John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme: 2023-2025
The BBC Radio 4 Comedy Sketch Show
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pre-order for $30.54
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
By:
-
John Finnemore
About this listen
A trilogy of special episodes from the multi-award-winning show
‘The funniest man on the radio’ The Telegraph
In 2023 John Finnemore and the Souvenir Programme team returned to Radio 4 with a new format – annual, one-off, 45-minute Specials. Some are in the style of Series 1-8, with sketches, jokes and songs, while others are more discursive and experimental, like Series 9. Collected together here, they all feature his trusty ensemble cast of Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan.
2023’s Special sees a palaeontologist try to not lose his head, a husband try to explain why he’s going to Milan, and the world’s top golfer getting a surprise. We also meet an admirer of Dr Watson, hear from a member of the silent majority, and our regular interviewer, Patsy Straightwoman, hears some home truths from the experts. And… well, since you ask him for a fantastical tale about an amazing voyage...
In 2024’s edition, John regales us with the story of the small Dorset village he’s moved to, and the big, collective decision the residents just made. We’re introduced to his neighbours – including Joy from The Forge, Human Roo, the Cherrys and Melody, who can’t park in the dark – and learn all about the local landmarks, from Staveacre Farm to the tiny, ancient church of St Thomas’; the ex-pub that’s now part house, part speakeasy; and the dog-grooming salon that’s definitely a front for something (though probably not a meth lab). Warm-hearted, charming and quirky, it’ll make you want to pay a visit yourself – just watch out for the cows as you go past Farmer Teal’s place...
Details of 2025’s special episode are yet to come… we can’t wait!
Cast and credits
Written and performed by John Finnemore
Ensemble cast: Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan
Original music composed by Susannah Pearse and performed by Susannah Pearse and Sally Stares
Theme tune arranged by Susannah Pearse and performed by Susannah Pearse and Sally Stares
Recording: Jerry Peal and Jon Calver
Studio managers: Chris Maclean and Jon Calver
Editing and sound design: Rich Evans
Production coordinator: Katie Baum
Producer: Ed Morrish
A BBC Studios Audio production
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 27 May 2023 (2023 Special), 27 May 2024 (2024 Special), 30 June 2025 (2025 Special)
©2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
John Finnemore's Double Acts: Series 2
- 6 full-cast radio dramas
- By: John Finnemore
- Narrated by: John Finnemore
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the second series of one-off comedies written by the genius behind the smash-hit radio sitcom Cabin Pressure - John Finnemore. The first series won the coveted Writers Guild of Great Britain award for Best Comedy. Each show is a comedy perfumed by just two actors - including (across the series) famous household names such as Martin Clunes ( Doc Martin), Julia McKenzie ( Fresh Fields) and the inimitable voice of Carolyn in Cabin Pressure, Stephanie Cole.
-
-
Mixed Bag
- By Maineiac on 08-06-17
By: John Finnemore
-
John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme: Series 9
- The BBC Radio 4 Comedy Sketch Show
- By: John Finnemore
- Narrated by: John Finnemore, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete ninth series of BBC Radio 4's award-winning sketch show. John Finnemore returns with his multi-award-winning sketch show, but this series is very different to the previous eight. There are still sketches and songs, and it's still written and performed by him and his usual fantastic ensemble cast - but with no live studio audience, John has taken the opportunity to try something new.
-
-
Not really "The souvenir Programme"
- By Chris Anderson on 11-07-21
By: John Finnemore
-
Old Harry’s Game
- The Complete Series of the Award-Winning BBC Radio 4 Comedy
- By: Andy Hamilton
- Narrated by: Andy Hamilton, James Grout, Jimmy Mulville, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Hell—where nobody can ever quite catch the barman's eye. In this collection, which contains all seven series of Old Harry's Game, get ready for some wicked one-liners and scorching satire. Satan is fed up after a millennia in charge of Hell, especially given the prospect of an eternity still running the damned place. Although he does enjoy playing pranks on the world of the living and devising wry torments for the souls in his keeping, he often wistfully recalls his past as an archangel.
-
-
london at its best
- By thomas_kostrzewa on 08-08-23
By: Andy Hamilton
-
John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme: Series 5
- The BBC Radio 4 Comedy Sketch Show
- By: John Finnemore
- Narrated by: John Finnemore
- Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete fifth series of BBC Radio 4's award-winning sketch show, written by and starring the writer of Cabin Pressure. John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme has won a host of awards, including the 2015 BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Scripted Comedy with Live Audience. Written by and starring John Finnemore, this fifth series of the hit show returns with more witty wordplay and laugh-out-loud sketches.
