The Complete Series of the Award-Winning BBC Radio 4 Comedy

Old Harry’s Game

All seven series of Andy Hamilton's fiendishly funny award-winning comedy set in Hell. 
 
'Satirical, philosophical - and devilishly funny' Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph 
 
Welcome to Hell - where nobody can ever quite catch the barman's eye. In this collection, which contains all seven series of Old Harry's Game, get ready for some wicked one-liners and scorching satire. 
 
Satan is fed up after a millennia in charge of Hell, especially given the prospect of an eternity still running the damned place. Although he does enjoy playing pranks on the world of the living and devising wry torments for the souls in his keeping, he often wistfully recalls his past as an archangel... 
 
Over the course of the series, we meet various famous figures now languishing in Hell, including a foul-mouthed Jane Austen, a mindless Helen of Troy and a less-than-heroic Samson. Satan takes Hell resident Thomas on a tour of his life, his assistant Scumspawn has trouble with a pushy computer, and love drives The Professor to extreme action. Satan and The Professor find a huge, empty space in Hell (when they enter Scumspawn's brain), a Health and Safety officer notes that the lighting is inadequate, and Satan punishes a feng shui expert. And then Edith arrives... 
 
Seven series of the Sony Award-winning comedy (plus the Christmas and Olympic specials) starring Andy Hamilton as Satan and a regular cast of acclaimed actors including Annette Crosbie as Edith, Timothy West as God, James Grout as The Professor, Jimmy Mulville as Thomas and Robert Duncan as Scumspawn. 
 
Production credits 
Written by Andy Hamilton 
Produced by Paul Mayhew-Archer 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 23 November - 28 December 1995 (Series 1), 7 April - 12 May 1998 (Series 2), 24 March - 28 April 1999 (Series 3), 29 March - 3 May 2001 (Series 4), 31 December 2002 - 1 January 2003 (2002 Christmas Special), 20 September - 11 October 2005 (Series 5), 27 September - 1 November 2007 (Series 6), 19 February - 26 March 2009 (Series 7), 23 December - 30 December 2010 (2010 Christmas Special), 12 July - 19 July 2012 (Olympic Special). 
 
©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The BBC Radio comedy

Revolting People: The Complete Series 1-4

All four series of the hilarious historical sitcom set just before and during the American Revolution

All four series of the hilarious historical sitcom set just before and during the American Revolution 
 
Baltimore, 1770, and shopkeeper Samuel Oliphant has much to worry about. Storm clouds are gathering, business is bad, and to make matters worse, he’s been forced to play host to two British soldiers. Hapless officer Captain Brimshaw is decent enough, but his fellow redcoat – the one-eyed, one-eared, one-armed and one-legged Sergeant McGurk – is a shameless rascal obsessed with money and sex. 
 
Adding to Samuel’s troubles are his family – his wife Elizabeth has become a lesbian, his son Joshua is a dimwitted giant, his eldest daughter Cora is in love with the pro-British Ezekiel Spriggs and her sister Mary is an ardent revolutionary… 
 
In these four series, Mary tries to starts a mutiny at her sister’s wedding; Cora falls pregnant – but the marriage isn’t consummated; McGurk turns spy and Ezekiel discovers the truth about his ginger baby (and sets out to find the ginger father). With war fast approaching, Samuel turns his shop into a bar called Sam’s Place and helps an old flame called Ingrid, Cora discovers a gift for penning pornography, and Mary discovers there’s no place like home. And as the revolution hits Baltimore, Ezekiel is kidnapped by rebel militia, Captain Brimshaw attempts to broker peace with George Washington and Samuel and company flee to London. Can they persuade King George III to end the war? 
 
Written by Andy Hamilton and Jay Tarses, who also star as Sergeant McGurk and Samuel Oliphant, this riotously funny comedy boasts a stellar cast including Sophie Thompson, Jan Ravens, Felicity Montagu, James Fleet, Hugh Dennis and Rebecca Front. 
 
Written by and starring Andy Hamilton and Jay Tarses 
Produced and directed by Paul Mayhew-Archer 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4: 18 January-22 February 2000, (Series 1), 24 April-29 May 2001 (Series 2), 27 May-1 July 2004 (Series 3), 2 May-6 June 2006 (Series 4)

Trevor's World of Sport: The Complete Series 1-3

Neil Pearson stars in Andy Hamilton’s BBC Radio 4 comedy series about a sports agent with a conscience

Neil Pearson stars in Andy Hamilton’s BBC Radio 4 comedy series about a sports agent with a conscience 
 
One of the main movers and shakers at TS Sports Stars agency, Trevor Heslop is honest, decent and sensitive. Unfortunately, he works in a world of cut-throats and corruption, with nightmare clients and a rapacious partner with the morals of a barracuda. Add to that his dysfunctional family – estranged wife Meryl and teenage son Toby – and it’s a miracle he manages to stay afloat in the shark tank that is his life. 
 
In these eighteen episodes, he grapples with a Buddhist (and a specially trained bear), tackles a footballer who’s just issued his seventeenth public apology, ends up in court as a witness while trying hard not to lie and proposes taking on the firm’s first Muslim client – but do his colleagues think this is a good idea? As he copes with the ultimate client from hell, Ralph, struggles to keep his dignity and his staff, and tries to save his reputation from being destroyed by a ruthless tennis star, can Trevor retain his decency in an increasingly indecent world? 
 
Written by Andy Hamilton, whose radio credits include the Sony Award-winning Old Harry’s Game, this funny, fast-moving comedy stars Neil Pearson as Trevor, Paul Reynolds as Sammy and Michael Fenton Stevens as Ralph, with guest appearances from Kevin R. McNally, Doon Mackichan and Kayvan Novak.

