British Comedy Guide
Newsjack. Copyright: BBC
Newsjack

Newsjack

  • Radio sketch show
  • BBC Radio 4 Extra / BBC Radio 7
  • 2009 - 2021
  • 143 episodes (24 series)

Topical satirical sketch show on Radio 4 Extra. The programme had an 'open door' policy allowing anyone to submit material. Stars Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Angela Barnes, Nish Kumar, Romesh Ranganathan, Justin Edwards and more.

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Newsjack. Copyright: BBC

Key details

Genre
Sketch Show
Broadcast
2009 - 2021
Channels
BBC Radio 4 Extra, BBC Radio 7
Episodes
143 (1 pilot + 24 series), plus 2 highlights specials
Stars
Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Angela Barnes, Nish Kumar, Romesh Ranganathan, Justin Edwards, Miles Jupp, Jess Robinson, Lewis Macleod and more
Writers
Danny Antrobus, Colin Chadwick, Gareth Gwynn, Matthew Morton, John-Luke Roberts, Luke Catterson, James Kettle, Emma Payne and more
Producers
Suzy Grant, Hayley Sterling, Leila Navabi, Benjamin Sutton, Adnan Ahmed, Nick Coupe, Tilusha Ghelani, Sam Michell and more
Company

Newsjack was a topical sketch show created by BBC Radio 7, then on BBC Radio 4 Extra. The show aimed to get comic mileage from the news - political, cultural, sports, and trivia.

Originally hosted by Miles Jupp, then Justin Edwards, followed by Romesh Ranganathan, Nish Kumar, Angela Barnes and Kiri Pritchard-McLean, the tone was lively, satirical, and distinctly irreverent.

Notably, most of the sketches were written by members of the public, as the programme was happy to receive unsolicited material. For example, the production team revealed that for Series 7 they were reading 450 emails a week, and broadcast the work of 123 different writers.

Newsjack writing alumni include James Kettle, now writing on a variety of Radio 4 shows including It's Not What You Know; Eddie Robson, whose has created sitcom Welcome To Our Village, Please Invade Carefully; and Tom Neenan, who went on to become one of BBC Radio Comedy's bursary writers.

Additional details

Also known as
  • 7 On 7 (Working title)
  • Seven On Seven (Working title)
Production
Studio

Website links

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Thursday 4th June 2009 at 11pm on BBC Radio 7
Most recent repeats

Recording details

  • RADA Studios
  • BBC Radio Theatre - Episodes are normally recorded the night before broadcast
  • The Comedy Store (Manchester)
  • Zoom (Virtual) - Series 24

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