Showing titles in Arts & Entertainment

There's a new chat in town as the hit programme comes live from the BBC Television Centre, and Alan ushers on a variety of guests including horsewoman of few words Sue Lewis, powerful hypnotist Tony le Mesmer, fashion designer Yvonne Boyd, and husband and wife thespians Tania Barker and Gary Barker. There's also a whole edition of the programme broadcast from sexy Paris, city of French people.

Barney and Cathy. Evan and Fiona. David and Alice. Three couples who have beaten the odds and stayed married - but is that simply because they haven’t got around to divorcing yet? In these three series, we follow this group of friends throughout weekends away and tricky date nights, weddings and funerals, Christmas celebrations and counselling sessions - all of which give them plenty of opportunity for flirting, fighting, competitiveness and reprehensible behaviour. We listen in to their innermost thoughts, feelings and motivations as they break the fourth wall.

Another bumper collection of classic fun and games from one of BBC Radio 4's best-loved and most enduring comedy panel games. The inimitable Humphrey Lyttelton is in the chair for these 25 hilarious editions (including the very first episode from 1972) plus two volumes of vintage 'Live' recordings (ad libs, retakes, warm-ups and all), a 35th anniversary special edition, and I'm Sorry I Haven't a Desert Island, in which famous fans Judi Dench, Jim Broadbent and Germaine Greer choose their favourite 'Clue' moments.

Ramble Book is about parenthood, boarding-school trauma, arguing with your partner, bad parties, confrontations on trains, friendship, wanting to fit in, growing up in the '80s, dead dads, teenage sexual anxiety, failed artistic endeavours, being a David Bowie fan and how everything you read, watch and listen to as a child forms a part of the adult you become. It’s also an audiobook about the joys of going off topic and letting your mind wander. And it’s about a short, hairy, frequently confused man called Adam Buxton.

After breaking from life with the Pack, mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate–former Beast Lord Curran Lennart–are adjusting to a very different pace. While they’re thrilled to escape all the infighting, Kate and Curran know that separating from the Pack completely is a process that will take time. But when they learn that their friend Eduardo has gone missing, Kate and Curran shift their focus to investigate his disappearance.

At the age of 9, Romesh Ranganathan delivered his first ever stand-up set at a Pontin's Holiday Camp talent competition, smashing the only other competitor, a young girl playing the kazoo. The gig went so well that Romesh retired his comic genius for 22 years, hiding behind the guise of a maths teacher, before finally revealing himself again (no, not like that) at the tender age of 31. In 2010, Ranganathan staged his epic comeback gig to an almost silent room, and has since gone on to earn his place as the most in-demand overweight vegan Sri Lankan comedian in Britain.

The complete second series of BBC Radio 4's award-winning sketch show - winner of the Chortle Radio Award of the Year. In these six episodes, which make up the complete second series, you'll hear some moth-based lunacy, an awkward celestial relationship, a heart-warming tale of the days before health and safety, and how The Archers sounds to people who don't listen to The Archers - plus many other sketches featuring acute observations and wonderful wordplay.

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers. The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing.

Comedian Pierre Novellie was on stage when a heckler suggested he was autistic. Usually, this disruption would be water off a duck's back but two things made this heckler different: first, he was himself autistic. Second, he turned out to be absolutely right. This random encounter led to a diagnosis of autism at the age of 31 that unravelled his world, explained his struggles and answered questions that had bothered him for his entire life: why were the other kids obsessed with Britney Spears instead of The Goon Show? Why don't people ever say what they mean? Why is everyone chewing so loudly?

This hilarious compendium celebrates a decade of Taskmaster's inspired chaos. Relive the most outrageous tasks, iconic meltdowns, and ingenious victories from your favourite contestants.

I've been in this life for 50 years, been trying to work out its riddle for 42 and been keeping diaries of clues to that riddle for the last 35. Notes about successes and failures, joys and sorrows, things that made me marvel and things that made me laugh out loud. How to be fair. How to have less stress. How to have fun. How to hurt people less. How to get hurt less. How to be a good man. How to have meaning in life. How to be more me.

Balancing nostalgia, fresh perspectives and introspection, Never begins with family and unconventional upbringings; journeys through the tumultuous and glamorous world of pop; and takes pause for self-reflection. Never goes beyond the blinding lights of the stage – giving an intimate look at the man behind the hits – and is a portrait of truth, artistic evolution and the astounding power of contentment.

David Mitchell’s 2014 best seller Thinking About It Only Makes It Worse must really have made people think - because everything’s got worse. We’ve gone from UKIP surge to Brexit shambles, from horsemeat in lasagne to Donald Trump in the White House, from Woolworths going under to all the other shops going under. It’s probably socially irresponsible even to try to cheer up.

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

Marilyn Monroe, born to deprivation and a series of foster homes, became an acting legend of the 20th century. She married famous men, Joe DiMaggio and playwright Arthur Miller, and her many lovers included President John F. Kennedy. Her death, at 36, is a mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Anthony Summers interviewed 600 people for this book, which reveals unknown truths, some funny, some very sad, about this brilliant but troubled woman. First to gain access to the files of Monroe's last psychiatrist, he throws light on Monroe's troubled psyche.

Here are all six episodes of the BBC Radio 4 sitcom written by and starring Ben Willbond and Justin Edwards about two incompetent science teachers who work at a college that specialises in drama, and whose world is turned upside down by the arrival of a new boss.

David Mitchell, who you may know for his inappropriate anger on every TV panel show except Never Mind the Buzzcocks, his look of permanent discomfort on C4 sex comedy Peep Show, his online commenter-baiting in The Observer or just for wearing a stick-on moustache in That Mitchell and Webb Look, has written a book about his life.

If Audible was a bottle of milk, then the cream of comedy would rise to the top. In this series of live showcases, Audible puts the spotlight on some of the established stars and emerging newcomers of the stand up scene. Expect hilarious, unadulterated, stand up fun from the masters of laughter.

Written to take advantage of the brief window between the end of lockdown and Jimmy getting cancelled for saying something unforgivable to Lorraine Kelly, this book is as timely as it is unnecessary. Because you might be interested in Jimmy's life but he's damn sure you're a lot more interested in your own, Before & Laughter is about both of you. But mainly him.

When H. G. Wells first published The War of The Worlds in 1898, the novel quickly became a sci-fi classic. The story of extraterrestrials from Mars invading Earth captured the public’s imagination, inspiring a famed 1938 radio broadcast with Orson Welles, several feature films, countless video games, and a best-selling musical concept album by Jeff Wayne in 1978, among others.