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 Ed Reardon 's Week . Author, pipe smoker, consummate fare-dodger and master of the abusive e-mail, currently trying to survive in a world where the media seems to be run by idiots and lying charlatans.

Electric Ink. By Alistair Beaton, Tom Mitchelson. Electric Ink follows a group of dysfunctional journalists as they attempt to cover major news stories while grappling with the demands of working in a multi-platform environment; watching circulation figures plummet; and seeing half the workforce laid-off in the recession.

Elephants to Catch Eels. By Tom Jamieson. Drumlin Bay, Cornwall, 1790s - Tamsyn Trelawney (Lucy Speed) is the greatest smuggler in all of Cornwall. However, things would be a bit easier if her drunken father Jago (John Bowe) stopped claiming her successes as her own. Tamsyn often has to face trouble with the local authorities, in particular ruthless Captain Marriot (Andrew McGibbon). Things change however with the new arrival of Major Thomas Falconer (Cameron Stewart), who refuses to believe that a woman could be responsible for all the smuggling however and therefore she usually manages to avoid capture.

ElvenQuest. By Anil Gupta and Richard Pinto. Sam Porter is a misanthropic fantasy novelist whose best friend is his pet dog Amis. While at a book signing in Totnes High Street, three people, whom Sam presumes are hard-core fantasy fans dressed in full costume, kidnap Amis. Sam fights them and during the fight, both Sam and Amis end up in an actual fantasy world - Lower Earth.

Everyone Quite Likes Justin is a sitcom by Justin Moorhouse and Jim Poyser, in which Justin tries to start dating again. But everything seems to have changed since he last tried. Instead of dating, Justin manages to get embroiled with toy trains, Phantom Of The Opera and a greyhound that will never win a race. In one version of his life, Justin is a well-known local Manchester radio DJ who is successful, funny and stopped in the street by adoring fans. He's the man who has everything. In the other version he's a DJ in a slightly shabby local radio station who gets hassled by the occasional nutter on the street. The truth lies somewhere in between. His wife has left him, taking custody of his eight-year-old son Justin junior, and is in the process of taking him to the cleaners. So he's back on the market, as is his house, leaving him living in his father-in-law's spare room in Bury. The only person who understands him is his Gran, living in luxury in an old folk's home in Warrington. Despite all this Justin remains positive. Every day is a new opportunity: "When life throws you lemons, make lemonade". 

Fags, Mags and Bags. The staff of Fags, Mags and Bags are tireless in their quest to bring nice-price custard creams and cans of coke with Arabic writing on them to an ungrateful nation.

Fat Chance. By Jenny McDade. A high-fat bittersweet comedy series for those who believe that there is a thin person inside them begging to get out. Join Wendy Bottomley and the members of her slimming club.

Flying the Flag. A character sitcom, chronicling the ups and downs (mostly downs) of diplomatic life in a fictitious eastern-bloc country. Dinsdale Landen starred as British ambassador MacKenzie, contending with bribery and beetroot-flavoured biscuits on a daily basis. When the series began the Cold War was still in full flow; later series reflected contemporary developments, as the People's Republic became the People's Democracy, and its populace was exposed to the winds of no change whatsoever.

Getting Nowhere Fast. Former lovers and now middle aged business partners, Pam and Merv try to 'get with it' by opening a Cyber section in their Vodka and Veggie cafe.

Giles Wemmbley Hogg. Comedian Marcus Brigstocke plays Hogg, an upper middle-class student ponce of Budleigh Salterton who decides to make a series of diversity-building reports while on his gap year abroad. Traveller, backpacker, fearless interviewer — Hogg has no shame in making a complete idiot of himself.

Goodness Gracious Me. The First All-asian and award-winning comedy sketch show featuring The Competitive Mothers and The Buddhist Pest Controller.

