The Write Stuff
Genre | literary panel game |
---|---|
Running time | 28 mins |
Country |
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Language(s) | English |
Home station | BBC Radio 4 |
Hosted by | James Walton |
Starring |
Sebastian Faulks John Walsh Beth Chalmers |
Produced by | Sam Michell |
No. of series | 11 (12th in progress) |
Website | Website |
The Write Stuff, "Radio 4's game of literary correctness", is a lighthearted quiz about literature on BBC Radio 4, taking a humorous look at famous literary figures, which has been running since 1998.[1] It is chaired and written by James Walton.[2] The two teams are captained by novelist Sebastian Faulks and journalist John Walsh, with Beth Chalmers reading literary extracts.
Format
John Walsh and Sebastian Faulks have been team captains since the programme started. They are each joined by another journalist or novelist; frequent guests in recent years include John O'Farrell, Mark Billingham and Lynn Truss. Truss stepped in as captain to replace Faulks for series 9 (2010).[3]
Each week, the programme has an "Author of the Week"; W. B. Yeats, E. M. Forster, D. H. Lawrence, Robert Burns, Philip Roth and J. K. Rowling have all so featured on the programme. The programme has, on occasion, featured a group of writers, rather than a single author, as its key study - for example, poets of the Beat Generation were the featured authors on 26 October 2010.[4] Each programme begins with the panellists reading favourite extracts from the author's writing, and the first round is a series of questions about the author's life and works.
The programme normally ends with panellists having to write a pastiche (or parody; the programme uses the terms interchangeably) based on that week's author of the week. Walton describes these as 'the most popular bit of the programme'.[5] Walton sets a topic that would be so out of style of the author in question that a pastiche would be humorous. For example, when Robert Burns was the author of the week, contestants were asked to write a poem, in the style of Burns, celebrating something typically English; when the very intellectual author Philip Roth was the author of the week, contestants were asked how he might have written a children's story. Faulks has published a collection of his parodies as a book, Pistache.[6]
The intervening rounds do not focus on the author of the week. Rounds commonly included are: connections; odd one out; literary mistakes; the archive round; and a music round.
The programme has normally been broadcast at 18:30 on a weekday, the normal Radio 4 comedy slot.
Episodes
Series 1998
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
1998-1 | 1998-07-31 | Jane Austen | Victoria Glendinning, Tracey MacLeod |
1998-2 | 1998-08-07 | Raymond Chandler | Louise Doughty, Victoria Coren |
1998-3 | 1998-08-14 | T. S. Eliot | Kate Saunders, Nigel Williams |
1998-4 | 1998-08-21 | Martin Amis | Victoria Glendinning, Tracey MacLeod |
1998-5 | 1998-08-28 | D. H. Lawrence | Louise Doughty, Victoria Coren |
1998-6 | 1998-09-04 | Charles Dickens | Kate Saunders, Nigel Williams |
Series 1999
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
1999-1 | 1999-07-07 | William Shakespeare | Nigel Williams, Lynne Truss |
1999-2 | 1999-07-14 | Arthur Conan Doyle | Tracey MacLeod, Philippa Gregory |
1999-3 | 1999-07-21 | The Brontë Sisters | Frank Delaney, Harry Ritchie |
1999-4 | 1999-07-28 | James Joyce | Lynne Truss, Nigel Williams |
1999-5 | 1999-08-04 | Ernest Hemingway | Tracey MacLeod, Philippa Gregory |
1999-6 | 1999-08-11 | Oscar Wilde | Frank Delaney, Harry Ritchie |
Series 2000
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
2000-1 | 2000-05-10 | Thomas Hardy | Lynne Truss, Sue Limb |
2000-2 | 2000-05-17 | Agatha Christie | Jane Thynne, Harry Ritchie |
2000-3 | 2000-05-24 | Geoffrey Chaucer | Imogen Stubbs, Louise Doughty |
2000-4 | 2000-05-31 | Kingsley Amis | Lynne Truss, Sue Limb |
2000-5 | 2000-06-07 | Samuel Beckett | Jane Thynne, Harry Ritchie |
2000-6 | 2000-06-14 | Evelyn Waugh | Imogen Stubbs, Louise Doughty |
Series 2001
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
2001-1 | 2001-04-11 | William Wordsworth | Tracey MacLeod, Gary Younge |
