What's Funny About ...

TV veterans Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman talk to the writers, producers, and performers behind Britain's biggest TV comedy hits, and hear the inside story of how they brought their programmes to the screen. The TV comedies covered are: The Vicar of Dibley The Thick Of It Absolutely Fabulous Blackadder Goodness Gracious Me W1A The Office Have I Got News For You Smack The Pony Not The Nine O'Clock News Fawlty Towers The Good Life With Peter and Jon as our guides, they take the opportunity to ask quite how our guests went about making a great bit of TV comedy. Who came up with it? How did it get written? They talk about the commissioning, the casting, and the reception the show received when it first aired. They do their very best to winkle out some backstage secrets straight from the horse's mouth, as we hear the unvarnished truth from the people who were there, and who put these iconic shows on TV. Producer: Owen Braben An Expectation production made for and broadcast by BBC Radio 4 Extra in 2020 and 2021.