John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme

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Comedy: Sketch

Sketch show from the writer of Radio 4's Cabin Pressure, John Finnemore

Sketch show from the writer of Radio 4's Cabin Pressure and regular guest on The Now Show, John Finnemore, with Carrie Quinlan, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Lawry Lewin and Simon Kane

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John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme: Series 9: Episode 2

Episode 2

Series 9

BBC Radio 4 - John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme, Series 9, Episode 2

John Finnemore presents a ninth series of his award-winning sketch show.

John Finnemore presents a ninth series of his award-winning sketch show, with Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin, Carrie Quinlan, and music by Susannah Pearse.

The ninth series of John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is very different to the previous eight. It's still written by John Finnemore, "one of our best sketch writers", (The Observer), and performed by him with "a great supporting cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan" (The Telegraph), and there are still sketches and songs. But, with no live studio audience this year, John has taken the opportunity to try something completely new

Every episode in this series of Souvenir Programme is made up of scenes from one person's life, played in reverse order. There's no narrative to the episode; it's still a sketch show, not a sitcom... but the sketches in each episode all happened to one person, played by one member of the cast, over the course of their lifetime.

Episode two is all about Deborah, and takes place between a catchup Zoom in lockdown one, and a bedtime story she was told in 1962.

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme started in 2011 and quickly established itself as "One of the most consistently funny sketch shows for quite some time" (The Guardian), and "One of the funniest and most inventive new radio comedy shows of recent years"  (The Daily Mail).

Written and performed by ... John Finnemore
Deborah ... Margaret Cabourn-Smith
Ensemble ... Lawry Lewin
Ensemble ... Simon Kane
Ensemble ... Carrie Quinlan


Recorded and edited by ... Rich Evans at Syncbox Post
Production coordinator ... Beverly Tagg
Producer ... Ed Morrish

A BBC Studios Production

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme: Series 9

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