2001-2 | 2001-04-18 | Graham Greene | Jonathan Myerson, Jane Thynne |
2001-3 | 2001-04-25 | Enid Blyton | Sue Limb, Victoria Coren |
2001-4 | 2001-05-02 | John Updike | Tracey MacLeod, Gary Younge |
2001-5 | 2001-05-09 | Harold Pinter | Jonathan Myerson, Jane Thynne |
2001-6 | 2001-05-16 | John Betjeman | Sue Limb, Victoria Coren |
Series 1
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
1-1 | 2002-04-03 | Ian Fleming | Nigel Williams, Harry Ritchie |
1-2 | 2002-04-10 | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Stephen Fry, Lynne Truss |
1-3 | 2002-04-17 | Virginia Woolf | Wendy Holden, Joseph Connolly |
1-4 | 2002-04-24 | J. R. R. Tolkien | Nigel Williams, Harry Ritchie |
1-5 | 2002-05-01 | Philip Larkin | Stephen Fry, Lynne Truss |
1-6 | 2002-05-08 | P. G. Wodehouse | Wendy Holden, Joseph Connolly |
Christmas Special 2002
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2002-12-25 | Parodies Regained | Stephen Fry, Sue Limb, Lynne Truss et al. |
Series 2
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
2-1 | 2003-04-02 | George Orwell | John O'Farrell, Louise Doughty |
2-2 | 2003-04-09 | (no programme due to coverage of The Budget) | |
2-3 | 2003-04-16 | Samuel Johnson | Sue Limb, Joanne Harris |
2-4 | 2003-04-23 | Lewis Carroll | John O'Farrell, Louise Doughty |
2-5 | 2003-04-30 | Franz Kafka | Tracey MacLeod, Jonathan Myerson |
2-6 | 2003-05-07 | Jane Austen | Sue Limb, Joanne Harris |
Series 3
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
3-1 | 2004-04-21 | George Orwell | John O'Farrell, Louise Doughty |
3-2 | 2004-04-28 | Beatrix Potter | Tracey MacLeod, Jonathan Myerson |
3-3 | 2004-05-05 | Samuel Johnson | Sue Limb, Joanne Harris |
3-4 | 2004-05-12 | Dylan Thomas | John Sutherland, Sabrina Broadbent |
3-5 | 2004-05-19 | Richmal Crompton | Miles Kington, Harry Ritchie |
3-6 | 2004-05-26 | Rudyard Kipling | Nicholas Lezard, Nigel Williams |
3-7 | 2004-06-02 | Catherine Cookson | John Sutherland, Sabrina Broadbent |
3-8 | 2004-06-09 | Alexander Pope | Miles Kington, Harry Ritchie |
3-9 | 2004-06-16 | Samuel Pepys | Nicholas Lezard, Nigel Williams |
Christmas Special 2004
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2004-12-29 | Christmas | Miles Kington, Sabrina Broadbent |
Series 4
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests [8] |
---|---|---|---|
4-1 | 2005-05-25 | Lord Byron | Simon Brett, Peter Kemp |
4-2 | 2005-06-01 | Noël Coward | Wendy Holden, Louise Doughty |
4-3 | 2005-06-08 | Iris Murdoch | Nigel Williams, Jonathan Myerson |
4-4 | 2005-06-15 | Roald Dahl | Simon Brett, Peter Kemp |
4-5 | 2005-06-22 | John Milton | Wendy Holden, Louise Doughty |
4-6 | 2005-06-29 | Charles Dickens | Nigel Williams, Kate Saunders |
Series 5
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests [9] |
---|---|---|---|
5-1 | 2006-06-12 | Alan Bennett | Michèle Roberts, Harry Ritchie |
5-2 | 2006-06-19 | Henry James | Peter Kemp, Miles Kington |
5-3 | 2006-06-26 | A. A. Milne | Sue Limb, John O'Farrell |
5-4 | 2006-07-03 | Sylvia Plath | Michèle Roberts, Harry Ritchie |
5-5 | 2006-07-10 | W. B. Yeats | Peter Kemp, Miles Kington |
5-6 | 2006-07-17 | Thomas Hardy | Sue Limb, John O'Farrell |
Series 6
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests [10] |
---|---|---|---|
6-1 | 2007-03-12 | William Shakespeare | Sabrina Broadbent, Mark Billingham |
6-2 | 2007-03-19 | John le Carré | Jane Thynne, Wendy Holden |
6-3 | 2007-03-26 | Tom Stoppard | Peter Kemp, Sue Limb |
6-4 | 2007-04-02 | Stephen King | Sabrina Broadbent, Mark Billingham |
6-5 | 2007-04-09 | F. Scott Fitzgerald | Jane Thynne, Wendy Holden |
6-6 | 2007-04-16 | John Keats | Peter Kemp, Sue Limb |
Series 7
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests [11] |
---|---|---|---|
7-1 | 2008-03-24 | E. M. Forster | Wendy Holden, John O'Farrell |
7-2 | 2008-03-31 | John Grisham | Mark Billingham, Jane Thynne |
7-3 | 2008-04-07 | Jonathan Swift | Peter Kemp, Andrew Davies |
7-4 | 2008-04-14 | Hans Christian Andersen | Wendy Holden, John O'Farrell |
7-5 | 2008-04-21 | Ted Hughes | Jane Thynne, Mark Billingham |
7-6 | 2008-04-28 | George Eliot | Peter Kemp, Andrew Davies |
Series 8
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests [12] |
---|---|---|---|
