The Newsjack Writers' Room

Exclusive to BBC Radio 4 Extra, Newsjack showcases the week's news stories which have been lovingly bashed, mashed and moulded into sketches and one-liners. Anyone can submit material to go into the show alongside material from the show's core group of writers. Claire Wetton explains how she made the move from submitting material to being part of the show's Writers' Room...

Claire Wetton, BBC Writersroom, 8th February 2017

Comedy.co.uk Awards 2016 shortlists announced

The shortlists for the Comedy.co.uk Awards 2016 have been revealed. 60 shows are in the running for the Comedy Of The Year title. Voting is now open.

British Comedy Guide, 16th January 2017

Newsjack Addict goes to a Newsjack Writers Briefing

The first bit of advice I can pass on is, if you ever get an invite to a Newsjack Writers' Briefing, accept it immediately!

Simon Paul Miller, Comedy Crowd, 12th January 2017

Angela Barnes to take over Newsjack

Angela Barnes has been announced as the new host of Radio 4 Extra sketch show Newsjack.

British Comedy Guide, 12th December 2016

Why you should write for Newsjack

I've written before about sketch writing and I'm not going to stop saying it: if you want to make a living as a comedy writer this is the best place and the best way to start.

Dave Cohen, 21st September 2016

Newsjack: the comedy show that anyone can write for

Calling all comedy writers! Newsjack, the topical sketch show that anyone can write for is back for its thirteenth series and we need you to send us your comedy gold!

BBC Writersroom, 21st August 2015

As a younger show with an "open door" submissions policy - meaning that anyone can send in material for consideration - the topical sketch series Newsjack (Radio 4 Extra, Thursday) ought to be edgier, weirder, less formulaic than The News Quiz; but ends up, somehow, being just as complacent. Currently fronted by the comedian Nish Kumar, with assistance from a revolving cast of comics and actors, it's one of a small group of original, non-archival series on 4 Extra.

This week's half-hour instalment was dispiriting in the way that only really unfunny comedy can be. A skit about a plane that had been forced to land at Heathrow because of a broken lavatory careered out of the radio and landed with a tin clunk on the floor. The nadir was reached during a skit about politicians doing drugs, in which Nicola Sturgeon was represented by someone doing a generic Scottish accent, David Cameron by someone who sounded vaguely like Ed Miliband, Ed Miliband by someone who sounded like a young Janet Street-Porter, and Nigel Farage by a woman making no attempt to do an accent at all.

Why does BBC radio so consistently fudge this kind of thing? Neither series is doing anything that pushes a boundary, finds an edge, or ventures anywhere outside of an ideological comfort zone. Chris Morris's On the Hour, commissioned by Radio 4 nearly 25 years ago, retains more bite in a single sketch than they managed across an hour of broadcast time. Here's hoping it doesn't take another quarter-century for the BBC to try something different.

Pete Naughton, The Telegraph, 25th March 2015

Writing for Newsjack

This week, I've been writing a lot of sketches. Don't blame me; blame Newsjack with its bi-annual championing of new writers. Its arrival means I have to write topical sketches and, unfortunately, I'm not really up on current events.

Rob Gilroy, Giggle Beats, 27th February 2015

My big break on Radio 4 Extra's Newsjack

From that first Newsjack contact I started getting bits of freelance comedy writing work, which meant that last spring I had the right amount of broadcast experience to go for the Contract Writer post.

Gabby Hutchinson Crouch, BBC Blogs, 26th February 2015

Nish Kumar named as the new host of Newsjack

Stand-up comedian Nish Kumar has been named as the new host of Newsjack, the topical Radio 4 Extra sketch show that the public can write for.

British Comedy Guide, 6th February 2015