The Fitzrovia Radio Hour
Encyclopedia
The Fitzrovia Radio Hour are a group of British comedy writer/performers, formed in 2008 and consisting of Jon Edgley Bond, Alix Dunmore, Alex Ratcliffe, Phil Mulryne, Tom Mallaburn and Martin Pengelly.
worker who should have known his place. The Fitzrovia Radio Hour has featured a number of guest actors, including Fiona Sheehan, Laura Carmichael
, Esther Biddle, Nick Atkinson, Asa Joel, Chris Gilling, David Oakes
and Dan Starkey
.
area of central London
. For these shows original broadcast scripts from the 1940s were sourced and edited. Guest directors included Phoebe Barran and Miles Gregory. A dedicated sound man was often employed for the production of sound effects. In October 2008 the Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed their first show at the Swan, the bar and brasserie at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
. It featured ‘Rex Boothroyd: For King & Country’, a spy story by Tom Mallaburn and Martin Pengelly, who subsequently joined the group, and Phil Mulryne’s adaptation of ‘The Suicide Club’
, by Robert Louis Stevenson
. Top Shelf Jazz provided post-show music. The show remained at the Swan for six free monthly performances. In May 2009 the Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed their first show at the UnderGlobe , the 400-capacity space under Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The show, entitled ‘Tales of Speed & Time’ featured ‘The Man Who Was Ten Minutes Late’, by Tom Mallaburn and Martin Pengelly, ‘The Queen of Nimruth’ by Phil Mulryne and a four-minute adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's
‘Sherlock Holmes & the Adventure of the Norwood Builder’
, written by Alex Ratcliffe. Post-show music was supplied by Marmaduke Dando. In 2009 the Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed seven monthly shows at the UnderGlobe, including a Halloween
Special in October and finishing with a Christmas
Special in December 2009. Top Shelf Jazz, The Correspondents
, Trio Manouche and The Jive Aces
provided live music.
and the Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe on Bankside
. The run consisted of three shows, performed in rotation. From Tuesday 15 June to Thursday 29 July 2010, The Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed a second run of shows at the Last Days of Decadence in Shoreditch
. The run consisted of two shows.
While in Edinburgh
, The Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed in the 'Pick of the Fringe' and recorded a performance for the BBC Radio 4
programme 'Curiosity Killed the Cabaret', which was broadcast on Tuesday 24 August. Both shows were hosted by the Pleasance Courtyard
. 'Curiosity Killed The Cabaret' also featured Frisky and Mannish
, Anil Desai, Oompah Brass and Asher Treleaven and it was presented by Ali McGregor
.
In September 2010 The Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed an extended version of their Edinburgh show at Wilton's Music Hall
in London, on Friday 10 September, and at the Rose Theatre
in Kingston-upon-Thames on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 September. On 8 November 2010 the show was performed at Quarterhouse in Folkestone. This show also featured 'Leinigen and the Pole' (Edgley Bond).
, on Whitehall in London, as part of a double bill with Barbershopera. The show featured 'He Should Have Known His Place (Mallaburn/Pengelly), 'Undead Queen of Evil!' (Mulryne) and 'Captain Fasthand and the Rooty Gong' (Mallaburn/Pengelly). It was sponsored by Rathbone's Chemical Cures (Edgley Bond). The show was reviewed widely by the national press and discussed on BBC2, on The Review Show.
Today programme
on Saturday 30 January 2010 . The Fitzrovia Radio Hour has been reviewed by Whatsonstage.com , The Guardian
, Time Out , The Times
, The Independent
and Metro. The Fitzrovia Radio Hour have been named as one of Time Out's ‘Tribes of London’. The Fitzrovia Radio Hour have also featured in The Independent , The Independent on Sunday , The Daily Telegraph , The Financial Times , The Pink Paper , The Stage , Stylist , The Evening Standard , the York Press and Whatsonstage.com ; .
On Saturday 12 June 2010 The Fitzrovia Radio Hour returned to BBC Radio 4
's Today programme
to perform a second topical sketch. On the same day they performed a short satirical sketch on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends programme, presented by Clive Anderson.
On Wednesday 4 August 2010 the BBC website published a performance by The Fitzrovia Radio Hour recorded for the BBC arts editor, Will Gompertz
.