BBC Radio 4 stand-up comedy

Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers: Series 1 and 2

Andy Hamilton is a familiar and much-loved voice on Radio 4. With this collection he presents a collection of observations and reminiscences about both his personal life and his 40 years working in comedy.

From Andy Hamilton: People often ask me (well, journalists sometimes ask me) where I got the idea of writing a comedy set in Hell, and I usually tell them that I found it in Woolworths. I give them this flip, smartarse answer because the truth is I can't actually remember. No doubt, in part, I was attracted by the notion of consigning the likes of Robert Maxwell to the torment of the eternal fires. Who wouldn't find that funny? And playing Satan, of course, was always going to allow me to generally show off in a shameless way, and pretend I had the nether regions of a goat. So that was another attraction. But the actual specific trigger that caused me to sit down and write Old Harry's Game is a mystery to me now. Another question that is frequently slurred at me by swaying journalists is 'Which one of the characters do I think is most like me?' Now, this is a tricky one. The Professor, certainly, is the person I wish I was. He's kind, balanced, enquiring and optimistic. The part I actually play, though, is the jaundiced, cynical Satan, and the ease with which I slip into the hooves of this sadistic schemer is, frankly, a little worrying. There are times, too, when the disgusting, depraved Thomas starts to look disturbingly familiar. But, of all the characters, the one I suspect I resemble most is the disaster-prone, eager-to-please Scumspawn (who made his first appearance in the second series as Satan's bungling assistant). From time to time, I get quizzed about the prospects of Old Harry's Game transferring to television. Well, it wouldn't be an easy transition because the show is so quintesentially radio. After all, on radio we can transform a character into a 40-foot aubergine, and no one writes in to quibble about how convincing it is. Every listener visualises their own impossibly gigantic eggplant. If we attempted the same effect on BBC 1 then we would be inundated with pedantic letters from greengrocers. Finally, there is one question that journalists are always asking me, namely 'Is there any truth in the rumours about me and Catherine Zeta-Jones?' Well I'm sorry, but I feel it would be wrong for me to comment, especially when the poor girl is trying so hard to get over me. End of story. Andy Hamilton.

In Series 1 and 2 of Andy Hamilton Sort of Remembers, the much-loved Andy presents a collection of potentially misremembered anecdotes. 
 
He’s been working in comedy for over 40 years and there’s a lot of reminiscing he can do…using comic observation and personal anecdotes he will explore each theme, examining how much (or how little) things have changed in the 60ish years he's been on this planet. 
 
In Series 1, Andy looks at Childhood, Politics, The Human Body and Animals. He remembers his favourite childhood sounds (ice cream van anyone?), the politician he calls ‘the upstairs bathroom’, how his own brain and body occasionally conspire against him and gives listeners top tips on dealing with an angry bear and a grumpy alligator. 
 
In Series 2, Andy sort of remembers tales about Sport, Class, Religion and Stupidity. He tries to convince listeners why everyone should be a sport fan, lets people know why heavyweight champion of the world he spilt wine on, shares fond memories of playing Satan on Old Harry’s Game and how being a middle-class child of working-class parents added some bumps to his university and working life. 
 
Producer: Richard Morris and Claire Jones 
A BBC Studios Production

Andy Hamilton

Nick Revell

Lesley Sharp

Morwenna Banks

Harry Enfield

Jasper Jacob

Felicity Montagu

Penelope Nice

Various

A BBC Radio 4 Sketch Comedy

Vintage sharp-edged comedy from Andy Hamilton and Nick Revell – including the famous pirate sketch 
 
Expensive, expansive, fun-filled and frantic, cult classic The Million Pound Radio Show ran for 11 years between 1985 and 1992, and won the 1991 British Comedy Award for Best Radio Comedy. Included here are all five series and six Specials, featuring a feast of quick-fire gags, stinging satire, comic chat and snappy sketches. 
 
Get ready to chuckle as Captain Blackskull faces up to his mutinous crew; Snow White runs into a few problems with the Seven Dwarves; 007 makes a few lifestyle changes and a chatty stegosaurus wonders where all the other dinosaurs have disappeared off to. Plus, a determined GP attempts to break the world speed record for examining patients, a mafia Don tries to teach his son-in-law about family business, and a double agent gets confused about whose side he’s really on. 
 
You’ll hear the hilarious history of Ancient Rome, science and the animal kingdom; find out how to become a successful politician and discover some diabolical ways to make money – as well as taking a twisted look at Gardeners’ Question Time, Desert Island Discs and Doctor Who… And there’s much more than just sketches to enjoy – Nick and Andy also poke fun at a host of well-known ‘80s and ‘90s personalities, conduct a host of side-splitting spoof interviews and bowl us over with their lively banter. 
 
Written by and starring Nick Revell and Andy Hamilton, with co-stars including Harry Enfield, Felicity Montagu and Morwenna Banks, this sparkling comedy show won’t make you a millionaire – but it will make you laugh out loud. 
 
NB: Some of the language and humour on this recording reflects the era in which it was first broadcast. 
 
 
Cast and credits 
Written by and starring Andy Hamilton and Nick Revell 
With Amanda Swift, Jasper Jacob, Penelope Nice, Felicity Montagu, Harry Enfield, Morwenna Banks, Lesley Sharp and Nigel Pegram 
Produced by Paul Mayhew-Archer 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 20 July-17 August 1985 (Series 1), 29 August-11 October 1986 (Series 2), 3 October-7 November 1987 (Series 3), 18 March-22 April 1989 (Series 4), 28 December 1989 (Christmas Special), 23 June 1990 (World Cup Special), 27 July-31 August 1991 (Series 5), 9 April 1992 (Election Special), 13 October 1992 (Columbus Special), 1 January 1994 (State of the Nation Special), 11 April 1996 (Millennium Special) 
 
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