Radio 4 play by Alana Ramsey and Lizzie Stables and directed by Sara Pascoe

As directed by Sara Pascoe, Nanny offers a wry, realistic take on the lot of older millennials forced to consider relinquishing their youthful dreams as time catches up on them.

Writers Alana Ramsey and Lizzie Stables also star as would-be actors Amy and Lea, biding their time as nannies to wealthy Londoners while waiting for their break. They’re approaching 40, but still plot another return to the Edinburgh Fringe with their musical comedy double-act, hoping this will be their year. ‘We’ve been manifesting this for years,’ one says with upbeat hope, that belies the length of their yearning.

We meet them taking their charges – the sort of kids given edamame beans as snacks – to playgroup. Amy is planning her wedding, fretting that her fiancé wants to spend £900 on a suit even though her gown cost three times that while pressuring Lea over the hen night, planned for Paris even though few in their circle of friends have the money for such a haunt.

Playing out over six weeks, their conversation is fast-flowing and revealing, occasionally interrupted by the demands of their childcare jobs or humorous songs penned by Frisky and Mannish’s Matthew Floyd Jones, such as The Perfect Mum or Quids Inn, which adds proper musical theatre stardust to a Radio 4 afternoon play as the pair momentarily become the stars they one day hope to be.

The comedy’s light but witty, with mild but amusing satires on the vagaries of the acting world, and the potential farce of being found out for their lies, whether faking veganism to fit in, or a very low-level scam on their employers. What happens in the toddlers’ group tends to have echoes of what’s going on in the women’s lives, too.

Nanny is ultimately about juggling jobs, dreams and responsibilities to yourself – until eventually, circumstances tell them – well, Lea, especially – that time is running out, and she must move on and grow beyond the friendship.   

• Nanny is on Radio 4 at 2.15pm then on BBC Sounds.

Review date: 21 May 2026
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett