Late-breaking jokes
Radio's 'first topical sitcom' launched
Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis have created a new topical sitcom for Radio 4.
Scripts for The Party Line, about a frustrated backbench MP, will be finished only hours before it is aired, allowing the latest news to be incorporated.
James Fleet, best known as the hapless Hugo in the Vicar of Dibley, will star as MP Duncan Stonebridge, who believes his political career was blighted when he fell off the stage during Question Time.
A Radio 4 spokesman said: “Written by the stars of Radio 4's The Now Show, this will be a genuine first: a sitcom that is entirely topical, written just before transmission.”
The programme, which will debut at 6.30pm on May 26, was announced as part of Radio 4’s spring comedy schedule today.
It also includes the return of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on May 30 for its 45th series.
And John Shuttleworth creator Graham Fellows will be reviving his rock music anorak Brian Appleton for a series of Unofficial Multi Media Lectures, starting at 11pm on June 1.Published: 4 May 2005
