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The Show What You Wrote
The Show What You Wrote
Jan 18, 2026 12:59 AM

Author:Various,John Thomson,Helen Moon,Fiona Clarke,Gavin Webster,Jason Manford,Chris Addison,Shobna Gulati,Janice Connolly,Various

The Show What You Wrote

The hilarious BBC Radio comedy show where every sketch has been written by the public

The complete series of the ground-breaking comedy series, which called for submissions from members of the public. With over 12,000 sketches sent in from 1,500 different people, The Show What You Wrote spans such diverse comedy topics as Crime & Thriller, Kitchen Sink, Body & Soul, and Geography, and features sketches about heaven's unexpectedly strict dress code, the Shopping Forecast, the grammar police, and some very literal highwaymen.

Starring John Thomson (The Fast Show, Cold Feet), Jason Manford (8 Out of 10 Cats, QI), and Janice Connolly (Phoenix Nights, Coronation Street) and enjoying special appearances from Gyles Brandreth, Chris Addison, Shobna Gulati, Ben Crompton and Rob Rouse, among others, this brilliant sketch series will never let you look at rock-climbing, night-clubbing, or post-apocalypse dating the same way again...

Cast

John Thomson

Helen Moon

Gavin Webster

Fiona Clarke

Janice Connolly

Jason Manford

Gyles Brandreth

Chris Addison

Ben Crompton

Darren Kuppan

Rob Rouse

Shobna Gulati

Chris Jack

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:

27 June - 18 July 2013 (Series 1)

14 August - 4 September 2014 (Series 2)

8 December - 29 December 2015 (Series 3)

Production credits

Script Editing by Jon Hunter

Produced by Carl Cooper, Alexandra Smith, Ed Morrish and Paul Sheehan

Written by Greg Jennings, Jack Bernhardt, Elise Bramich, Peter Brush, Alex Buchanan, Simon Carter, Andy Flood, Robert Frimston, Edward Rowett, Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, Peter Jump, Adam Perrott, Melissa Phillips, Eddie Robson, Paul Solomons, Jimmy Weeks, Jess Bunch, Ash Williamson, James Boughen, Dominic Burgess, John Dennett, Richard Felber, Andy Fell, Stephen Holford, Caspian James, Nathan King, Nick Hall, Matt Oakley, John-Luke Roberts, Adam Lebovits, Alex Clissold-Jones, James Allnutt , David Simpson, Andrew Spence, Callum Scott, Charlie Mizon, Dave McKeon, Eleanor Green, Graham Kilvington, Kev Core, Matthew Smith, Michael DeFroand, Phil Collinge, Rob Hayes, Sam Gore, Simon Copley, Oliver Taylor, Simon Ounsworth, Tom Neenan, Chris Allen, Steve Bugeja, Alex Collier, Andy Fury, Jez Gee, Lucy Guy, Mike Haskins, Katherine Knowles, Maeve Larkin, Sarah Page, Tom Austin, Liam Beirne, James Bugg, Ash Caton, Josh Cluderay, Stu Cooper, Rob Gilroy, Emma Payne, Andrew Stephenson, Mike Whalley, Bridget Burgoyne, Will Cooper, Owen Cooper, Max Davis, Stuart Doherty, Gil Gilmore, Sam Hudson, Carl Jones, Rob Marshall, Sean Fee, Helen Green, Joe Hodgson, Daniel Hooper, David McIver, Matthew Radway, Owen Seddon, Emlyn Williams, Pete Barrett, Martin Alcock, Joshua Bolland-Burrell, Matthew Carr, David Catstrey, Tom Crowley, Jason Jillings, Lucias Malcolm, Harry Roth, Ben Behrens, Dave Bibby, Keith Carter, Lou Conran, Dan Hobson, Jon Bridle, Scott Kingsnorth, Steve Nelson, Christopher Stanners, Claire Wetton, Mark Cowling, Jay Droch, Neil Hickey, Tony Hickson, Dan Kiss, Roxy Muldoon, David Salisbury, Cassie Atkinson, Tim Craig, Sarah Glenister, Jack Hall, Dai Hill, Rose Johnson, Sean Lindsay, Derek Martin, Darshan Singh, Rob Smyth, Owen Archlimb, Stefan Arif, Matt Harvey, Andrew Jones, Rob Keeley, Oliver Ley, Ciaran Murtagh, Lev Parikian and Chris Tindall

©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Reviews

A spectacular, thrilling novel...suspense crackles...celebrates triumphant against-the-odds camaraderie.

