Marjolein Robertson and Gareth Waugh bring Humanwatch to Radio 4
- Humanwatch is the debut Radio 4 series for Scottish stand-ups Marjolein Robertson and Gareth Waugh
- The pair write and star in the four-part spoof of the BBC's wildlife series Springwatch
- Robertson explains "we tried to write things about human nature in way that's endearing and sweet but getting it slightly wrong"
Marjolein Robertson and Gareth Waugh have landed their first Radio 4 series, a spoof of BBC wildlife franchise Springwatch, focused on people rather than animals, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
The pair write and star as the hosts of Humanwatch. The four 15-minute episodes also feature Phil Ellis as a roving reporter, "stationed at a 'nest' throughout the series, watching a family through their windows", Alison Spittle "studying human behaviour such as drinking culture", and character comic Katia Kvinge in a number of roles.
Recorded in Glasgow on Tuesday and set to air in the autumn, the series also features comics Sam Lake, Kate Hammer, Kai Humphries and Dean Coughlin.
"I'm very excited" Robertson told BCG. Humanwatch is "kind of surreal, as we tried to write things about human nature in way that's endearing and sweet but getting it slightly wrong.
"One of my favourite segments has us looking at cyclists for Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eats and wondering why are they bringing food to these houses? Well, obviously, we imagine, they've been foraging and now they're storing food in different houses for the winter months.
"We're really enthusiastic about humans and all their misdemeanours. And we've got a great cast. It was a real challenge because Springwatch is all about the visuals [and we're] making a comedy in an audio format. But the great thing about radio is you can go to any location, there's a great freedom there because if you can get a sound effect for it, you can say that you're in any corner of Britain."
The London-based Shetlander had been approached for ideas by Breaking The News producers Lauren Mackay and David Flynn and came up with the series "in the shower one morning". She asked her sometime writing partner Waugh if he might help her create it, because "I'm an ideas person and he's more joke, joke, joke".
Robertson, who recently wrote for the upcoming second series of BBC Three sitcom Dinosaur - "such a good show and I love Ashley [Storrie]]" - adds that while "writing for radio is a dream", Humanwatch is "something that would adapt so nicely to telly".
BBC Radio Scotland previously aired a series called Peoplewatch with a similar, Springwatch-style spoof premise in 2011, written by Turan Ali, Ross Craig and Allan Miller, and starring Steve Nallon, Vicki Liddelle, John Kazek, Louise Ludgate, Gavin Mitchell and Robin Laing.
Before Humanwatch airs on Radio 4, with Mackay producing and Flynn serving as executive producer, Robertson will be debuting Lein, the final part of her personal storytelling trilogy at the Edinburgh Fringe. Each of the trilogy has been woven around a folk tale. And, whereas her breakthrough 2023 show Marj was associated with the mind, and last year's O with the body, Lein is focused on the soul and how she got into comedy while living in Amsterdam.
Robertson, whose mother and first name are Dutch, is returning to perform in Holland's capital this weekend. That's "a nice circularity" as Lein recalls how she "got kicked out of my flat overnight, fired from my job and robbed, one bad thing after another.
"Everyone at home expected me to come back to Shetland because I didn't even have a suitcase to pack, they robbed that too. But I was determined to get something back from Amsterdam and I got taken on a free stand-up course and free storytelling course."
Playing in her biggest Fringe room to date, the Pleasance Dome's Queen Dome, and beginning with audio of her parents speaking, Lein incorporates the Skye folk tale of The Dream Makers, "about a girl who gets utterly lost but ends up meeting these people who teach her this magic that she didn't know existed, an ability to weave stories in a way that she'd never heard of before, learning how to share stories and giving her life purpose," Robertson explains.
"Yet she's still lost up in the mountains and discovers that just because you have a role doesn't mean you can find contentment. Our worth is not what we produce, it's who we are. We can get lost because we're so obsessed in this life with our job and we're so obsessed with spirituality after we die. But actually, probably the most important thing about spirituality is that we are on this plane of existence in the now."
Robertson has committed herself to the Fringe and is already writing her 2026 show. With the working title Holiday, it will depart from the experimental storytelling of the trilogy to be "more of a classic stand-up show with routines, sections, a 40-minute mark and a finish, more joke, joke, joke, with bits that I can use in my club sets".
Thereafter though, she's considering taking an actual holiday. Or at least, only doing a week's work-in-progress at the 2027 Fringe, having performed in Edinburgh every August since 2014 and 2015, if appearances at the Tattoo are taken into consideration.
Robertson also urges audiences to check out her Humanwatch co-star's work-in-progress show, Gareth Waugh: Waugh In Progress. "There's a reason there were more gags in O than there were in Marj, because we'd started writing together by that point" she says.
"It's interesting for me but scary too to watch Gareth's work-in-progresses because they're punchier and funnier than mine. He's a brilliant comic, very honest. And he takes you on emotional moments, particularly when he talks about his newborn son."
Marjolein Robertson: Lein is at Pleasance Dome at 8:20pm, 30 & 31 Jul; 1-11 & 13-24 August. EdFringe.com
Gareth Waugh - Waugh In Progress (WIP) is at Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Tron) at 12:10pm, 28, 29-31 Jul; 1-11 & 13-24 August. EdFringe.com