‘On the Hour’ free download
The Guardian has a free download of an extract from the classic radio comedy series ‘On the Hour‘.
First broadcast in August 1991 the Radio 4 series was notable as it featured the writing and voice talents of Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci and Steve Coogan. In fact the credits for the show read like a who’s who of British comedy and drama as it also includes Stewart Lee, Richard Herring, Graham Linehan, Arthur Matthews and Patrick Marber.
The show went on to become The Day Today when it made the move to television in January 1994.
The free download comes ahead of two 4-CD sets of the first two series released by Warp Records on 24th November. You can pre-order the CDs or download the set now via iTunes at the offical site.
The show was previously released on double cassette in 1992. It’s unclear if this release will reinstate the Lee and Herring penned material that was edited from that edition due to the duo’s dispute with members of the OTH team over ownership of certain characters.
L&H agreed to their material being included when this release was first mooted five years ago, many years after a dispute which is water long since under the bridge. Series 1 is complete, but the cuts to Series 2 do undermine this release as a whole. Unfortunately someone at Warp settled for the revised repeats which lost about 90secs per show. A bit of basic research would have revealed that they were the wrong versions.
Linehan & Matthews (sic) did not write for OTH, incidentally. They joined for TDT along with Peter Baynham.
Thanks for the further info Ian.
Regarding Linehan and Mathews, I’m inclined to think you’re right on that although the BBC Comedy website lists them both as contributors http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/onthehour/
Who cares – The Day Today is brilliant!
No problem, Tom. The BBC Comedy Guide’s been a waste of space ever since they replaced the original Mark Lewisohn version, but I accept that you were using the Beeb as a trusted reference. Just don’t in future!
Arthur & Graham joined the team because Talkback ended up taking on the show as a production for television and they were in-house writers, having worked on the Smith & Jones show, so it was an obvious opportunity for them. Mel and Griff owned Talkback at the time, and Griff in particular was a big supporter of Linehan & Mathews.
Don’t let my grumbles about series 2 being cut put anyone off, by the way. Warp should be applauded for finally getting this out and any serious fan of alternative comedy should support the release.