Weekly Newsletter

Ruby Wax - I'm Not As Well As I Thought I Was

Thursday 4th April 2024. Paperback

Ruby Wax's memoir charting her tumultuous mental health clinic is out in paperback in a couple of weeks' time:

"Checking into a mental clinic wasn't exactly on my radar in 2022. Writing about it wasn't either. But here we are. I spent a lifetime trying to create a 'front' to give everyone the illusion that all is well. It wasn't, and it isn't. Now I look back and I think, 'what the f*ck was that all about?' I began the book trying to find meaning by going on various, life-changing journeys, I ended up in a mental clinic; obviously things didn't work out the way I expected. This is the story of what happened after the mental car crash . . . From then on, the journey had to turn inward. It turns out I wasn't looking for meaning, I was looking for home. For those readers who are deep in the darkness of mental illness, I hope my book makes you feel less alone. Take care, love, Ruby x"

The Ealing Comedy Collection

Out now. Audio Download

Between 1947 and 1957, Ealing Studios produced a series of immensely popular, darkly funny film comedies that made the West London borough famous throughout the world. Almost 50 years later, four of these timeless films were recreated for BBC Radio 4, and are now collected together for the first time.

The stars of The Ladykillers, Kind Hearts And Coronets, Passport To Pimlico and Whisky Galore include Donald Sinden, Michael Kitchen, Harry Enfield, George Cole, Sylvia Sims and Bernard Holley.

Wicked Little Letters

Monday 15th April 2024. Blu-ray and DVD

A 1920s English seaside town bears witness to a farcical and occasionally sinister scandal in this riotous mystery comedy

Based on a stranger than fiction true story, Wicked Little Letters follows two neighbours: deeply conservative local Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and rowdy Irish migrant Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). When Edith and fellow residents begin to receive wicked letters full of unintentionally hilarious profanities, foul-mouthed Rose is charged with the crime. The anonymous letters prompt a national uproar, and a trial ensues. However, as the town's women - led by Police Officer Gladys Moss (Anjana Vasan) - begin to investigate the crime themselves, they suspect that something is amiss, and Rose may not be the culprit after all.

Meet The Huggetts

Thursday 25th April 2024. Audio Download

Post-war comedy with Britain's most popular family, The Huggetts, who dominated the airwaves in the 1950s. For nearly a decade their family capers entertained listeners with the trials and tribulations of everyday life in post-war Britain. An unashamedly working-class family, the Huggetts epitomise the spirit of a united nation relishing simple pleasures with a cheery, down-to-earth smile.

Sadly only seven of the 168 era-defining episodes have survived in the BBC's archive, and they are now available together for the first time. This light-hearted, feel-good comedy is as fresh and funny as it was when it was first broadcast. Listen now and laugh along with a family from a bygone era and enjoy this piece of wonderful radio history.

UPROAR!: Satire, Scandal & Printmakers In Georgian London

Out now. Paperback

Historian Alice Loxton tells the history of satire, focusing on its origins with the satirical printmakers of the 1790s and 1800s. Led by James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and Isaac Cruikshank, UPROAR! shows how, from the dimly lit taverns, drenched in alcohol, coffee and the stench of Georgian London, the young British artists of their era produced some of the most impactful, creative output Britain has ever seen. Loxton shows how this network also captured and articulated British humour, setting the precedent for how we laugh today. Their legacy led to the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, to The Two Ronnies, to Spitting Image and Private Eye.