All 36 episodes of the maverick literary quiz
Poet Ian McMillan is our host in this gleeful game of literary tomfoolery, outrageous parody and biting wit. Joining him for some lighthearted competitive wordplay are a quartet of writers and comedians, all ready and eager to run riot through the halls of great literature.
Their bookish challenges include 'New Beginnings and Endings', which sees them topping and tailing well-known literary works to produce some very tall tales, 'Sound Effects', where they have to guess a book title from a mélange of sounds, and 'Conversation Consequences', where they imagine some unlikely meetings between fictional characters. Mrs Malaprop shares a Jacuzzi with Eliza Doolittle, Inspector Clouseau takes Blanche Dubois to a dance and The Dong with the luminous nose honks hooters with Cyrano de Bergerac...
In addition, the panellists seize the chance to liberate famous authors from their individual genres and turn them loose on something different. Among their freewheeling stylings are Hunter S Thompson writing a public school prospectus, John Betjeman creating the copy for a Ford Probe brochure and Franz Kafka dispensing self-help advice in his Little Book of Calm.
Wreaking havoc with the literary canon are Roger McGough, Miles Kington, Mark Thomas, Dillie Keane, John Hegley, Rory Motion, Mark Radcliffe, Arthur Smith, David Stafford, Helen Lederer, Sophie Hannah, Simon Armitage, Stuart Maconie, Linda Smith and Mark Steel.
Presented by Ian McMillan
Devised by Marc Jobst
Produced by Marc Jobst and Viv Beeby
NB: contains some dated attitudes and language
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 31 October-5 December 1995 (Series 1), 18 February-25 March 1997 (Series 2), 14 October-18 November 1997 (Series 3), 2 July-6 August 1998 (Series 4), 25 November-30 December 1998 (Series 5), 22 June-27 July 1999 (Series 6)
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Ian McMillan was born in 1956 in Darfield, a village near Barnsley, where he still lives. He always wanted to be a writer but all the books he got out of the library were written by people who lived in Surrey, not the Yorkshire Coalfield. He attended North Staffordshire Polytechnic, was a drummer in Barnsley’s first folk-rock band and worked in a tennis ball factory before finally becoming a writer. He’s been poet in residence at Barnsley Football Club, Northern Spirit Trains and Humberside Police. He’s written comedy for radio and plays for the stage. He currently presents The Verb, Radio 3’s Cabaret of The Word, and has also worked extensively for Radios 1,2,4 and Five Live as well as for Yorkshire Television and BBC2’s Newsnight Review. He’s worked in schools, theatres, arts centres, fields and front rooms.