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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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What's Funny About ...

Discussion & Talk

Comedy: Chat

Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman hear the inside story of the biggest TV comedies..

Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman hear the inside story of the biggest TV comedies in Britain.

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What's Funny About ...: Series 2: 3. Sally Phillips & Victoria Pile on Smack The Pony

3. Sally Phillips & Victoria Pile on Smack The Pony

Series 2

BBC Radio 4 Extra - What's Funny About ..., Series 2, 3. Sally Phillips & Victoria Pile on Smack The Pony

Sally Phillips and Victoria Pile reveal how the award-winning sketch show arrived on TV.

Sally Phillips and Victoria Pile share how the award-winning show came to TV with Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman. From 2021.

Sally Phillips and Victoria Pile variously created, wrote, and starred in Channel 4's award-winning sketch show Smack The Pony. 

The duo share the inside story with TV veterans Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman.

When Smack The Pony debuted in 1999, the critics talked about it being a “female” sketch show. Which was right in as much as it starred and was run by women, and it pushed back against the male gaze which had so dominated the world of British comedy for so long.

But of course, it also rather missed the point – it wasn’t a female sketch show. It was a brilliant, edgy, silly, and gloriously funny sketch show.

Victoria and Sally discuss the challenges the show faced on its journey from a small idea pitched (by a man!) at a fancy Park Lane supper, to its BAFTA and Emmy success.

They chat through some of their favourite sketches and reveal how they created their vast array of characters. And they talk about the possibility of more episodes of Smack The Pony ever finding their way on to our TV screens.

Producer: Owen Braben

Made for BBC Radio 4 Extra by Expectation Productions, and first broadcast in September 2021.

What's Funny About ...: Series 2

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Peter Fincham and Jon Plowman hear the inside story of the biggest TV comedies.

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What's Funny About ...

Series 2

3. Sally Phillips & Victoria Pile on Smack The Pony

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