—— Sunday Times

O'Connor is on stellar form with this ensemble thriller ...while the story's inbuilt tension urges you on, it's the sheer vigour of O'Connor's beautifully turned phrases that really makes the book sing...an expert storyteller

—— Daily Mail

A literary thriller of the highest order. The incarnation of O'Flaherty, the Irish Oskar Schindler, is sublime. What often elevates a writer is compassion, and O'Connor has it in spades... Beautifully crafted, his razor-sharp dialogue is to be savoured, and he employs dark humour to great effect. The plot twists keep on coming

—— Observer

Breathtakingly good writing - O'Connor puts you right there, centre stage in the story and never lets you go

—— Peter James

The novel's evocative scene-setting, its propulsive narration and its powerful depiction of bravery and unity in extremis, all make for an engrossing read.

—— Telegraph

Thrilling... Based on true events, this tense, gripping narrative is rendered in beautifully evocative prose

—— Mail on Sunday

Impressive and pleasurable...the diverse ventriloquism of O'Connor's novel evokes a city in peril with wonderful vitality

—— Financial Times

A tale worth re-telling, adorned as it is by the brilliants of O'Connor's impressionistic writing

—— Best New Thrillers , The Times

A powerful portrait of extraordinary courage

—— Irish Independent

Precisely choreographed... We eagerly follow the characters through uncertainty and disappointment as well as high-stakes jeopardy. O'Connor is playing with the possibilities of multiple narrators, and thinking also about plurality, reliability and the historical record

—— Guardian, Book of the Day

Gripping...a hugely satisfying book, from its explosive opening to its bittersweet end

—— Washington Post

So beautifully written, a masterclass in 'voices' and an extremely tense thriller. It's magnificent.

—— Marian Keyes

A masterwork... so urgent, so incredibly alive... A searing and beautiful example of storytelling's infinite importance

—— Donal Ryan

For all its thrills...primarily-and triumphantly-an intimate drama that illuminates both the fragility and the wonder of unlikely human connections forged in adversity and, in some cases, enduring for a lifetime

—— Wall Street Journal

I cannot say enough good things about this World War II thriller... Told from different perspectives of people in the movement, as well as the Gestapo villain, readers will hold their breath if the Choir will fulfill their critical mission. It's the first of a trilogy and a must read

—— BookRiot

O'Connor's work is hugely impressive and utterly haunting

—— Sunday Mirror

Riveting, immersive, synesthetic, linguistically dazzling, funny and dark, this novel is blessed with a kind of magical grace. Sprezzatura springs from every page

—— Sarah Moore Fitzgerald, , SMF Bookclub

O'Connor's writing is always intensely atmospheric...O'Connor succeeds in integrating into the suspenseful plot numerous narrative voices that intersect class, gender, nationality and religion

—— Literary Review

Gripping, compelling and utterly brilliant. O'Connor's gift for exquisite language shines through

—— Liz Nugent

A thriller of engrossing urgency

—— Irish Independent

Joseph O'Connor is a very great artist and storyteller

—— Sebastian Barry

I was utterly engrossed from start to finish. The writing hums with energy. Such a gloriously vivid depiction of a Rome that is both familiar and altogether strange. And a powerful story of ordinary humans showing extraordinary bravery and tenacity. Bravo!