-
-
Very funny
- By Diana on 08-02-17
By: John Finnemore
-
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme
- The Complete Series 3 & 4
- By: John Finnemore
- Narrated by: a full cast, John Finnemore, Carrie Quinlan
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete third and fourth series of BBC Radio 4’s award-winning sketch show, written by and starring the writer of Cabin Pressure. In the third and fourth series of his hit sketch show, John Finnemore examines a typically eclectic range of issues including making friends, the problem with polymath bestselling authors, the colour of posh men’s trousers, and a history of choice.
-
-
Comedy gold from Finnemore and company
- By Emily on 12-29-14
By: John Finnemore
-
Party: The Complete Series 1-3
- By: Tom Basden
- Narrated by: Anna Crilly, Johnny Sweet, Katy Wix, and others
- Length: 6 hrs
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Disillusioned with the capitalist system, five ambitious students set out to make waves and change the face of democracy. Holding their meetings in a garden shed, budding politician Jared, ideas engine Simon, socialist firebrand Mel, image conscious materialist Phoebe and Communications Tsar Duncan wrangle with the modern political machine and attempt to lay the foundations of a new movement. Or they would, if only they had a pen.
By: Tom Basden
-
John Finnemore's Double Acts: Series 2
- 6 full-cast radio dramas
- By: John Finnemore
- Narrated by: John Finnemore
- Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the second series of one-off comedies written by the genius behind the smash-hit radio sitcom Cabin Pressure - John Finnemore. The first series won the coveted Writers Guild of Great Britain award for Best Comedy. Each show is a comedy perfumed by just two actors - including (across the series) famous household names such as Martin Clunes ( Doc Martin), Julia McKenzie ( Fresh Fields) and the inimitable voice of Carolyn in Cabin Pressure, Stephanie Cole.
-
-
Mixed Bag
- By Maineiac on 08-06-17
By: John Finnemore
-
John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme: Series 9
- The BBC Radio 4 Comedy Sketch Show
- By: John Finnemore
- Narrated by: John Finnemore, Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete ninth series of BBC Radio 4's award-winning sketch show. John Finnemore returns with his multi-award-winning sketch show, but this series is very different to the previous eight. There are still sketches and songs, and it's still written and performed by him and his usual fantastic ensemble cast - but with no live studio audience, John has taken the opportunity to try something new.
-
-
Not really "The souvenir Programme"
- By Chris Anderson on 11-07-21
By: John Finnemore
-
Old Harry’s Game
- The Complete Series of the Award-Winning BBC Radio 4 Comedy
- By: Andy Hamilton
- Narrated by: Andy Hamilton, James Grout, Jimmy Mulville, and others
- Length: 21 hrs and 32 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Welcome to Hell—where nobody can ever quite catch the barman's eye. In this collection, which contains all seven series of Old Harry's Game, get ready for some wicked one-liners and scorching satire. Satan is fed up after a millennia in charge of Hell, especially given the prospect of an eternity still running the damned place. Although he does enjoy playing pranks on the world of the living and devising wry torments for the souls in his keeping, he often wistfully recalls his past as an archangel.
-
-
london at its best
- By thomas_kostrzewa on 08-08-23
By: Andy Hamilton
-
John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme: Series 5
- The BBC Radio 4 Comedy Sketch Show
- By: John Finnemore
- Narrated by: John Finnemore
- Length: 2 hrs and 45 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete fifth series of BBC Radio 4's award-winning sketch show, written by and starring the writer of Cabin Pressure. John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme has won a host of awards, including the 2015 BBC Audio Drama Award for Best Scripted Comedy with Live Audience. Written by and starring John Finnemore, this fifth series of the hit show returns with more witty wordplay and laugh-out-loud sketches.
-
-
Very funny
- By Diana on 08-02-17
By: John Finnemore
-
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme
- The Complete Series 3 & 4
- By: John Finnemore
- Narrated by: a full cast, John Finnemore, Carrie Quinlan
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The complete third and fourth series of BBC Radio 4’s award-winning sketch show, written by and starring the writer of Cabin Pressure. In the third and fourth series of his hit sketch show, John Finnemore examines a typically eclectic range of issues including making friends, the problem with polymath bestselling authors, the colour of posh men’s trousers, and a history of choice.
-
-
Comedy gold from Finnemore and company
- By Emily on 12-29-14
By: John Finnemore
-
Party: The Complete Series 1-3
- By: Tom Basden
- Narrated by: Anna Crilly, Johnny Sweet, Katy Wix, and others
- Length: 6 hrs
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Disillusioned with the capitalist system, five ambitious students set out to make waves and change the face of democracy. Holding their meetings in a garden shed, budding politician Jared, ideas engine Simon, socialist firebrand Mel, image conscious materialist Phoebe and Communications Tsar Duncan wrangle with the modern political machine and attempt to lay the foundations of a new movement. Or they would, if only they had a pen.
