BBC Radio 4 has also commissioned a huge variety of new stand-up to go in the Stand-Up Specials feed on BBC Sounds, including Bella Hull’s Guide to More or Less Being Okay, a new series from SNL UK wrier Bella Hull (pictured), where she explores issues affecting Gen Z, from mental health to food, money, sex and love.
John Tothill Forgives Your Sins has been picked up for a series following a successful pilot. John (pictured with wine glasses) talks about the kinds of regrets we all have - regrets that make you wince and consider a one-way trip to Nepal to start all over again – and suggests that we should share these confessions so he can absolve us of our sins and celebrate our vices.
Scott Bennett: One Man Panic Attack sees Scott unpacking his worries about his kids, parents, marriage and well, everything. There will also be new stand-up specials from Vittorio Angelone, Miles Jupp, Desiree Burch, Sophie Garrad, Grace Campbell, Brodi Snook, Toussaint Douglass, Mark Simmons, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, Nathan D’Arcy Roberts, Will Robbins, Jodie Mitchell, Susie McCabe, James Mullinger, Arabella Weir and Barry Ferns.
Julia McKenzie says, ‘Radio 4 is passionate about stand-up, as some of our most successful returning shows like Mark Steel’s In Town and Alfie Moore’s It’s A Fair Cop testify. We have our own mixed bill stand-up show, Live From The UK, hosted by Angela Barnes, returning this Autumn. These new series and specials we are announcing today are from an exceptional range of talented comedians, every single one of them distinctive and hilarious, and I am very excited to give them the space to expand their storytelling so we can luxuriate in their use of language as only audio can.’
Quiz fans will be glad to hear that two recent quiz pilots have been picked up for full series: Your Number’s Up, the number-based quiz hosted by Max Fosh (pictured) and Bookmarks, a literary quiz hosted by Clare Balding.
Other new commissions announced today include The Gossip Couple, a sitcom series written by and starring Paul Longley, based on his TikTok series in which a happily married couple keep the magic alive by dissecting their friends' questionable choices as they drive to or from a social engagement.
New pilots have been commissioned too, including Yalla Habibi, a playful, positive and sometimes provocative sketch show about what it means to be British Arab, Say! Less!, an absurd sketch show starring an all-Black cast that feels like the unholy Gen Z offspring of Monty Python and The Real McCoy, skewering modern culture through the irreverent lens of a Black British fever dream, and Chutney, a fast-moving new sketch show about British Asian culture, written and performed by an ensemble of the most exciting new comic voices in Britain.
So You Want To Play is a chaotic gameshow where Jake Bhardwaj puts four comedians through a series of devious and ridiculous challenges, and Nish Kumar will host Nish Kumar’s Utopia, asking comedians and celebrity guests: what if you could redesign the world from scratch?
Many fan favourites have been recommissioned for new series, including Why in The Name of Pierre Novellie, Rum Punch, Do Gooders, It’s a Fair Cop, Icklewick FM and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane Austen.
Click here for news of a new Richard Curtis sitcom
Further info to follow re broadcast dates.
John Tothill picture (with wine glasses) by Rebecca Need-Manear
