Joseph Delaney used to be an English teacher, before becoming the best-selling author of the Spook's series, which has been published in 30 countries and sold over 4.5 million copies worldwide. The first book, The Spook's Apprentice, was adapted into a major motion picture starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore.

Joseph Delaney

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David Tyler

A quiz show hosted by Steve Punt (star of BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show and the brains behind Horrible Histories) where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors. 
 
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in this fresh take on an academic quiz. The General Knowledge rounds include a quickfire bell-and-buzzer finale and the ‘Highbrow & Lowbrow’ round is cunningly devised to test not only the students’ knowledge of history, art, literature and politics, but also their Professors’ awareness of TV, music and sport. Meanwhile there are the three Specialist Subject rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, and where we find out whether the students have actually been awake during lectures... 
 
In the eighth series the universities are Newcastle, Hertfordshire, Dundee, Merton College Oxford, Sheffield and Brunel. Questions range from Bach and benzene rings to Gnasher from The Beano and why eating detergent is wrong. 
 
In the ninth series the universities are Royal Holloway, Aberdeen, Plymouth, St Catharine’s College Cambridge, Brighton, and Oxford Brookes. We’ll hear about Lego, Scottish Gaelic fishing jargon and horse teeth via Jack Straw, James Bond and Dick Dastardly. 
 
In the tenth series the universities are Bournemouth, Imperial College, Reading, Durham, Ulster, and Mansfield College Oxford. Questions range from sarcophagi to cocktail ingredients to Jack Reacher, with a bit of Tristram Shandy thrown in. 
 
In the eleventh series the universities are Southampton, Cumbria, Brasenose College Oxford, Anglia Ruskin, Northampton, and Nottingham Trent. Subjects include brothels, bats and robbing a bank, plus there’s a chance to brush up on Plato, piercings, and postage. 
 
In the twelfth series the universities are UCL, Leeds Beckett, Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, Warwick, Bangor, and Lancaster. Questions range from the isotropy of the universe and Kartvelian Languages to Yellow Submarines and a song about sausage rolls. 
 
In the thirteenth series the universities are Exeter, Strathclyde, Somerville College Oxford, Keele, King’s College London, and Portsmouth. Subjects include a giant spider, Kate Winslet, and why it's no longer illegal to commit champerty. Also, there's your chance to hear the most-played piece of music ever. 
 
In the fourteenth series the universities are Leicester, St Andrews, Loughborough, Falmouth, Robinson College Cambridge, and UEA. We’ll meet a five-legged sheep and a Belgian biscuit, and discover how to luff a jib, how to deconstruct a dodecagon, and the one thing Hannibal Lecter really shouldn’t eat… 
 
Hosted by Steve Punt 
Devised & produced by David Tyler 
First broadcast 25 June 2018 – 18 August 2024 
A Pozzitive Production for BBC Radio 4 
 
©2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

The 3rd Degree: Series 8-14

The BBC Radio 4 Brainy Quiz Show

Steve Punt

The complete second collection of the quiz show where a team of three University students take on a team of three of their professors, hosted by Steve Punt (star of BBC Radio 4’s The Now Show and the brains behind Horrible Histories), including the complete final series 15. 
 
The show is recorded on location at a different University each week, and pits three Undergraduates against three of their Professors in this fresh take on an academic quiz. The General Knowledge rounds include a quickfire bell-and-buzzer finale and the ‘Highbrow & Lowbrow’ round is cunningly devised to test not only the students’ knowledge of history, art, literature and politics, but also their Professors’ awareness of TV, music and sport. Meanwhile there are the three Specialist Subject rounds, in which students take on their Professors in their own subjects, and where we find out whether the students have actually been awake during lectures... 
 
In the eighth series the universities are Newcastle, Hertfordshire, Dundee, Merton College Oxford, Sheffield and Brunel. Questions range from Bach and benzene rings to Gnasher from The Beano and why eating detergent is wrong. 
 
In the ninth series the universities are Royal Holloway, Aberdeen, Plymouth, St Catharine’s College Cambridge, Brighton, and Oxford Brookes. We’ll hear about Lego, Scottish Gaelic fishing jargon and horse teeth via Jack Straw, James Bond and Dick Dastardly. 
 
In the tenth series the universities are Bournemouth, Imperial College, Reading, Durham, Ulster, and Mansfield College Oxford. Questions range from sarcophagi to cocktail ingredients to Jack Reacher, with a bit of Tristram Shandy thrown in. 
 
