Wrong episode of wizard sitcom aired by mistake

Radio 4 last night broadcast the wrong episode of sitcom Modrin McDonald: 21st Century Wizard.

Instead of the final episode in the series, listeners heard a rerun of an earlier installment, The Root Of All Evil.

Even he announcer introduced the show as the concluding episode at 11pm, and made no acknowledgement of the mistake after the 15-minute show had aired.

Comedian David Kay, who wrote and stars in the series, wrote on his Twitter feed: ‘Apologies to listeners who expected to hear Merlin's Visit last night. Some dark magic was involved and ep2 went out again instead. Don't tell anyone but it was probably Merlin himself that had something to with it ...’

Although the truth may have been more prosaic, given it was the episode that originally aired on February 2 that was aired on March 2.

A Radio 4 spokesman said: 'Unfortunately the wrong episode of Mordrin McDonald was played out and we apologise to listeners. The full series will be repeated later this year.'

It is not the first time Radio 4 has made such a blunder. This time last year, the station broadcast the wrong episode of topical comedy The Now Show. The Friday night programme is normally repeated on Saturday, but in March 2010, a ‘technical error’ meant the episode from the previous week went out in that slot instead.

In that case, the continuity announcer did point out the error, saying: ‘As many of you will have noticed, that edition of The Now Show wasn't very now. It was actually last week's programme. Our apologies for that.’

Published: 3 Mar 2011