15 Minute Musical. Image credit: British Broadcasting Corporation.

15 Minute Musical
15 Minute Musical. Image credit: British Broadcasting Corporation.

15 Minute Musical

Current affairs and celebrity stories told in musical form, created by Richie Webb, Dave Cohen and David Quantick

AKA:
15 Minute Musicals
Genre:
Musical
Broadcast:
2004 - 2013  (BBC Radio 4)
Episodes:
43 (7 series)
Starring:
Dave Lamb, Richie Webb, Melanie Hudson, Vicki Pepperdine, Alex Lowe, Dave Cohen, Jess Robinson, Pippa Evans
Writers:
Dave Cohen, David Quantick, Richie Webb
Production:
British Broadcasting Corporation

Each episode of this radio series takes an easily identifiable public figure and contorts their story into a bitesize West End Musical.

Recent targets satirised by the show include Heather Mills-McCartney, Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Jeremy Clarkson and Camilla Parker Bowles.

Series 5 covered the US Election, Piers Morgan's search for his real father (Pappa Pia), Nick Clegg's search for a personality, Demon chef Ramsay Todd's search for the perfect pie ingredient, Ebenezer Brown's search for Christmas cheer, and Boris Johnson driving a bus from Beijing to Bow in the hope that he'll arrive in time for the London Olympics.

Those given a comedic West End musical makeover in Series 6 included Bruce Forsyth, Ed Miliband, Fabio Capello and the Coalition and Ant and Dec. The Queen also featured in a 15 Minute Musical which saw her look back at the public figures she's met during 2010.

After a long break, 15 Minute Musical returned for Christmas 2012, with daily episodes. Targets included Rupert Murdoch and David Cameron.

Our Review: Every episode of this show delivers 15 minutes of carefully crafted upbeat satire. We love it.