A British Radio Comedy Christmas Part Three Quiz

Answer: Little Blighty on the Down

'Little Blighty on the Down' ran for five series between 1988 and 1992. When the show begins, the parish council is headed by the formidable Mrs Roberts, who is a very thinly veiled parody of the then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, whose maiden name was also Roberts.

The show parodied numerous contemporary political events and figures through the prism of local political machinations. When Margaret Thatcher was succeeded in her role by John Major in 1990, the show reacted by having Mrs Roberts overthrown by new council chief John Barnham.

The episode mentioned in the question is 'It's A Wonderful Blight' and was the second of three Christmas episodes of the show.

Answer: Ladies of Letters

'Ladies of Letters' is based on a series of books by Lou Wakefield and Carole Hayman and ran for eleven series between 1997 and 2010. Each series consists of five or ten fifteen minute episodes which were all originally broadcast as part of Radio 4's flagship 'Woman's Hour' magazine programme. Vera and Irene are both ladies of a certain age who carry on an, often fractious, correspondence in which they discuss their families and lives, indulge in a frenzy of one-upmanship and fling wild accusations at one another, but, through it all, they somehow remain friends.

The series mentioned in the question was entitled 'Ladies of Letters Make Mincemeat' and was first broadcast in 2001. A second festive series, 'Ladies of Letters Go Crackers', was released in 2010 in which the role of Vera was taken by Anne Reid.

Answer: No Commitments

'No Commitments' ran for thirteen series between 1992 and 2007. It followed the lives of three sisters, Anna, the eldest, feels responsible for her two younger sisters and is the voice of reason in the family and the person to whom her nieces and nephews come for advice when their parents let them down. Victoria is the second sister, she is married to a wealthy man and is obsessed with class and appearances.

The youngest sister is Charlotte, a struggling actor, who is utterly feckless and has a disastrous lovelife.

The programme focuses on the three women's relationships with each other, their children and their romantic partners, while later series also focus on the lives of some of their, now grown-up, children. The episode referred to in the question is 'Seasonal Adjustment', the fifth episode of the third series.

Answer: Meet David Sedaris

'Meet David Sedaris' has run for six series since 2010. In each episode David Sedaris reads one or two long essays, often followed by some short diary entries or a question and answer session with the audience. Many of David's stories are about his childhood, growing up in a large family in North Carolina. David and his partner Hugh have lived all over the world and their experiences of traveling, learning new languages and experiencing new cultures are also often the subject of the essays.

It was 'The Santaland Diaries' which first brought Sedaris to public attention when he read it on American public radio in the early 1990s. Sedaris has published a number of essay collections including 'Me Talk Pretty One Day', 'Naked', 'When You Are Engulfed in Flames' and 'Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls', many of which have become worldwide best-sellers.

Answer: Second Thoughts

'Second Thoughts' was written by married couple Jan Etherington and Gavin Petrie and ran for four series between 1988 and 1992. It was also being shown as a television series, based on the radio scripts, on ITV at around the same time as the Radio 4 version was being broadcast. 'Second Thoughts' recounts the difficulties faced by Bill and Faith as they attempt to make their new relationship work, despite the problems caused by Faith's teenage children and Bill's manipulative ex-wife and demanding boss.

The episode mentioned in the question is 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas'.

Answer: Heresy

'Heresy' was first broadcast in 2003 and has run for ten series. The show was created by David Baddiel, who also hosted the first four series before being replaced by Victoria Coren Mitchell from series five onwards. Panelists are invited to commit 'heresy' by going against a received opinion, which is held by the majority of the studio audience and explaining their reasons for holding this unpopular view.

The opinions guests are invited to espouse are often far from their own views so they are frequently forced to play devil's advocate.

Answer: Just A Minute

'Just A Minute' was created by Ian Messiter and was first broadcast in 1967. The show celebrated its fiftieth birthday in December 2017 and throughout its remarkable record-breaking run it has been hosted by the wonderful Nicholas Parsons, whose warmth and wit has helped make the show the success it is. On a regular edition of the show there are four panelists who take it in turns to speak on a given subject for one minute. If they achieve this difficult feat then they earn a bonus point for keeping the subject going without interruption.

However, the other competitors can buzz in if they think the speaker has hesitated, repeated themselves or deviated from the subject. If their challenge is deemed to be correct then they are given the subject as well as a bonus point. Whoever is speaking when the whistle blows to signify that the sixty seconds is up also gets an extra point.

The game has attracted a number of excellent panelists over the years with regular players of the game including Gyles Brandreth, Paul Merton, Jenny Eclair, Sheila Hancock, Julian Clary, Sue Perkins, Tom Allen, Stephen Fry, Tony Hawks, Josie Lawrence and Pam Ayres.

The episode referred to in the question is unusual because it features a number of cameo appearances from former guests rather than the usual panel of four.

Answer: Steven Appleby's Normal Life

'Steven Appleby's Normal Life' was based on the comic strip of the same name and ran for two series and a Christmas special between 2001 and 2004. The programme follows the exploits of the fictional Steven Appleby as he investigates various aspects of modern life with the help of a cast of weird and wonderful characters.

The real Steven Appleby is a celebrated cartoonist and artist who has also designed album covers and worked on stop motion animated short films.

Answer: After Henry

Sarah France is a young widow whose husband, a GP, was the eponymous Henry. Since Henry's death, Sarah has been forced to share a house with her mother Eleanor, who lives on the top floor of the house, and her teenage daughter Clare, who lives in the basement.

The long-suffering Sarah is caught between two generations, being lectured, manipulated and ordered about by her elderly but formidable mother and attempting to help and counsel her often volatile teenage daughter. Luckily, Sarah's job at a book shop run by her kind and understanding boss, Russell, offers Sarah a much needed oasis of calm away from her turbulent domestic life.

As with many of Simon Brett's sitcoms, 'After Henry' deals with the relationships between women, particularly between different generations of the same family, and does so with tact and sensitivity. Sarah is played by the always wonderful Prunella Scales while Eleanor is played by excellent veteran actor Joan Sanderson.

The episode referred to in the question is 'A Week of Sundays' which was first broadcast in 1985.

Answer: John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme

'John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme' was first broadcast in 2011 since when it has become a much-loved fixture on Radio 4's comedy schedules, with the seventh series being broadcast in January 2018. All sketches are written by John Finnemore and performed by him along with other regular cast members Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Lawry Lewin, Carrie Quinlan and Simon Kane.

Although each episode features some different sketches, there are certain recurring skits including 'The Archers' as it sounds to people who don't really listen to it and interviews by journalist Patsy Straightwoman. Almost every episode features a comic song as well as a tall tale told by an incurable raconteur played by John Finnemore which usually ends the episode.