John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is a sketch comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4.^[1] John Finnemore is the sole writer and performs with Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. The first series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011, and further series have followed annually.^[2][3] A special edition recorded at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was broadcast in 2012. All four series to date have also been released on CD.

The series contains sketches and character monologues, with only one character recurring between episodes, a storyteller who narrates a tall tale in the last five minutes of most programmes, and who also provides the show's only recurring catchphrase, opening each tale with "Well, since you ask me for...". All episodes from the fourth onwards include a comic song with words by Finnemore and music by Susannah Pearse. Each series has one sketch parodying the BBC Radio 4 series The Archers, with the specific idea of portraying the show as it sounds to people who don't listen to The Archers.

The commissioning of a fifth series was announced on Twitter by John Finnemore, to be recorded in the autumn.

Awards

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme was voted Best British Radio Sketch Show in the British Comedy Guide Awards 2011. In 2014, it was awarded Silver for Best Comedy at the Radio Academy Awards.^[4] It was also shortlisted for Best Radio Comedy in the 2014 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards.

Original broadcasts

References