''The Sunday Format'', "

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

's first high-quality weekend broadsheet

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...

", is a British

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming o ...

radio comedy Radio comedy, or comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve variety show, sitcom elements, sketches, and various types of comedy found in other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elements, as these can be c ...

. The programme is a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its su ...

of British

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Co ...

newspapers, in particular the lifestyle supplements and glossy celebrity magazines that fill Sunday papers. The programme consists of a series of short sketches that dramatise the articles in the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous newspaper, with the cast assuming

accent Accent may refer to: Speech and language * Accent (sociolinguistics), way of pronunciation particular to a speaker or group of speakers * Accent (phonetics), prominence given to a particular syllable in a word, or a word in a phrase ** Pitch ac ...

s to convey the characters of the

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s or

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the form of a short ess ...

s. The articles are presented in the format of a British Sunday newspaper, with the copy distributed in columns across the body of the paper, and commonly feature lists of items or instructions. Sketches are broken up, and often use backing music which also stops and starts along with the reading of the column. This leads to a surreal,

Dadaist Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Par ...

juxtaposition of sketches, with jokes being set up at the beginning of the episode and the punchline being delivered at a random point before the end.

Conception

The show was first heard in 1996 in a one-off pilot episode. It did not return until a four-part series aired in Feb/Mar 1999, followed by six episodes in Nov/Dec 2000, and three additional four-part series in Sep/Oct 2001, Jan 2003 and Jan/Feb 2004. The show has won a

Sony Radio Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

and a

British Comedy Award The National Comedy Awards (known as the British Comedy Awards from 1990 to 2014) is an annual awards ceremony in the United Kingdom, celebrating notable comedians and entertainment performances of the previous year. The British Comedy Awards (1 ...

. The show was devised by John Morton and was produced by Paul Schlesinger and Helen Williams. The writing team is Simon Blackwell, Nick Revell, Dave Cohen, Ewan Bailey,

Emma Kennedy Emma Kennedy (born Elizabeth Emma Williams on 28 May 1967) is an English actress, lawyer, comedian, and travel writer, comedian, television presenter and author. Early life and education The daughter of teachers,

Bill Dare Bill Dare is an English author and creator/producer of radio and television comedy programmes. Biography Dare is an author and producer/devisor of various (mainly comedy) programmes mainly for BBC Radio and television, including ''The Mary Wh ...

Laurence Howarth Laurence Howarth is an English comic actor and writer. He has appeared in one episode each of the TV series '' After You've Gone'' (2007), '' Hyperdrive'' (2006), ''Blessed'' (2005), '' The Robinsons'' (2005), '' My Hero'' (2005) and '' Dark Ages' ...

Andrew Marlatt From 1999 to 2002, and restarted in 2010 SatireWire is a news satire website. Based in Connecticut and founded by Andrew Marlatt, the site aimed its satire at politics, business, the media, and current events, and spawned Marlatt's 2002 book ...

and

Tony Roche Anthony Dalton Roche AO MBE (born 17 May 1945) is an Australian former professional tennis player. A native of Tarcutta, Roche played junior tennis in the New South Wales regional city of Wagga Wagga. He won one Grand Slam singles title, th ...

. The cast is Ewan Bailey,

Rebecca Front Rebecca Louise Front (born 16 May 1964) is an English actress, writer and comedian. She won the 2010 BAFTA TV Award for Best Female Comedy Performance for '' The Thick of It'' (2009–2012).Jennifer Lipma"Bafta for Jewish actress Rebecca Front" ...

Simon Greenall Simon James Greenall (born 3 January 1958) is an English actor, producer, writer and voice artist. He has portrayed Michael in the BBC television series ''I'm Alan Partridge'', as well as in '' Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa,'' the Caretaker in ...

, Emma Kennedy,

Chris Langham Christopher Langham (born 14 April 1949) is an English writer, actor, and comedian. He is known for playing the cabinet minister Hugh Abbot in the BBC sitcom ''The Thick of It'', and as presenter Roy Mallard in '' People Like Us'', first on BB ...

Tracy-Ann Oberman Tracy-Ann Oberman (born Tracy Anne Oberman; 25 August 1966) is an English actress, playwright and narrator. She is widely known for roles including Chrissie Watts in the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders'' (2004–2005) and Valerie Lewis or "Aunti ...

, and Alice Arnold.

Alexander Armstrong Alexander Henry Fenwick Armstrong (born 2 March 1970) is an English actor, comedian, radio personality, television presenter and singer. He is the host of the BBC One game show '' Pointless'', as well as the morning show on Classic FM. He is ...

Ben Miller Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two seri ...

Martin Hyder Martin Hyder (born 1961) is an English actor and writer. Profile Hyder was educated at Abingdon School leaving in 1980. He has worked closely with the BBC since 2000 contributing and appearing in BBC Radio and BBC Television. His television cre ...

and

Siriol Jenkins Calon (Welsh for 'heart') is the trading name of Mount Stuart Media Ltd., a British animation television production company based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, which primarily produced animation series in Welsh for S4C. The company was form ...

also appeared in the earlier series.

External links

''Sunday Format'' page on Radio 4 site

h2g2: Sunday Format
BBC Radio comedy programmes Sunday_Format {{UK-radio-show-stub

Conception

See also

External links