In the eleventh series the universities are Southampton, Cumbria, Brasenose College Oxford, Anglia Ruskin, Northampton, and Nottingham Trent. Subjects include brothels, bats and robbing a bank, plus there’s a chance to brush up on Plato, piercings, and postage. 
 
In the twelfth series the universities are UCL, Leeds Beckett, Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, Warwick, Bangor, and Lancaster. Questions range from the isotropy of the universe and Kartvelian Languages to Yellow Submarines and a song about sausage rolls. 
 
In the thirteenth series the universities are Exeter, Strathclyde, Somerville College Oxford, Keele, King’s College London, and Portsmouth. Subjects include a giant spider, Kate Winslet, and why it's no longer illegal to commit champerty. Also, there's your chance to hear the most-played piece of music ever. 
 
In the fourteenth series the universities are Leicester, St Andrews, Loughborough, Falmouth, Robinson College Cambridge, and UEA. We’ll meet a five-legged sheep and a Belgian biscuit, and discover how to luff a jib, how to deconstruct a dodecagon, and the one thing Hannibal Lecter really shouldn’t eat… 
 
In the fifteenth series the universities are Bristol, Queen Mary London, University of Kent, Worcester College Oxford, Manchester Metropolitan University and more. Specialist subjects include Environmental Science, Drama, and History, so naturally we’ll be discussing Boron/Calcium pH proxy analysis, Noël Coward’s wartime satire and St Cuthbert’s A-level results. All this and the world’s hottest chili pepper to boot. If not to eat. 
 
Hosted by Steve Punt 
Devised & produced by David Tyler 
First broadcast 25 June 2018 – 19 October 2025 
A Pozzitive Production for BBC Radio 4©2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P)2025 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.

The 3rd Degree: Series 8-15

Jim Eldridge

All ten series of the BBC Radio 4 comedy drama set in a small junior school 
 
‘The Sistine Chapel of radio drama’' - The Times 
 
Running for ten series between 1985 and 1988 (with a sequel, King Street Junior Revisited, airing from 2002-2005), this hugely popular school-based sitcom was one of the BBC’s most successful radio programmes. Created by award-winning writer Jim Eldridge, it follows the headmaster and staff of an inner-city primary as they deal with unruly pupils, problem parents, school governors and OFSTED inspectors. 
 
From Parents’ Evening to the PTA, and from supply teachers to staff room squabbles, every day brings fresh challenges for headmaster Mr Beeston. Among the problems facing him are a flu epidemic, a shortage of computers, a phantom prune thief and a mysterious graffiti artist – and there’s trouble in store when in comes to sex education, school trips and Sports Day. 
 
Meanwhile, idealistic newcomers Mr Brown and Mr Sims learn some lessons about teaching, and their battle-scarred colleagues vie for promotion – or look forward to retirement. And as each new term rolls around at King Street Junior, they all prepare to shape the minds of a brand new generation... 
 
Peter Davison stars as Eric Brown, Karl Howman as Philip Sims and James Grout as Mr Beeston, with guest stars including John Craven and Michaela Strachan as themselves. 
 
Created by Jim Eldridge 
Written by Jim Eldridge, Paul Copley, Richard Stoneman, Ivan Shakespeare, Dave Single and Martin Davies 
Produced by John Fawcett Wilson 
Violinist: Sarah Hallam 
Pianist: Max Harris

King Street Junior

A BBC Radio 4 comedy

All four series of the popular follow-up to King Street Junior 
 
King Street Junior and its sequel, King Street Junior Revisited, ran for 20 years and 100 episodes between 1985 and 2005, and were among the BBC’s most successful and popular radio programmes. 
 
In these four series, we return to the inner-city primary in the new millennium. A different Head is in charge, but the challenges remain the same: from planning a big fundraising concert, to searching for a truant, to coping with wintry weather and a disappearing lollipop lady. 
 
In addition, the teachers contend with personal and professional upheavals as Mr Maxwell’s attempts to maintain playground order land him in trouble, Mr Long suffers a painful little problem, Miss Featherstone is arrested – and a surprise awaits the staff as they return from their summer holidays. 
 
But King Street Junior continues to survive and thrive, and as the series draws to a close, the children and teachers prepare to celebrate the centenary of the school’s foundation. 
 
Written by the award-winning Jim Eldridge, this acclaimed sitcom stars Carolyn Pickles as Mrs Devon, Marlene Sidaway as Miss Lewis and Brigit Forsyth as Mrs Eastwood, with a guest appearance from James Grout as Mr Beeston. 
 
 
Created and written by Jim Eldridge 
Produced by John Fawcett Wilson

King Street Junior Revisited

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