Delighted to annouce that the next series of 'The Absolutely Radio Show' will be returning to Radio 4 for a 2nd series in the summer. The equally exciting news is it's a co-production between my new indie Gusman Productions and Absolutely Productions and my first major commissioning announcement. Whoop!

HOW IT ALL CAME ABOUT - (IT IS IT'S TRUE!)

The whole experience of working with the Absolutely team has probably been one of the highlights of my comedy producing career, and how the reunion and discussion came about was equally satisfying. Like anything in this business, it was a combination of timing and complete luck.

In 2010, whilst working at The Comedy Unit, we were commissioned to produce a series for Radio 4 called 'Mordrin McDonald: 21st Century Wizard' written by Scottish stand-up David Kay and my former Comedy Unit colleague, Gavin Smith: https://www.comedy.co.uk/radio/mordrin_mcdonald_wizard/ A brilliant little scripted comedy about a curmudgeonly 2000 year old wizard trying to survive in the modern world.

Whilst looking at the casting I'd remembered that David (who played Mordrin) had a great relationship with the Absolutely crowd. He was cast in Absolutely Productions' BBC Scotland pilot 'Welcome to Strathmuir' in 2007, and had co-written a pilot called 'Freedom' with Moray Hunter.

As a casting hook for 'Mordrin McDonald' I became obsessed with the idea of casting Gordon Kennedy as Geoff the local cafe owner, and Jack Docherty for the part of Mordrin's Wizard partner in crime, Bernard The Blue. It just felt like a really good fit in terms of their suitability for the parts, and their relationship with David and what that would bring. Happily the casting gods were smiling and we managed to get both Gordon and Jack for those key roles. They brought their superb comedy acting experience and radio expertise to the show which helped David and the rest of the team, and I got the chance to work with a couple of sketch comedy heroes. Win-win!

ABSOLUTELY - THE CHANNEL 4 YEARS...

I was a huge fan of the Absolutely TV sketch show which ran from 89-93 on Channel 4. For comedy fans living in Scotland it was the must watch show. In Scotland in the 80s, we'd been raised on a brilliant diet of West Coast comedy such as Naked Video, Rab C Nesbitt and Only An Excuse? to name but a few, but when Absolutely came around it felt different. It was cool and surreal and had such a great style and attitude, and most importantly, it felt like ours. It had proper Celtic roots with the Scottish core of Hunter, Docherty, Baikie and Kennedy aligned with the brilliant John Sparkes from Wales and the wonderful Morwenna Banks from Cornwall. With characters such as Don & George and Mr Muzak and Little Girl and Denzil and Calum Gilhooley and the legendary Stoneybridge it was just a brilliantly observed and superbly performed UK sketch show.

Obviously when I eventually worked with Gordon and Jack I had to exercise professional restraint and keep my Absolutely fandom on a low heat. Well, just about! I just really enjoyed chatting to them about the show and discovering their history with 'The Bodgers' which was pre-Absolutely. (Nice piece here by Moray Hunter about The Bodgers Fringe debut fact fans: http://www.theedinburghreporter.co.uk/2010/08/a-fringe-under-your-nose-the-bodgers/)

Happily Mordrin McDonald was a cracking show to work on and we were all really pleased with it and developed a great working relationship as a result. As Caroline Raphael pointed out, Mordrin was one of the best reviewed first runs she'd had in her time as comedy commissioner at Radio 4 and Gordon and Jack were big parts of that. This review from Gillian Reynolds was a typical critics response to Mordrin McDonald: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7190958/Radio-review-Radio-4-on-Wednesdays-proof-that-clever-comedy-still-exists.html

SKETCHORMA - THE REUNION!

Another show I produced for Radio 4 at the time was 'Sketchorama', the live sketch group showcase. Caroline Raphael loved the idea of a platform for up and coming sketch acts and commissioned it straight away for the 6.30pm comedy slot. In 2012 we were re-commissioned for a 2nd series and one of the hooks for a 2nd run was the idea of reforming a classic sketch group for a one-off performance on the show. Whilst working on series 3 of Mordrin McDonald I'd floated the idea to Gordon and Jack and they were immediately really open to the idea. Once Gordon had consulted with the rest of Absolutely team, we had an agreement that they'd reform for a one-off performance at the Glasgow recording of 'Sketchorama'. For them, it was a chance to get in front of a live audience again with Absolutely under the banner of another show.

JACK DOCHERTY?

The Jack Docherty question is always something that comes up. Why didn't he appear in the 'Sketchorama' reunion? Had there been a fall-out? The answer is simple and comes down to a fairly boring fact of life when working in comedy. Scheduling clashes! When it came to scheduling the 'Sketchorama' recording in April 2013, Jack had become increasingly busy writing his own Radio 4 series 'Start/Stop'. He was scheduled to record the first series in June of 2013 and we just couldn't make it work. With the Sketchorama reunion it wasn't just a case of rolling up and performing on the night, the team had to get together and write some new material for their roll call of characters, and Jack just felt he couldn't commit fully to both projects. With his blessing the reunion went ahead as a five piece.

THE SKETCHORAMA RECORDING - APRIL 2013

The recording of the reunion episode at the Oran Mor was a joyous celebration and one that will live long in the memory. (See below for a promo YouTube clip from the night.) In keeping with the ethos of 'Sketchorama' Glasgow based sketch act Endemic opened with a fantastic set and one of my favourites from that series so we were off to a flyer. Then in scenes reminiscent of a frenzied rock concert, the Absolutely team came on stage to wild acclaim. (Calum Gilhooley is definitely the new rock 'n roll!) It was such fun that night, and what the Absolutely team did so brilliantly was updating their classic characters with contemporary observations and razor sharp material, with some classic sketches performed as well including the superb Morwenna/Moray two-hander “Better”. https://soundcloud.com/gusbeattie/absolutely-better-sketch

When aired the show received a huge response from the Radio 4 listeners, and a 'Sketchorama: Absolutely Special' was commissioned almost straight away featuring more unheard material from the Oran Mor recording. That show went on to win the BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Live Scripted Comedy in early 2014. I always remember I was running late for the ceremony due to a delayed flight, and actually missed them picking up the gong! When I eventually arrived Gordon handed me the award and said "that's for you". It was a wonderful moment and just summed up the spirit of the Absolutely team.

At The Comedy Unit office hangs a picture of that unforgettable Oran Mor night, and whenever Jack Docherty came in on 'Scot Squad' business we always had a joke about how well the gang have done without him! He once put a post-it note on it saying "How dare they win an award without me!" Jack is as happy as anyone that the team have reinvented themselves successfully as a five piece, and again is totally in keeping with the generosity of spirit that exists within the Absolutely team.

THE ABSOLUTELY RADIO SHOW - SERIES 2!

Now here we are preparing for the 2nd series of 'The Absolutely Radio Show' for Radio 4, and the excitement is already building from fans as the avalanche of ticket requests come in for the live recordings on 22nd Feb & 22nd March. For those unable to make the Oran Mor nights, the series starts its Radio 4 run on Sunday 25th June at 7.15pm.

Now go on and "Get Tae Falkirk!" I've got a live show to prepare for!

Producer notes #1

'Lost Letters' on BBC Radio Scotland

Absolutely Radio Show to return! The story so far...

BBC Sitcom Season. Hit or Miss? Re-boot or boot out? Whatever your view it can only be good for the long term health of the genre.

I've set up my own production company! *gulp*

I've set up my own production company! gulp