John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is a sketch comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4.[1] John Finnemore is the sole writer and performs with Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. The first series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011, and further series have followed annually.[2][3] A special edition recorded at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was broadcast in 2012. All eight series have been released on CD.

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme
CD cover showing the cast, l-r: Carrie Quinlan, Simon Kane, John Finnemore, Lawry Lewin, Margaret Cabourn-Smith
GenreSketch show
Running time30 minutes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home stationBBC Radio 4
Starring
Written byJohn Finnemore
Produced byEd Morrish
Original release2011 (2011) – present
No. of series8
No. of episodes47
Opening theme"Do It Your Own Way" by The Voodoo Trombone Quartet

The series contains sketches and character monologues, with only one major recurring character, a storyteller (a fictionalised version of John Finnemore) who narrates a tall tale in the last five minutes of most programmes, and who also provides the show's only recurring catchphrase, opening each story with "Well, since you ask me for...". The only other recurring character between episodes is an interviewer played by Carrie Quinlan named Patsy Straightwoman.

Many episodes include a comic song with words by Finnemore and music by Susannah Pearse. Some of these songs include a cello played by Sally Stairs. Sally also appears in the Stoppable sketch as a tram driver and in an Orchestra sketch as a cellist. Many episodes also include a recurring sketch that comes up two to four times in the episode. There are four sketches which parody the BBC Radio 4 series The Archers, portraying the show as it supposedly sounds to people who do not regularly listen to it. Starting in the fifth series the performers often break character, usually to complain to John about the sketches or to provide 'footnotes' highlighting factual errors. Another series of sketches involves a man (Finnemore) and the 'voice in his head' (played by Simon Kane) which appears only to give bad or unhelpful advice.

A pilot programme with a different supporting cast, titled John Finnemore, Apparently, was broadcast in 2008, starring Tom Goodman-Hill and Sarah Hadland. Many of the sketches in the pilot were subsequently remade for the series.

Awards

John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme was voted Best British Radio Sketch Show in the British Comedy Guide Awards 2011.[4] In 2014, it was awarded Silver for Best Comedy at the Radio Academy Awards.[5] It was also shortlisted for Best Radio Comedy in the 2014 Writers' Guild of Great Britain Awards.

Original broadcasts
SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
111 September 20119 October 20114
Special22 August 20121
213 September 201218 October 20126
33 September 20138 October 20136
416 October 201420 November 20146
57 January 201611 February 20166
627 December 201631 January 20176
74 January 2018[6]8 February 20186
822 May 2019[2]26 June 20196

Multimedia

The show has been released in both Audible audiobook format and on CD, with physical releases published by BBC Physical Audio.

ReleaseDate
Series 123 August 2013
Series 25 September 2013
Series 3 & 413 November 2014
Series 57 April 2016
Series 62 March 2017
Series 75 April 2018
Series 819 September 2019

References
  1. "John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  2. "BBC Radio 4 - John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme". BBC.
  3. Finnemore, John (June 13, 2014). "Souvenir hunting". Forget What Did. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  4. "Comedy.co.uk Awards 2011 - Results". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  5. "2014 Radio Academy Awards: Full Winners". Radio Today. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  6. "John Finnemore's Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
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