Goon Show, The. The Goons included Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe. They burst onto the radio with surreal storylines, absurd logic, puns, catchphrases and groundbreaking sound effects. They ridiculed the pomposity of those in authority and laughed at the stupidity of mankind.

Half-Open University, The. 25th August 1975, BBC Radio 3 made one of its rare excursions into the world of comedy with a show called The Half Open University. This was a send up of the BBC's Open University broadcasts and the subjects ranged from physics to chemistry and biology. The show was effectively a pilot for The Burkiss Way. 

Hancock's Half Hour. There's an argument to be made that the Great British sitcom as we know it started here.You want a misunderstood, self-proclaimed genius whose lofty ambitions in life are thwarted either by a boorish sidekick or, more often than not, his own painful shortcomings? A man trapped by circumstance? A, let's face it, pompous prig? Tony Hancock is the archetype.

Harpoon, The is a rip-roaring dig at the world of Edwardian boys' comics, featuring thrilling accounts of jungle exploration, practical tips for growing lads, jolly japes voiced by cheery cockneys, advice on warding off the attentions of foreigners and assorted "tales of derring-do and derring-don't".

Hordes of the Things. Tolkien gets a going over with this spoof serial from 1980. An epic fantasy in at least four parts with Patrick Magee as The Chronicler.

HR. Comedy drama series that charts the misfortunes of a middle-aged HR officer and his trouble-making colleague. Sam, a lazy HR (personnel) officer, and Peter his equally indolent subject, realise the skids are under them: Peter for lateness and abusive phone calls to clients and Sam for his over-relaxed attitude to errant staff members like Peter. Soon their worst fears are realised when they learn that one of the abusive phone calls made by Peter has been intercepted. Sam and Peter listen to the monitored recording of the offending call and plan strategies to avoid Peter's sacking. 

Hudson and Pepperdine Show, The. Welcome to Mel and Vicki's flat. You'll have to excuse the noise and the constant interruptions. What with those dirty Sloanes next door, the men's group meeting upstairs and the stay-at-home dads, we can hardly hear the phone ring - and it could well be Mel's agent offering her a role in something tasteful. 

Hut 33. Sitcom set in Bletchley Park in 1941. Three code-breakers are forced to share a draughty wooden hut as they try to break German ciphers. Unfortunately, they hate each other. 

I, Regress. A dark, David Lynch-ian comedy, ideally suited for an unsettling and surreal late night listen. 'I, Regress' sees Matt Berry playing a corrupt and bizarre hypnotherapist taking unsuspecting clients on twisted, misleading journeys through their subconscious. Each episode sees the doctor dealing with a different client who has come to him for a different problem (quitting smoking, fear of water, etc). As the patient is put under hypnosis, we 'enter' their mind, and all the various situations the hypnotherapist takes them through are played out for us to hear. The result is a dream- (or nightmare-) like trip through the patient's mind, as funny as it is disturbing. 

I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. A British institution and one of, if not the longest running British comedy series. ISIHAC is a parody of the traditional panel show, with games designed to humiliate and confuse. Points come for show's lovely (and fictitious) scorer Samantha.Legendary host Humphrey Lyttelton presided over the first 50 series. In the series that followed the host's death the role of chairman was handed over to Stephen Fry, Jack Dee and Rob Brydon. The trio took it in turns to present the show. Jack Dee's episodes were generally the best received by the audience, and thus Dee has been installed as the new host.

In and Out of the Kitchen is irresistible. This is a sly comedy by and starring Miles Jupp. He plays a cookery writer who so closely resembles a real one, much read and seen, that it adds an extra frisson to every radio adventure. The spoof recipes would deserve a health warning if they weren't so blissfully silly. 

It Sticks Out Half A Mile. (The Sequel to Dad's Army- below) World War Two has finished, and former Home Guard Sergeant Arthur Wilson is now the manager of the Frambourne branch of Swallows Bank. He gets an unexpected visit from ex-Private Frank Pike who asks for a loan to help former ARP Warden Bert Hodges buy old Frambourne pier. The series follows Wilson, Pike and Hodges's exploits in reviving the pier. 

