Interview with Dougie Anderson

Douglas Anderson is a broadcaster, writer and filmmaker. He's also very funny which means he passes the rigorous screening process required to get onto this site. Amongst other things, Dougie has worked for the BBC, Channel 4 and BAFTA, in genres ranging from music and film to current affairs and sport (you may have heard him on one of his regular appearances on Colin Murray's Fighting Talk). His body of work to date has rightfully earned him a reputation as a presenter with an acerbic wit, who is both intelligent and engaging in whatever he does. In this interview we discuss how Dougie got involved in the media, the differences between radio and television & the similarities between presenting and stand-up.

There was a salutary lesson for radio producers last Saturday on Fighting Talk (Radio 5, 11am). Someone forgot to switch off the participants' microphones during the news, so the item about Jon Venables being returned to prison was undercut by Colin Murray et al sniggering and whispering about far more important things, probably football related.

5 Live's controller risks playing it for laughs

The funny stuff will arrive in time for the festive season, a series of "Christmas treats", as Van Klaveren terms them. Parsons will be making a show called PMQ, in which he will play the Speaker and guests have to respond to given situations as if they were Gordon Brown, only in a humorous way. The controller hopes it will become a current affairs equivalent of Colin Murray's successful Fighting Talk, "which works brilliantly in terms of sport, but what we haven't got is a vehicle which is as strong in terms of news and topical events".