15 Minute Musical: A BBC Radio 4 Comedy Series

Summary

Twenty brief, barbed and bittersweet musical comedies, written by and starring Richie Webb – including eight Christmas Specials

‘Let’s have a standing ovation for the 15 Minute Musical' The Guardian

Oozing with satire and sass, these fun-size yet deliciously satisfying musical comedies do for your ears what chocolate does for your taste buds. Based on the lives and careers of well-known public figures, each one takes a politician or VIP who has hit the headlines, and gives them a West End make-over. Their fabricated stories are told in an original, never-heard-before, musical that will have your toes tapping to the rhythm and shoulders shaking to the laughs.

All the conventions of a musical are followed (huge production numbers, tender ballads and emotional reprises) – but artistic licence is well and truly taken as celebrities such as David Cameron, Simon Cowell and Morrissey are hilariously lampooned in song. Hear the greatest stories never told (or sung) as Julian Assange is wiki-leaked; Nigel Farage goes to Europe with a Britpop soundtrack; and Barack Obama fights for the American presidency via power ballads and rock anthems. Plus, we go ‘Upstairs Downton’ with the Middletons; and pay homage to Russia’s greatest love machine in an outrageously camp, disco-tastic look at Vladimir Putin...

Also featured are all eight Christmas specials from 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, including Jeremy Corbyn Superstar!, Lady and the Trump, Cabarexit, Eurovision Gone Wrong Contest and a Rodgers and Hammerstein-inspired celebration of all things Meghan Markle: The Sixth in Line to be King and I.

Winner of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Radio Comedy Award, this hugely entertaining series is written by Dave Cohen, David Quantick and Richie Webb, and stars Richie Webb, Dave Lamb, Alex Tregear, Jess Robinson and Pippa Evans.

Production credits
Starring Richie Webb, Dave Lamb, Alex Tregear, Jess Robinson and Pippa Evans
Written by Richie Webb, Dave Cohen and David Quantick
Produced by Katie Tyrrell and Richard Morris
Production co-ordinator: Nick Coupe
Music composed, performed and arranged by Richie Webb
Music production: Matt Katz
A BBC Studios Production

A Right Royal Cockney Christmas
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 December 2012

Brian Elliott
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 December 2012

The Ozfather
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 27 December 2012

The Reducers
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 28 December 2012

Licence to Kil...marnock
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 December 2012

Barack of Ages
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 1 January 2013

It’s a One-Hit Wonderful Life
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 24 December 2013

Julian and the Assanging Technicolour Download
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 December 2013

The Last Days of Farage
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 December 2013

Heaven Knows I'm Middle-Aged Now
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 27 December 2013

Half a Sixth Form
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 December 2013

Ra Ra It's Putin
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 December 2013

Seven Bribes
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 28 December 2015

Jeremy Corbyn Superstar!
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 December 2015

Lady and the Trump
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 29 December 2016

Cabarexit
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 30 December 2016

The Legend of Holy Superior Mother Theresa May and the Magic Money Tree
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 December 2017

Dud Brothers
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 December 2017

Eurovision Gone Wrong Contest
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 31 December 2018

The Sixth in Line to be King and I
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 1 January 2019

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