King Streer Junior & King Street Revisited. An unassuming Radio 4 institution, this character sitcom-cum-light drama serial followed the working lives of a group of teachers at a small junior school in a multiracial area, and came from the pen of Jim Eldridge, himself a former teacher.

Know Your Place. By Nell Brennan. This situation comedy from 1981 takes place in a crumbling Edwardian block of flats in Bloomsbury. Jobsworth caretaker Ramsay Potts and his love for rules causes upset for residents. Stars Roy Doltrice as Ramsay Potts and Patricia Hayes as the buildings cleaner and Ramsay's suffering love interest. 

Knowing Me, Knowing You. Classic squirm-inducing chat show with Norwich's finest son and former On the Hour sports reporter, Alan Partridge. Steve Coogan plays the incompetent but self-satisfied Norwich-based host. Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge is a British comedy show first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 as a six-episode series, which subsequently transferred to Television.

 

Ladies of Letters. Vera Small and Irene Spencer are two elderly ladies who share a sometimes rocky relationship conducted by correspondence. Vera and Irene reveal their exploits and adventures to each other in their letters and e-mails, but sometimes their correspondence becomes fractious when one accuses the other of being an alcoholic or engages in too much one-upmanship. 

Laxian Key, The. By Robert Sheckley, Chris Larner, David Gilbert. Sci-fi comedy series based on the short stories of Robert Sheckley. Two planetary decontaminationists accidentally cause the Earth to melt. Set in the year 2150, Arnold and Gregor work as planetary decontaminationists via their own firm, AAA Ace Eco-Friendly Interplantary Decomtamination. Their job is to clean up polluted planets and to make them habitable for humans. One such place is Planet Party, where several people have died when they landed there. With a big cash award given to anyone who can clean it up, it looks like Arnold and Gregor might do the deadly job.

Lenin of the Rovers. Lenin Of The Rovers was set in the bizarre world of Felchester Rovers, Britain’s one and only all-communist football team.  Alexei Sayle starred as midfield maestro Ricky Lenin; among his team-mates were Stevie Stalin (Andrew McClean) and Terry Trotsky (Keith Allen).  Kenneth Wolstenholme, the ex-football commentator, made regular appearances as his fictional counterpart, Frank Lee Brian. 

Like They've Never Been Gone. Mike Coleman’s sitcom about 1962 Eurovision winners Tommy Franklin and Sheila Parr, played by Roy Hudd and June Whitfield, who receive new fame and a potentially lucrative chance to rejuvenate their careers — if, that is, they can overcome their mutual loathing.

Likely Lads, The. A 1960s television and radio comedy classic, 'The Likely Lads' followed the friendship of two working class young men growing up in the industrial northeast, whose hobbies were beer, football and girls. They were "canny", which is to say street-wise, yet they stumbled into one scrape after another as they struggled to enjoy the Swinging Sixties on their meagre incomes. And the story continues in 'Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads' some 5 years later.

Linda Smith's A Brief History of Timewasting was a short-lived BBC Radio 4 situation comedy series written by and starring the late Linda Smith. It ran for two series (of six episodes each) from July 2001 until July 2002. Set in East London, where Smith herself lived, A Brief History of Timewasting concerned the struggle of a single woman to fill the day, helped by her inept, sugar-loving, live-in builder Chris (Chris Neill), morbid elderly neighbour Betty (Margaret John), and Cab driver Worra (Femi Olufowuju Junior). Supporting roles were played by Jeremy Hardy and Martin Hyder. Smith's playing to her audience led to many familiar voices from Radio 4, including then-chief announcer Peter Donaldson, Thought for the Day regular Rabbi Lionel Blue, and Woman's Hour stalwart Jenni Murray, appearing as themselves. 

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