Radio 4 adapts Michael Palin's only stage play | The best of the week's comedy on TV and radio

Radio 4 adapts Michael Palin's only stage play

The best of the week's comedy on TV and radio

The best of the week's comedy on TV and radio

Sunday May 28

PYGMALION: Alistair McGowan, Morgana Robinson, Sian Phillips and Al Murray star in George Bernard Shaw's classic tale of Eliza Doolittle, the Cockney flower girl who is trained by professor of phonetics, Henry Higgins, to pass as a duchess. Radio 4, 3pm

ON THE TOWN WITH THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN: As anticipation mounts about a 20-year reunion,  Radio 4 Extra broadcasts the first incarnation of the award-winning black comedy. Set in the town of Spent - before they’d envisioned Royston Vasey -  Mark Gatiss, Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and non-performing writer Jeremy Dyson unveil transsexual cab driver Babs, vile radio presenter  Bernice Woodall, clumsy vet Dr. Chinnery and the toad-loving  Dentons. 11.30pm

Tuesday May 30

THE JOY OF TECHS:  Luddite Marcus Brigstocke and his best mate, gadget-obsessed Alexis Conran - the actor, broadcaster and 2016 Celebrity Masterchef winner - take on a series of challenges across the UK to see whether new technology beats old-school know-how in this new series from Dave, which kicks off with a double bill. 8pm

Thursday June 1

FRANK SKINNER ON MUHAMMAD ALI: The comic explores the incredible life of his hero in this one-off, which aims to get beneath the skin of the Ali legend. Skinner travels to Ali’s hometown of Louisville Kentucky, where he meets the next-door neighbour who witnessed the teenage boxer’s single-minded dedication to his craft; Ali’s younger brother Rahman, his closest confidante; and Ali’s wife Khalilah, who was alongside the boxer when he was banned from his sport for refusing to fight in Vietnam. The BBC says: ‘This documentary special will be more than a profile piece on the greatest sporting hero of the 20th Century, it’s also a very personal journey filled with Frank’s own expertise and insight.’ BBC One, 9pm.

Saturday June 3

THE WEEKEND: Michael Palin’s only stage play was staged at the Strand Theatre, London in 1994, with Richard Wilson and Angela Thorne as the middle-aged suburbanites Stephen and Virginia. Rarely staged since, Radio 4 have now produced a version with Palin himself in the lead role, and  Penelope Wilton as his wife. Their lives are  suddenly changed when his sad daughter, her dreary husband, and awkward teenager descend. The BBC says the play ‘contains much of Palin’s self-effacing humour, but there's sharp observation and truth too. It's as dryly comic and acutely observed as Ayckbourn, as wry as Wodehouse and as acerbic as Coward’. The play was adapted for radio by Richard Stoneman - a  writer on Doc Martin - and also  stars  Patrick Barlow, Hugh Dennis, Bryony Hannah, Cathy Sara, Sophie Thompson and Bill Paterson.3pm

Published: 28 May 2017

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