By: Tom Basden
Related to this topic
-
The Answer Is No
- A Short Story
- By: Fredrik Backman, Elizabeth DeNoma - translator
- Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
- Length: 1 hr and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.
-
-
Narrator doesn’t get Backman’s satire or rhythm
- By joey1603 on 12-01-24
By: Fredrik Backman, and others
-
Stranded
- By: Chris Bruno, David Howard Lee, Shukri R. Abdi
- Narrated by: Taraji P. Henson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Blake Griffin, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Separated by 10 years, 3,000 miles, and the unrelenting stresses of adulthood, best friends Janet and Serena plan a 40th birthday girls’ trip to reconnect. But after a massive crash, they’re the only survivors to wash ashore on an uncharted Caribbean Island. Armed with only the clothes on their backs and zero survival skills, they fight to overcome hunger, thirst, deadly wildlife—and most terrifyingly—decades of accrued resentment. Can they find their way home, or will they kill each other first?
-
-
Get ready to Laugh
- By Lasheree McFarlane on 11-08-24
By: Chris Bruno, and others
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By MarilynArms on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
The Best Man's Ghostwriter
- By: Matthew Starr
- Narrated by: Glen Powell, Nicholas Braun, Ashley Park, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bad best man’s speech can ruin a wedding. Why do we plan every detail of a perfect day and then give the groom’s idiot best friend five minutes of total power? Enter Nate (Glen Powell), a speechwriter-for-hire who helps people write incredible best man speeches. To keep the best man from embarrassing himself (and the newlyweds), Nate uses his list of don’ts: Don’t mention the exes, don’t be rated R, and don’t bum everyone out. Nate’s system never fails. That is, until he meets Dan (Nicholas Braun).
-
-
SO GOOD
- By Csutty on 09-23-24
By: Matthew Starr
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Don't Quit Your Daytime Job, James
- By Keith on 11-20-15
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
The Great Indoors
- By: Ginny Hogan
- Narrated by: Mae Whitman
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice's journey begins as all good journeys do: hitting on the sales guy at REI. After a tumultuous breakup, a quick career transition, family upheaval, and a sobriety journey that didn't fix her life quite as much as she expected it to, Alice decides that the only way to solve all her problems is to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. But as she begins preparing for the months-long quest, she realizes the answers she's seeking might not be on top of a snow-covered mountain. Especially since she just learned there was snow in California.
-
-
Chuck full of laughs to lift anyone's spirits.
- By Laura Boogaert on 09-22-24
By: Ginny Hogan
-
The Answer Is No
- A Short Story
- By: Fredrik Backman, Elizabeth DeNoma - translator
- Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
- Length: 1 hr and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.
-
-
Narrator doesn’t get Backman’s satire or rhythm
- By joey1603 on 12-01-24
By: Fredrik Backman, and others
-
Stranded
- By: Chris Bruno, David Howard Lee, Shukri R. Abdi
- Narrated by: Taraji P. Henson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Blake Griffin, and others
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Separated by 10 years, 3,000 miles, and the unrelenting stresses of adulthood, best friends Janet and Serena plan a 40th birthday girls’ trip to reconnect. But after a massive crash, they’re the only survivors to wash ashore on an uncharted Caribbean Island. Armed with only the clothes on their backs and zero survival skills, they fight to overcome hunger, thirst, deadly wildlife—and most terrifyingly—decades of accrued resentment. Can they find their way home, or will they kill each other first?
-
-
Get ready to Laugh
- By Lasheree McFarlane on 11-08-24
By: Chris Bruno, and others
-
Born a Crime
- Stories from a South African Childhood
- By: Trevor Noah
- Narrated by: Trevor Noah
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this award-winning Audible Studios production, Trevor Noah tells his wild coming-of-age tale during the twilight of apartheid in South Africa. It’s a story that begins with his mother throwing him from a moving van to save him from a potentially fatal dispute with gangsters, then follows the budding comedian’s path to self-discovery through episodes both poignant and comical.
-
-
Great book and perfect narration
- By MarilynArms on 12-15-16
By: Trevor Noah
-
The Best Man's Ghostwriter
- By: Matthew Starr
- Narrated by: Glen Powell, Nicholas Braun, Ashley Park, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 37 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A bad best man’s speech can ruin a wedding. Why do we plan every detail of a perfect day and then give the groom’s idiot best friend five minutes of total power? Enter Nate (Glen Powell), a speechwriter-for-hire who helps people write incredible best man speeches. To keep the best man from embarrassing himself (and the newlyweds), Nate uses his list of don’ts: Don’t mention the exes, don’t be rated R, and don’t bum everyone out. Nate’s system never fails. That is, until he meets Dan (Nicholas Braun).