Concept
The Fitzrovia Radio Hour conceive, write and perform theatrical radio plays in the 1940s style. The plays are performed in evening dress, behind period microphones and with sound effects produced live. An hour-long show usually contains three stories – typically in genres such as horror, adventure, science fiction and romance – interspersed with advertisements for products such as whisky, cigarettes and stout. Popular characters include Leinigen, a fearless explorer; Squadron Leader Edward Templar, an intrepid RAF pilot; Professor Quested, an investigator of the unusual; and Frank Maskill, a Leeds latheLathe
A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...
worker who should have known his place. The Fitzrovia Radio Hour has featured a number of guest actors, including Fiona Sheehan, Laura Carmichael
Laura Carmichael
Laura Carmichael is a British actress. She was educated at The Mountbatten School, Peter Symonds College, and Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and her TV appearances include Downton Abbey. She is also a member of The Fitzrovia Radio Hour.-Filmography:...
, Esther Biddle, Nick Atkinson, Asa Joel, Chris Gilling, David Oakes
David Oakes
David Oakes is an English film, television and theatre actor.-Early life and education:He was born in Fordingbridge, New Forest, England, the son of a Church of England canon and a professional musician....
and Dan Starkey
Dan Starkey
Dan Starkey is a British actor.Dan studied at University of Cambridge before training at the Bristol Old Vic .-Theatre credits:*The 39 Steps UK national tour* The Fitzrovia Radio Hour-Filmography:...
.
Series 1-3
The Fitzrovia Radio Hour formed in January 2008. The founding members were Jon Edgley Bond, Alix Dunmore, Alex Ratcliffe and Callum Coates. Phil Mulryne and Tom Mallaburn also appeared in the first series of shows. The first six performances took place at Bourne & Hollingsworth, a cellar bar located in the FitzroviaFitzrovia
Fitzrovia is a neighbourhood in central London, near London's West End lying partly in the London Borough of Camden and partly in the City of Westminster ; and situated between Marylebone and Bloomsbury and north of Soho. It is characterised by its mixed-use of residential, business, retail,...
area of central London
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, England. There is no official or commonly accepted definition of its area, but its characteristics are understood to include a high density built environment, high land values, an elevated daytime population and a concentration of regionally,...
. For these shows original broadcast scripts from the 1940s were sourced and edited. Guest directors included Phoebe Barran and Miles Gregory. A dedicated sound man was often employed for the production of sound effects. In October 2008 the Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed their first show at the Swan, the bar and brasserie at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
Shakespeare's Globe
Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
. It featured ‘Rex Boothroyd: For King & Country’, a spy story by Tom Mallaburn and Martin Pengelly, who subsequently joined the group, and Phil Mulryne’s adaptation of ‘The Suicide Club’
The Suicide Club (Stevenson)
The Suicide Club is a collection of three 19th century detective fiction short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson that combine to form a single narrative...
, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Stevenson
Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. His best-known books include Treasure Island, Kidnapped, and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde....
. Top Shelf Jazz provided post-show music. The show remained at the Swan for six free monthly performances. In May 2009 the Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed their first show at the UnderGlobe , the 400-capacity space under Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. The show, entitled ‘Tales of Speed & Time’ featured ‘The Man Who Was Ten Minutes Late’, by Tom Mallaburn and Martin Pengelly, ‘The Queen of Nimruth’ by Phil Mulryne and a four-minute adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle's
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
‘Sherlock Holmes & the Adventure of the Norwood Builder’
The Adventure of the Norwood Builder
"The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the second tale from The Return of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Strand Magazine in 1903 with original illustrations by Sidney...
, written by Alex Ratcliffe. Post-show music was supplied by Marmaduke Dando. In 2009 the Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed seven monthly shows at the UnderGlobe, including a Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
Special in October and finishing with a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
Special in December 2009. Top Shelf Jazz, The Correspondents
The Correspondents
The Correspondents was the longest-running investigative documentary show of ABS-CBN in the Philippines. It brings an in-depth look at the lives of people as they are living it, going through hardships, and celebrating their joys. It is journalism with a heart. "Ang Huling Pagtatanghal" served as...
, Trio Manouche and The Jive Aces
The Jive Aces
The Jive Aces, winners of BBC TV's Opportunity Knocks, formed in 1989. They are a six-piece UK based, high energy, jive and swing band, who have many albums and singles to their name, and have performed at many music festivals. They received an award from the Variety Club of Great Britain for their...
provided live music.
London Runs
From Saturday 30 January to Saturday 6 March 2010, the Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed a five-week run at the Last Days of Decadence in ShoreditchShoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
and the Swan at Shakespeare’s Globe on Bankside
Bankside
Bankside is a district of London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. Bankside is located on the southern bank of the River Thames, east of Charing Cross, running from a little west of Blackfriars Bridge to just a short distance before London Bridge at St Mary Overie Dock to...
. The run consisted of three shows, performed in rotation. From Tuesday 15 June to Thursday 29 July 2010, The Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed a second run of shows at the Last Days of Decadence in Shoreditch
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
. The run consisted of two shows.
