This was something I wasn’t going to write about until after I had actually seen the show, but that does seem slightly stupid if there’s the slightest chance this can encourage more folk to buy tickets and join in the fun…

But, back in my first book, THE CLUE BIBLE, in which I managed to squeeze 50 years of comedy history, I reached a crescendo in my celebration of the greatest radio sketch show of all time by saying this…

I can’t deny that a teeny-tiny part of my typing fingers hoped at the time, that some brave band of loonies might like the idea of accepting this challenge, to try and reboot the insanity of Radio Prune in the 21st century. Now, those loonies have been identified as Barnaby Eaton Jones and his Offstage Theatre Company, who are staging I’M SORRY I’LL READ THAT AGAIN – AGAIN in Cheltenham in just a couple of weeks. The Kickstarter sadly hasn’t quite hit the target, it’s been quite a rapid march towards the night itself, but everyone’s hoping for a loud and raucous night, in the true spirit of the old Playhouse days with the Wonder Team John, Bill, Graeme, Tim, Jo and David all reducing the crowds to howls of pain with their puns, prunes, gibbons, ferrets, rhubarb tarts, John Davidson and suchlike… And fingers crossed all three Goodies will be right there to see how they like it, for once!

This should be an especially antsy experience for me, as I was asked to piece together perhaps the lion’s share of the script, stitching together the very best moments from over 100 ISIRTA episodes, and finding a way to make it work as a 21st century tribute… I worked incredibly hard at squaring this circle over Xmas, and was immensely proud of what I achieved – I handed in the most perfect bit of ISIRTA fan service imaginable, guaranteed to have lovers of Radio Prune rolling in the aisles…

Whether this script has survived the script-editing (by Hitchhiker adaptor Dirk Maggs) and rehearsals, I have zero idea… If not, I will post a follow-up with full details of how I originally envisioned the show working. But in the meantime, if you’re within reasonable distance of Gloucestershire, I hope to see you there to enjoy the filthy, facetious fun on Friday fortnight!

PS: I think Book 4 may be in the bag. Bet you can’t eat three…!

OH, WHAT A GIVEAWAY! Imagine my surprise…