Review of Radio 2's latest Funny Fortnight pilots

Before Peter Kay put his star name to Car Share, it was a pilot from Tim Reid and Paul Coleman, business consultants who shared a love of comedy.

Dog Days is Coleman’s next move: a comedy based around a group of dog walkers – and it’s probably no surprise that it’s another gentle but effective show, driven by credible characters.

Gwyneth Powell from Grange Hill and Man Down plays Jean, a retiree with a reluctant friendship with Alan (John Henshaw from Early Doors) who doesn’t quite know how to fill his days now he, too, has given up work.

The plot of the Funny Fortnight pilot has Gary – played with usual put-upon aplomb by Johnny Vegas – fretting over his lost pooch Kylie and getting overemotional about the situation. And the whole community comes out to help. Meanwhile Tanya Franks plays a shady character always on the make, and with a lively Tinder life.

With naturalistic dialogue and no studio audience, Dog Days has the sort of audio-drama feel seems more suited to Radio 4’s 11.30am slot more than Radio 2 at 10pm, and there may be a question mark over quite how many dog-walking-based-plotlines there might be in future. But there’s a warmth to the characters and the underplayed humour of their interactions that makes this a strong pilot, drawing listeners into their realistic world.

What If… is a less promising prospect, a panel show that seems to lose faith in its premise from the get-go.

The idea is that the panel discuss the hypothetical outcomes had certain events in pop culture history turned out differently. Like ‘what if Jeremy Clarkson had never passed his driving test’ as host Sara Cox says to what sounds suspiciously like canned laughter, given that the line isn’t actually funny in the slightest.

But the questions are clearly just prompts for preprepared stories from the guests. ‘What if Twtter had never been invented?’ is the cue for Grainne Maguire to retell her story about live-tweeting her menstrual cycle to the Irish Prime Minister to highlight how politicians should have no say in women’s reproductive rights.

And ‘What if Rylan Clarke-Neal couldn’t be bothered to turn up to the X Factor audition’ is surely a question no one but the man himself – a bargain basement Alan Carr based on this appearance – has ever mulled. But again he has an anecdote on standby.

Science broadcaster, Dr Adam Rutherford was at least interesting as he demolished the loveable image of dolphins and sea otters, who are revealed as murderous necrophiliacs rather than the cutesy animals of Facebook memes. But like every element of this show, his facts were only tangentially related to the central premise.

What If we don’t bother with any more of these…

Review date: 26 Apr 2018
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