Ian Burrell

Another upcoming Radio 4 project, written by stand-ups Nick Doody and Matt Kirshen, is called Bigipedia. "It's sort of like Wikipedia on the radio, as if Radio 4 has been taken over by this monstrous Wikipedia-style encyclopaedia of everything," says [David] Tyler. "It's very different and I'm not sure whether the world is ready for it yet, but they're getting it whether they're ready or not." For the great archivists at Pozzitive it sounds like the perfect theme.

How Blackadder changed the history of comedy

The screenwriter and director Richard Curtis talks to The Independent about his enduringly popular creation.

Count Arthur strikes comedy gold for his devoted creator

A bumbling thespian prone to mixing up his words is about to hit our TV screens, says Ian Burrell.

[p=7409][Janice] Hadlow] is delighted that Iannucci will present a programme about his enduring passion for the poetry of John Milton, and she is even more excited that his comedy series will originate for the first time on BBC2. "The Thick Of It is a work of comedy genius that was nurtured on BBC4, became bigger and bigger and we feel should be on BBC2."

The new series featuring [Rebecca] Front, who worked with Iannucci on shows including The Day Today and I'm Alan Partridge, is expected to pay close attention to the workings of David Cameron's Conservative publicity machine, as well as starring the infamous New Labour spinmeister Malcom Tucker (played by Peter Capaldi).

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".