Dead Ringers to return with Jon Holmes as producer
- Dead Ringers is to return to Radio 4 for a new series on Friday 13th June
- Following the death of creator Bill Dare, The Naked Week and The Skewer producer Jon Holmes will oversee the format
- Holmes, who worked on the early series, says: "It's a real honour to be asked to re-join the team for this new series all these years later"
Topical impression show Dead Ringers is to return to Radio 4 in June.
Following the death of creator Bill Dare, the BBC have now appointed The Skewer and The Naked Week producer Jon Holmes to oversee the format.
Dead Ringers launched in 2000, with Jon Holmes amongst the initial team. Dare died in March, following an accident abroad. Today (16th May) would have been his 65th birthday.
BBC Studios is to continue to produce the programme, with Series 26 - once again starring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Duncan Wisbey, Lewis Macleod and Jess Robinson - set to begin on Radio 4 on Friday 13th June at 6:30pm. Free tickets are available for the recordings.
Holmes has a long-track record of producing topical shows, including working on The Naked Week which runs in the same Friday night comedy slot as Dead Ringers and multi award-winning satirical audio mash-up programme The Skewer. The latter, which is now on its 13th series, won the gold award at this week's Radio Academy Awards.
Holmes says: "As a then BBC contract writer, I was involved with the development and writing of Dead Ringers back when we began (25 years ago!) so it's a real honour to be asked to re-join the team for this new series all these years later. My friend Bill would want me to point out that I won't be as good as him. He may well be right but, just to annoy him, I'll give it my best shot."
As was recently announced, Dead Ringers: The 25th Anniversary Tour is set to run across September and October 2025. Featuring Jon Culshaw, Jan Ravens, Lewis Macleod and Duncan Wisbey, the non-broadcast live shows will celebrate the programme's 25th anniversary and pay tribute to Dare.