The Complete BBC Radio 4 Collection

Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive: Series 1-4

Creator of The Thick Of It, I'm Alan Partridge and Veep and films In The Loop and The Death Of Stalin, Armando Iannucci is probably the most famous writer/director/satirist of his generation. Here he hosts his own award-wining radio show.

Armando Iannucci is a writer, director and producer who first became successful as part of the cult comedy team involved in On the Hour and The Day Today. He then presented the satirical comedy show Saturday Night Armistice and wrote and starred in the surreal sketch series The Armando Iannucci Shows before creating the BAFTA Award-winning comedy The Thick of It. A movie spin-off, In The Loop, was released in 2009 to great acclaim. This in turn led to an HBO series, Veep, which has won numerous awards including four Emmy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

Creator of The Thick Of It, I'm Alan Partridge and Veep and films In The Loop and The Death Of Stalin, Armando Iannucci is probably the most famous writer/director/satirist of his generation. Here he hosts his own award-wining radio show. 
 
Comedians who guested over the four series include David Mitchell, Michael McIntyre, Russell Howard, Miranda Hart, Jo Brand, Phill Jupitus, Stewart Lee, Jack Dee, Clive Anderson and a young John Oliver (before he was launched to stardom on The Daily Show).

Facts & Fancies

A compilation of readings from the book of the same name by the co-creator of the comedy series, Knowing Me, Knowing You . Iannucci proffers his inaccurate insights into science, the arts, and such topics as the first fist-fight on the moon, an Official History of Noises, the War between Savoury Eaters and the Sweet-toothed Peoples and the Existence of Nonsense. Read by Armando Iannucci.

Two Episodes from the Hit BBC TV Series and a Christmas Special

I'm Alan Partridge & Knowing Me, Knowing Yule

Steve Coogan is the king of tan slacks and bad taste in these two episodes from the BBC television spoof chat show.

Steve Coogan is Alan Partridge, the crass chat show host who has a spectacular fall from grace in these 3 BBC TV episodes.   'Knowing me, Knowing Yule' (29 December 1995)  In a special Christmas edition of his television chat show, the irrespressible Alan bids the nation good tidings from 'an exact replica reproduction' of the interior of his house - and counts the BBC's Chief Commissioning Editor amongst his guests. However, his attempts to secure a second series go far from well... in fact they end in complete disaster.   'I'm Alan Partridge - A Room with an Alan' (3 November 1997)  Since the catastrophic end to his chat show, Alan has been rebuilding his career as an early morning DJ on Radio Norwich. His wife has left him for a fitness instructor, and Alan has moved to the Linton Travel Tavern - where, he says 'they make a cracking Irish coffee.' In this first episode we meet Alan's personal assistant Lynn, whom he describes as being like Burt Reynolds - very reliable, but she's got a moustache.   'I'm Alan Partridge Alan Attraction' (10 November 1997)  The romantic excitement of Valentine's Day is tempered with ill tidings for Alan, who's faced with the prospect of giving up his Rover 200 and sacking everyone at his production company. He still finds time, though, to whisk the lovely Jill off for a day at the local bird sanctuary, in the hope that she genuinely likes him 'sex-wise'.

Two Episodes from the Hit BBC TV Series

Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge

Steve Coogan is the king of tan slacks and bad taste in these two episodes from the BBC Television spoof chat show series.

'Knowing me Alan Partridge, knowing you... a-ha!'   A lot of people say that, when it comes to drama and comedy, the pictures are so much better on the radio. As Alan Partridge says, 'all those people are wrong'.   There's a new chat in town as the hit programme comes live from BBC Television Centre, and Alan ushers on a variety of guests including horsewoman of few words Sue Lewis, powerful hypnotist Tony le Mesmer, fashion designer Yvonne Boyd, and husband and wife thespians Tania Baker and Gary Baker. There's also a whole edition of the programme broadcast from sexy Paris, city of French people.   Joining Steve Coogan as he squirms his way across the easy chairs are Steve Brown, Minnie Driver, Rebecca Front, Melanie Hudson, Doon MacKichan, Patrick Marber and David Schneider.

Armando Iannucci

Melvyn Bragg

Sam West

Tess Hadley

Romesh Gunesekera

A.L. Kennedy

Claire Tomalin

Alexander McCall-Smith

A BBC radio collection celebrating Charles Dickens' life, work and influence 
 
Charles Dickens was a literary giant, second only to Shakespeare in the ranks of England's greatest writers. This extensive biographical collection looks at the man, his novels and his legacy to provide an all-round portrait of the much-loved author. 
 
Michael Eaton's five-play cycle Dickens in London, starring Samuel Barnett, Alex Jennings and Antony Sher, explores Dickens' changing relationship with the city that fired his imagination. His numerous achievements are discussed in Great Lives: Charles Dickens (featuring Armando Iannucci and Humphrey Carpenter) and In Our Time: Dickens (featuring Melvyn Bragg and guests). Sam West reads from Dickens' letters in Words and Music: Dickens's World; Simon Watts tells how the author's 1842 visit to the US became a turning point in his career in Witness History: Dickens in America; Ian Gillan takes a tour of Dickens' old home in Pride of Place: 48 Doughty Street; and in Night Waves, Philip Dodd talks to Claire Tomalin about her definitive biography, Charles Dickens: A Life. 
 
Literary Pursuits finds Sarah Dillon hunting for the story behind the story of Dickens' classic masterpiece, Great Expectations; and in The Mystery of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Frances Fyfield ponders what happened to the hero of Charles Dickens's final, unfinished novel? In Free Thinking: Dickens, Matthew Sweet and guests examine his oeuvre and the way his work connects with the present day, while Landmarks: Charles Dickens is devoted to the great author's final completed novel, Our Mutual Friend. 
 
Finally, Indian writer Ayeesha Menon finds out about her country's love affair with Charles Dickens in The Documentary: Dickens and India - Mutual Friends; and his enduring significance is explored in the five-part Radio 3 series The Writer's Dickens, in which contemporary novelists Tessa Hadley, Romesh Gunesekera, AL Kennedy, Alexander McCall Smith and Justin Cartwright consider the craft of Dickens' prose and reveal how he is both a role model and a shadow looming over their own writing. 
 
Copyright © 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Armando Iannucci

Books by Armando Iannucci

Series by Armando Iannucci

Alan Partridge on the BBC

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