you heard the Radio 4 series? If not, get the cassettes. They contain six episodes of the BBC radio chat show aired way before Alan made it to telly. In my opinion, much better than the TV series. Click for details of the BBC Radio 4 series on cassette, or the BBC TV series on video. See this site's Alan Partridge page
Yes, Minister	Reportedly Margaret Thatcher's favourite comedy, Yes Minister and Yes Prime Minister follow the Right Hon. James Hacker (Paul Eddington) as he climbs up the political greasy pole, helped by Private Secretary Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds), but mostly hindered by Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne). Wonderful office politics and a glimpse at what most go on behind closed doors at Whitehall. Sharpen your political antennae by getting hold of a copy of the BBC radio series on cassette, as well as the TV series. The range of versions can be bought online at BBC Shop.com
Nebulous	A quirky little sci-fi comedy found on Radio 4 in 2005 - Set in a post-'withering' 2099, the team from the Key Envornmental Non-judgemental Taskforce (a.k.a KENT) set about troubleshooting, under the control of Professor Nebulous (the man responsible for the Isle of Wight disaster). For more on the holofiles of KENT, take a look at Nebulous City. A new series is due in Hamble, thank Bod.... If you've heard of it, stop by our forum?
On The Blog	New in 2007 on BBC Radio 2, this 30 minute show follows the online life of Andrew Glasgow as he sets up his first blog. On The Blog caught our attention, even though tucked away on Radio 2, because of it's clever use of audio to represent the output of Andrew's computer - highlighting the frustrations that many of us face - spam, IT problems, phishing, blog and comments. Targets include spoof sitenames ebuy, myface and congo. Men Behaving Badly's Caroline Quentin plays about a thousand parts, and does a sterling job. The series is produced by Dirks Maggs (who produced the recent Hitchhiker's radio series. If you can track down On The Blog and like your tech... take a listen. We found a MySpace Page, which doesn't have a lot to say, but seems to be the only official "home" for On The Blog... If you've heard of it, stop by our forum? We're patiently awaiting the series CD, as well as news on a second series...
Dirk Gently	Everyone's heard of Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy... but what about Douglas Adams' other creation? Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency finally became realised in 2007, appearing in October 2007 on BBC Radio 4 - More on our Dirk Gently page.
More comedy?	If you're into radio comedy, you'll want to check out BBC 7 - the station dedicated to comedy, kids and drama. The Comedy Zone runs classics such as The Goons, Dad's Army and Round The Horne, plus most of the series mentioned on this page. BBC 7 is one of the new BBC Digital Radio channels, and it's available on DAB, Freeview and Sky. This site contains details on getting connected to BBC7. For details of what's on, see the BBC's site www.bbc.co.uk/bbc7, or see our page on electronic programme guides.
Other sites	Comedy database - A superb set of links to UK Comedy Memorable TV - A great list of British Comedy shows

Getting hold of classic radio comedy...

CD and Cassette:

Good old Auntie Beeb has produced pretty much all of the best audio comedy around, and the BBC Audio Collection series contains great episodes of old favourites including Round the Horne, Dad's Army, Steptoe and Son, The Goon Show, Hancocks's Half Hour, Spike Milligan, The Navy Lark, Just a Minute, I'm Sorry I'll Read that Again, Porridge and Yes Minister. Go to the BBC Shop and see what they have to offer. You can also find much of their collection on amazon.co.uk.

Comedy downloads:

Take a look at Audible.co.uk - They have a large collection of comedy and audio books available for download for your PC or MP3 player
There's also Simply Audiobooks, where you can buy, hire or download classic BBC radio shows

On air:

It's also worth keeping an ear on BBC's digital station, BBC7 for their classic comedy

Having no luck? Try asking in our UK Radio Comedy forum

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