Radio - Light entertainment

Published Monday 23 June 2008 at 14:10 by Lisa Martland

For decades radio has helped nurture the cream of British comedy with the result that the majority of successful performers and writers eventually move on to embrace the cash and kudos television can offer.

However, if a TV producer were currently searching the airwaves for the next big thing, they would be severely disappointed.

In fact, some of the best work broadcast in a long time was featured in Footlights at 125 - A Retrospective. Admittedly, the sketches recreated to celebrate the Cambridge society’s anniversary included ones penned by the young Peter Cook and Stephen Fry, but even their old student material outclasses almost everything on offer now.

In the first of three programmes, a brief history lesson explained the Footlights journey, kicking off in the Victorian era with show titles such as Bang Goes the Meringue, and decades later launching such high-profile comedy teams as Beyond the Fringe, half of Monty Python and more recently Mitchell and Webb.

The format of this little series is particularly enjoyable because it shies away from dry documentary and instead plays out past sketches to a live audience. Trying to replicate their ideas here would not do the writers any favours, but suffice to say, much of this ‘comedy with L-plates’ is still very funny. The cast, which apparently involved some of the current crop of Footlights performers, also did an excellent job in recreating the atmosphere of a comedy revue.

One of the stand-ups likely to be featured on Footlights at 125 is Mark Watson and by coincidence his first sitcom for Radio 4 - Spike’s Lookalikes - has just begun airing.

Ardal O’Hanlon plays Spike, a lookalike agent who though enthusiastic has a dubious track record when it comes to business. Doing her best to keep him on track is his long-suffering wife Maggie (Doon Mackichan) who fortunately keeps one step ahead of him. In the first instalment the agency is thrown into turmoil when Jimmy, their very popular Del Boy lookalike, decides he has had enough of pratfalls Fools and Horses-style and is off to a new life as a dentist in Spain.

It would be great to say that Spike’s Lookalikes bucks the recent trend of average comedy writing for radio, but unfortunately, much of the script was predictable and lacked pace. What does remain in Watson’s favour though is that his idea has a lot of potential, you only have to glance through the pages of The Stage to appreciate the significance of the lookalikes sector. Plus, there were some flashes of brilliance, especially when the method-acting Victoria Beckham featured.

Audiences know where they are with the kind of material described above, it is supposed to be funny, but what about a concert performed by The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain? The members of this eight-strong ensemble interviewed by Phill Jupitus take their music very seriously, but they also appreciate its innate humour, as all the various vocal sound effects employed for their unique interpretation of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly demonstrate.

The inspiration for the orchestra was provided when one member experimented with the sound of a Smurf toy guitar. The rapid success which followed, however, was nothing to be sneered at, with a Radio 1 session and TV coverage not long in coming. Twenty-two years later the musicians have a fan base of 12,000 and play sell-out concerts worldwide.

As an aside, I must admit to a certain ignorance when it comes to the instrument George Formby played. I thought it was a plain old ukulele - apparently it was a banjo-ukulele. But you probably knew that already.

DETAILS

Footlights at 125 - A Retrospective - R4, Tuesday, June 17

Happy Mondays - Spike’s Lookalikes - R4, Monday, June 16

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - R4, Tuesday, June 24