-
-
SO GOOD
- By Csutty on 09-23-24
By: Matthew Starr
-
Slaughterhouse-Five
- By: Kurt Vonnegut
- Narrated by: James Franco
- Length: 5 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Traumatized by the bombing of Dresden at the time he had been imprisoned, Pilgrim drifts through all events and history, sometimes deeply implicated, sometimes a witness. He is surrounded by Vonnegut's usual large cast of continuing characters (notably here the hack science fiction writer Kilgore Trout and the alien Tralfamadorians, who oversee his life and remind him constantly that there is no causation, no order, no motive to existence).
-
-
Don't Quit Your Daytime Job, James
- By Keith on 11-20-15
By: Kurt Vonnegut
-
The Great Indoors
- By: Ginny Hogan
- Narrated by: Mae Whitman
- Length: 3 hrs and 53 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice's journey begins as all good journeys do: hitting on the sales guy at REI. After a tumultuous breakup, a quick career transition, family upheaval, and a sobriety journey that didn't fix her life quite as much as she expected it to, Alice decides that the only way to solve all her problems is to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. But as she begins preparing for the months-long quest, she realizes the answers she's seeking might not be on top of a snow-covered mountain. Especially since she just learned there was snow in California.
-
-
Chuck full of laughs to lift anyone's spirits.
- By Laura Boogaert on 09-22-24
By: Ginny Hogan
-
I Can't Make This Up
- Life Lessons
- By: Neil Strauss - contributor, Kevin Hart
- Narrated by: Kevin Hart
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Superstar comedian and Hollywood box-office star Kevin Hart turns his immense talent to the written word by writing some words. Some of those words include: the, a, for, above, and even even. Put them together and you have the funniest, most heartfelt, and most inspirational memoir on survival, success, and the importance of believing in yourself since Old Yeller.
-
-
Best Audiobook I Ever Listened To
- By Sam Clear on 07-13-17
By: Neil Strauss - contributor, and others
-
Very Unbecoming
- By: Emily Kron, Kate Hopkins
- Narrated by: Zoë Chao, Esther Povitsky, Amy Sedaris
- Length: 4 hrs and 31 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When two childhood best friends blow up their respective romantic relationships, they make a time-sensitive pact: serial-cheater Chuck cannot sleep with anyone as she attends a three-month-long recovery group for cheaters, while sex-deprived Sofia vows to hook up with as many people as possible before recommitting to monogamy and tying the knot with her long-time fiancé. To keep things interesting, Chuck and Sofia decide to revive a past tradition from their summer camp days—also known as the dawning of sluthood.
-
-
Hilarious
- By Rachel on 11-21-24
By: Emily Kron, and others
-
The True Story of The Coward Brothers
- By: Elvis Costello
- Narrated by: T Bone Burnett, Elvis Costello, Rhea Seehorn, and others
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The True Story of The Coward Brothers follows two musical brothers – one English, one American, both the illegitimate sons of dubious parentage who may, as they claim to be, "one and half-brothers" – perhaps a reference to the disparity in their height and relative talents.
-
-
Cute
- By NRo on 11-26-24
By: Elvis Costello
-
Caledonian Road
- A Novel
- By: Andrew O'Hagan
- Narrated by: Michael Abubakar
- Length: 22 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Campbell Flynn, art historian, professor, and fêted fixture of the literati, always knew that when his life came crashing down, it would happen in public—yet he never imagined that a single year in London would expose so much. He’s never taken other people half as seriously as they take themselves, which is the first of his mistakes. The second is a new project: opportunistic and precisely calibrated to rake in a fortune.
-
-
The best audiobook I have ever listened to
- By Samuel Barker on 07-31-24
By: Andrew O'Hagan
-
American Psycho
- By: Bret Easton Ellis
- Narrated by: Pablo Schreiber
- Length: 16 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Patrick Bateman moves among the young and trendy in 1980s Manhattan. Young, handsome, and well educated, Bateman earns his fortune on Wall Street by day while spending his nights in ways we cannot begin to fathom. Expressing his true self through torture and murder, Bateman prefigures an apocalyptic horror that no society could bear to confront.
-
-
Fanntastic book but maybe not for everyone....
- By So Fain on 03-27-11
-
Made in America
- By: Bill Bryson
- Narrated by: William Roberts
- Length: 18 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Made in America, Bryson de-mythologizes his native land, explaining how a dusty hamlet with neither woods nor holly became Hollywood, how the Wild West wasn't won, why Americans say 'lootenant' and 'Toosday', how Americans were eating junk food long before the word itself was cooked up, as well as exposing the true origins of the G-string, the original $64,000 question, and Dr Kellogg of cornflakes fame.
-
-
Bryson Not Reading Makes For a Rare Fail
- By John on 02-28-14
By: Bill Bryson