Edinburgh Fringe 2010
From Thursday 5 August to Sunday 29 August 2010, The Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed at the Underbelly, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. They performed in the Belly Dancer venue. The show featured 'The Man Who Was Ten Minutes Late', 'Mudmen from the Thames' (Mulryne) and 'The Four-Minute Mystery' (Edgley Bond) and was sponsored by Roses Carbolic Soap. It starred Alix Dunmore, Fiona Sheehan, Tom Mallaburn, Phil Mulryne and Alex Ratcliffe and it was directed by Jon Edgley Bond. The Edinburgh Fringe show was reviewed by The Daily Telegraph , Broadway Baby , The Arts Desk and Fringe Review and featured in The Scotsman and on whatsonstage.com .While in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
, The Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed in the 'Pick of the Fringe' and recorded a performance for the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
programme 'Curiosity Killed the Cabaret', which was broadcast on Tuesday 24 August. Both shows were hosted by the Pleasance Courtyard
Pleasance
The Pleasance is a street in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is largely residential, although the University of Edinburgh owns property in the area.-University of Edinburgh union:...
. 'Curiosity Killed The Cabaret' also featured Frisky and Mannish
Frisky and Mannish
Frisky & Mannish is a musical comedy cabaret double act based in London, England.Formed in March 2008 by writers and performers Laura Corcoran and Matthew Floyd Jones, the duo is best known for a style of pop culture parody that consists of the musical and dramatic rearrangement of well-known pop...
, Anil Desai, Oompah Brass and Asher Treleaven and it was presented by Ali McGregor
Ali McGregor
Ali McGregor is an Australian opera singer, actress and cabaret performer.-Career:McGregor, who was born in Melbourne, studied music at the Australian National University before completing her Bachelor of Music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, UK as a Peter Moores Scholar...
.
In September 2010 The Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed an extended version of their Edinburgh show at Wilton's Music Hall
Wilton's Music Hall
Wilton's Music Hall is a grade II* listed building, built as a music hall and now a more general-purpose performance space in Grace's Alley, off Cable Street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets...
in London, on Friday 10 September, and at the Rose Theatre
Rose Theatre, Kingston
The Rose Theatre, Kingston is a theatre on Kingston High Street in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames. The theatre seats 899 around a wide, lozenge shaped stage....
in Kingston-upon-Thames on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 September. On 8 November 2010 the show was performed at Quarterhouse in Folkestone. This show also featured 'Leinigen and the Pole' (Edgley Bond).
Trafalgar Studios 2011
From Tuesday 11 January to Saturday 5 February 2011, The Fitzrovia Radio Hour performed at Trafalgar StudiosTrafalgar Studios
Trafalgar Studios, formerly The Whitehall Theatre until 2004, is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London....
, on Whitehall in London, as part of a double bill with Barbershopera. The show featured 'He Should Have Known His Place (Mallaburn/Pengelly), 'Undead Queen of Evil!' (Mulryne) and 'Captain Fasthand and the Rooty Gong' (Mallaburn/Pengelly). It was sponsored by Rathbone's Chemical Cures (Edgley Bond). The show was reviewed widely by the national press and discussed on BBC2, on The Review Show.
Press and Media
The Fitzrovia Radio Hour have made three appearances on BBC Radio London’s Saturday Breakfast, in the third show broadcasting a short excerpt from 'The Man Who Was Ten Minutes Late' . They also recorded a topical sketch for BBC Radio 4’sBBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
Today programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
on Saturday 30 January 2010 . The Fitzrovia Radio Hour has been reviewed by Whatsonstage.com , The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Time Out , The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
and Metro. The Fitzrovia Radio Hour have been named as one of Time Out's ‘Tribes of London’. The Fitzrovia Radio Hour have also featured in The Independent , The Independent on Sunday , The Daily Telegraph , The Financial Times , The Pink Paper , The Stage , Stylist , The Evening Standard , the York Press and Whatsonstage.com ; .
On Saturday 12 June 2010 The Fitzrovia Radio Hour returned to BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
's Today programme
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
to perform a second topical sketch. On the same day they performed a short satirical sketch on BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends programme, presented by Clive Anderson.
On Wednesday 4 August 2010 the BBC website published a performance by The Fitzrovia Radio Hour recorded for the BBC arts editor, Will Gompertz
Will Gompertz
Will Gompertz is the BBC's Arts Editor, the first person appointed to this new role, created in 2009. He is a second cousin to Simon Gompertz, the personal finance correspondent to BBC News.-Arts career:...
.