Austerity has hit hard, but Ed's prospects are looking good as he's working on a book with the brief to make penury both cool and hot simultaneously.

BBC Radio 4's most curmudgeonly author is back for a new series, complete with his trusty companion Elgar, his pipe and his never-ending capacity for scrimping and scraping at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, can offer him to keep body, mind and cat together.

Inevitably Ed finds himself once more battling through the week encountering the numerous 12-year-olds who run the media; teaching the lively bunch of pensioners who can show him a thing or two about moneymaking schemes, frugal living and having a good time, thank you very much; and having regular run-ins with the rather successful Jaz Milvane, director of Ed's only ever book-to-screen adaptation.

Austerity has hit Ed hard and he is picking blackberries from the canal towpath for his breakfast. However, things may be looking up as the first episode sees Ed working with the most disturbingly fresh and mesmerisingly compelling voice of his generation, Ben Herbert. Ben has a three-book deal and no time to write them all, so Ed has been drafted in to help him write one of the books, How To Survive With Like No Cash.