8-1 | 2008-10-06 | Raymond Chandler | Lynne Truss, Mark Billingham |
8-2 | 2008-10-13 | Seamus Heaney | Sue Limb, Andrew Motion |
8-3 | 2008-10-20 | Philip Roth | Harry Ritchie, Simon Brett |
8-4 | 2008-10-27 | J. K. Rowling | Mark Billingham, Lynne Truss |
8-5 | 2008-11-03 | D. H. Lawrence | Sue Limb, Andrew Motion |
8-6 | 2008-11-10 | Robert Burns | Harry Ritchie, Simon Brett |
Series 9
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests [13] |
---|---|---|---|
9-1 | 2010-01-27 | Arthur Conan Doyle | Mark Billingham, John O'Farrell |
9-2 | 2010-02-03 | Irvine Welsh | Jane Thynne, Christopher Brookmyre |
9-3 | 2010-02-10 | Anton Chekhov | Peter Kemp, Tibor Fischer |
9-4 | 2010-02-17 | Nancy Mitford | Mark Billingham, John O'Farrell |
9-5 | 2010-02-24 | John Donne | Jane Thynne, Christopher Brookmyre |
9-6 | 2010-03-03 | J. D. Salinger | Peter Kemp, Tibor Fischer |
Series 10
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests [14] |
---|---|---|---|
10-1 | 2010-10-05 | P. G. Wodehouse | Francis Wheen, Ian McMillan |
10-2 | 2010-10-12 | Tennessee Williams | Francesca Simon, Mark Billingham |
10-3 | 2010-10-19 | Marcel Proust | Philip Kerr, Sue Limb |
10-4 | 2010-10-26 | The Beats | Francis Wheen, Ian McMillan |
10-5 | 2010-11-02 | Stephenie Meyer | Francesca Simon, Mark Billingham |
10-6 | 2010-11-09 | Edgar Allan Poe | Philip Kerr, Sue Limb |
Cheltenham Literature Festival Special
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 2011-10-12 | Enid Blyton | Sue Limb, Rachel Johnson |
Series 11
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests [15] |
---|---|---|---|
11-1 | 2012-01-20 | John Betjeman | Sue Limb, Andrew Motion |
11-2 | 2012-01-27 | Daniel Defoe | Jane Thynne, Mark Billingham |
11-3 | 2012-02-03 | Gustave Flaubert | John O'Farrell, Alex Clark |
11-4 | 2012-02-10 | Terence Rattigan | Andrew Motion, Sue Limb |
11-5 | 2012-02-17 | Jackie Collins | Jane Thynne, Mark Billingham |
11-6 | 2012-02-24 | H. G. Wells | Alex Clark, John O'Farrell |
Series 12
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
12-1 | 2013-05-12 | The Brontës | Sue Limb, Mark Watson |
12-2 | 2013-05-19 | Mark Twain | John O'Farrell, Jane Thynne |
12-3 | 2013-05-26 | Greek tragedy | Mark Billingham, Natalie Haynes |
12-4 | 2013-06-02 | Dorothy Parker | Sue Limb, Mark Watson |
12-5 | 2013-06-09 | William Blake | John O'Farrell, Jane Thynne |
12-6 | 2013-06-16 | Ian Fleming | Mark Billingham, Natalie Haynes |
Series 13
Episode | Original airdate | Author of the week | Guests |
---|---|---|---|
13-1 | 2014-10-05 | John Osborne | Mark Billingham, Lynne Truss |
13-2 | 2014-10-12 | Jilly Cooper | John O'Farrell, Jane Thynne |
13-3 | 2014-10-19 | Gerard Manley Hopkins | Russell Davies, Sue Limb |
13-4 | 2014-10-26 | Jerome K Jerome | Mark Billingham, Lynne Truss |
13-5 | 2014-11-02 | Henry Fielding | Jane Thynne, John O'Farrell |
13-6 | 2014-11-09 | Virginia Woolf | Russell Davies, Sue Limb |
References
- ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/john-walsh/john-walsh-taboo-word-it-depends-on-whether-you-mean-the-human-bits-or-rubbish-1878747.html
- ↑ http://www.faber.co.uk/author/james-walton/
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006zbzb/episodes/2010
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vhgjw
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3561637/Books-buzzers-and-an-ageing-Harry-Potter.html
- ↑ http://www.sebastianfaulks.com/index.php?page_id=17
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006zbzb BBC website
- ↑ http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/w/wr/write_stuff__the.html
- ↑ http://www.radiolistings.co.uk/programmes/w/wr/write_stuff__the.html
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007759c BBC website Series 6
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009j9cd BBC website Series 7
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dr86m BBC website Series 8
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00q3lcy BBC website Series 9
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v1qkl BBC website Series 10
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019h2bb#synopsis BBC website Series 11
External links
- The Write Stuff at BBC Programmes
- The Write Stuff at radiolistings.co.uk