—— Danielle McLaughlin

Riveting...a storytelling tour de force. This is top-drawer WWII fiction

—— Publishers Weekly

My Father's House is a powerful literary thriller from a master of historical fiction. Joseph O'Connor has created an unforgettable novel of love, faith and sacrifice, and what it means to be human in the most extreme circumstances

—— Killarney Outlook

There are few living writers who can take us back in time so assuredly, with such sensual density, through such gorgeous sentences. Joseph O'Connor is a wonder

—— Peter Carey

A hugely entertaining book about the grand scope of friendship and love, it is also, movingly - at times, astonishingly - a story of transience, loss and true loyalty

—— Guardian, on Shadowplay

[A] true story... O'Connor's imagining of the characters' thoughts helps to bring them to life... This remains a tale worth retelling

—— The Times

A fine novelist, capable of remarkable feats of literary ventriloquism

—— Spectator

Compelling

—— Radio Times

O'Connor brings an impressive range of thrillerish techniques to his storytelling... [My Father's House is] vivid and atmospheric

—— Tablet

Joseph O'Connor's new novel, My Father's House, is two things: a twisty thriller whose outcome is hard to guess; and an exquisitely rendered piece of literature from a masterful writer... Bravo

—— Jewish Chronicle

Powerful...one of Ireland's greatest living storytellers...gifting us a transportive quality that only the very best historical fiction can hope to achieve

—— Totally Dublin

A thrilling new novel

—— Daily Express

Stylish, gripping, and inspiring...O'Connor is one of the most talented and respected writers of his generation

—— Church Times

O'Connor combines suspenseful storytelling with an eye for quirky human details

—— Sunday Times, *Summer Reads of 2023*

[A] lavishly crafted thriller

—— Daily Mail, *Summer Reads of 2023*

Magnificent

—— Jewish Chronicle

Victory City can, in many ways, be read as an entertaining jaunt through Indian history, though it is history through the kaleidoscopic and sweeping lens of a fairy tale... this brilliantly magical tale.

—— Irish Independent

This sweeping, intricately crafted fairy tale is underscored by very human characters and Rushdie's signature wit.

—— Culture Whisper, *Books to Look Out For 2023*

A grand entertainment, in a tale with many strands, by an ascended master of modern legends.

—— Kirkus Review

Rushdie's magical style unfurls wonders.

—— Washington Post

Rushdie's Victory City is another fabulous novel set in his native India... He's a master who never forgets that the main goal of a storyteller is to entertain rather than educate or pontificate.

—— New York Journal of Books

Rushdie is, above all else...one of the most powerful defenders of story we have... Victory City is a victory for Rushdie - and for every reader who enters its gates.

—— Harper's Bazaar

Rushdie succeeds in creating a kind of incantatory prose that befits the fabulist nature of the story... he can enchant readers like few other writers.

—— Literary Review

This is a man at his full-strength, high-tar best - with his deeply humane worldview, his brilliance at set-pieces and, above all, the thrilling wildness of his imagination on irresistible display.

—— Reader's Digest

With its carousel of shifting politics and history, Victory City is Rushdie's most textured and triumphant wonder tale yet.

—— Hindu

Utterly enchanting.

—— Eastern Eye

Rushdie's return to magic, myth, and India's ancient stories is dazzling. With mercurial prose and vivid renderings, Rushdie never loses us in Victory City's convolutions, but instead builds our trust to travail the many grand events of Pampa's imagined empire.

—— Esquire

A rich, dramatic saga... The many moments of comedy...show Salman Rushdie's storytelling skills and his endearing sense of playfulness... the main feeling the reader gets is of a storyteller enjoying himself.

—— Tablet, *Novel of the Week*

Rushdie is an expert at mixology; he's the DJ Shadow of text with references and allusions to high and low culture from Finnegans Wake to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon... a well-told tale that gets bums on seats.

—— National

There's a magical thread of storytelling running through the veins of each character we meet in this book... a joy to read.

—— UK Press Syndication

A work of great imagination... In Victory City the power of the written word and of the storyteller remain triumphant.

—— NB

Rushdie’s sheer love of fiction is irrepressible.

—— Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year*

A wonderfully entertaining literary hybrid

—— The Times, *Books of the Year*

Victory City is Salman Rushdie at his imaginative best… sweeping the reader on a journey that feels epic in a mere 320 pages

—— i, *Books of the Year*

From start to finish, the reader or listener can only be impressed by the literary flair of Rushdie's compelling storytelling... Victory City is a joy to listen to.

—— Entertainment Focus
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