Lovely chat with Sarah Lilley on BBC Radio Suffolk this morning about #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 and winning a Choice Outstanding Academic Title award. You can hear the interview in full on #BBCSounds starting at about 1hr 40: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... Or you can listen to this snippet...

A very happy new year, courtesy of a fantastic Christmas present - this Radio Times tinplate calendar. Any idea when these were made? (It can't be later than 1960, because Radio Times changed its logo in 1961.)

New year, new series of posts on #AudioDrama For 2026 I'm going to avoid #Shakespeare and suggest new plays and adaptations, including some by his contemporaries. January: Love and Information by Caryl Churchill. Available for free on #BBCSounds #RadioDrama #DramaOn3 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

At 5:40 on this BBC Radio 4 Extra repeat episode of The Right Time - a sketch I have no memory of writing! I had to look up the script to check it was actually mine. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Possibly my favourite #CharlesParis series is on #BBCRadio4Extra at the moment - The Cinderella Killer. If you like a reference to #Shakespeare and his contemporaries you'll enjoy this snippet where Charles' agent tells him he's been offered a part in a verse drama 📻🎭 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

This year several writing projects have come to fruition – the most significant of which has been my book, #ShakespeareOnTheRadio💀🎧 Thanks to @edinburghup.bsky.social for the support – and to anyone who’s bought it. edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-shakesp... #Shakespeare #AudioDrama #RadioDrama

A truly fascinating article that is, especially the ‘Crackerjack’ part. Good one, Alan!

... and not forgetting Nellie the Elephant!

2025 has been a busy year, not least for spreading the word about #AudioDrama. As well as a couple of articles for @thestage.co.uk I did quite a few pieces for #radio and podcasts, including an introduction to #Hamlet on #BBCRadio3 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m... #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 #Shakespeare

Two years ago, the BBC celebrated the start of #RadioDrama - but didn't get their facts quite right (see video below). Today #JusticeForTwigg at last. Finally Phyllis Twigg is recognised for her roll in establishing #AudioDrama. Tune into #BBCRadio4 at 2.15pm today 📻🎧🎙️🎭 See next post for corrections

At 02:25 my sketch on this week's rerun of The Right Time is dedicated to all those radio DJs who have long outstayed their welcome. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Know your Phyllis Twigg? @b7media.bsky.social @soundliness.com @paulkerensa.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Every month in 2025 I’ve been posting a #Shakespeare play recommendation on Instagram – along with a suggested audio version. If you head to my profile page you’ll find all my videos to watch in full. www.instagram.com/audio.andrea #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 #Shakespeare #RadioDrama #AudioDrama

This was a really lovely event - and a proper celebration for a radio drama pioneer. Very much looking forward to The Truth About Phyllis Twigg on Christmas Eve. #JusticeForTwigg #RadioDrama #AudioDrama #BBCRadio4 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

I've occasionally been confused with another Alan Stafford who performs in American adult movies. I'm not sure this eBay listing of my book will help matters.

My book #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 has been named as a 2025 Outstanding Academic Title by Choice. It’s described as offering “a fascinating history in an underrepresented area of Shakespeare studies”. “Highly recommended.” #ChoiceOAT2025 @edinburghup.bsky.social #Shakespeare #RadioDrama #AudioDrama

At 23:12 a coincidentally festive quickie of mine with Eleanor Bron and Paula Wilcox from The Right Time, repeated this week on BBC Radio 4 Extra. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

"It is 1923 and the BBC is at war!" Learn about the birth of broadcast comedy in Bigamy Killed the Radio Star. Full blurb on Amazon. www.amazon.co.uk/Bigamy-Kille...

Amazon seems to be offering an incredible range of spinoff merchandise for Bigamy Killed the Radio Star. Or you could just buy the book.

Wilson and Keppel.

Some lovely tributes to Prunella Scales, including this in @radiotimes.bsky.social But the best has been the extended interview with her son Samuel West for #BBCRadio4's #TheLastWord Essential listening not only for fans of Prunella but for anyone interested in acting www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Naturally disappointed that journalist Betty Knox, who reported on the Goering trial, is not portrayed in the Russell Crowe 'Nuremberg' movie. But, seeing as characters include Corporal Jones and Camp MP, they've obviously decided to play it for laughs.

The Stafford Wives

For me, Peter Goodwright is the real star of this show - making comedy out of Freddie Starr's undisciplined chaos.

Searching for the perfect Christmas comedy gift? How about 'Bigamy Killed the Radio Star' (the birth of BBC comedy)? Or 'It's Friday It's Crackerjack' (the entire history of a teatime TV classic). Or everyone's favourite sand-dancing trio 'Wilson Keppel & Betty - Too Naked for the Nazis.' Sorted!

My biography of BBCs first comedy celebrity - Bigamy Killed the Radio Star - is currently 3,062,500 in the Amazon best-sellers list. Let's see if we can get it into the top 2 million before Christmas!

It’s great. I write for it sometimes, but don’t let that put you off.

I thoroughly recommend series recording this. Some great impressions by veteran Peter Cavanagh in Show 1.

Take advantage of this special offer and you get TWO articles written by me.

I love @chortle.bsky.social - but, seeing as they're a comedy website, I hope they won't mind too much if I share a couple of typos from stories published today.

Next month on the podcast, something different: an audio drama. Re-enacting the BBC’s bizarre mass telepathy experiment, 100 years on. So next month’s £Patreon will help fund a guest producer. Fancy helping fund it? If goes well, may do more. So now’s a good time to join us: Patreon.com/paulkerensa

Not heard in nearly three decades, today BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcasts Are You Still Awake? 15 minute plays starring real-life couples written by Russell Davies First episode with Prunella Scales & Timothy West was broadcast on Radio 3 28.11.94

#wolseywriters The BBC Writers Open Call submissions window runs between Tuesday 4th November 2025 at noon and Tuesday 2nd December 2025 at noon. Drama or Comedy/Drama scripts written for Film, TV, Radio, Stage or Children’s TV/Radio scripts, minimum of 30 pages. www.bbc.co.uk/writers/oppo...

*New Publication!* Lovely end to the week - 'John Gielgud on Air: 65 Years of Performing Shakespeare on Radio' out now in Shakespeare Survey. It shows that not only was he a leading stage actor, but he was an audio drama pioneer too. If you have access, here's the link: doi.org/10.1017/9781...

Can't wait!

Pleased to see Radio 4 Extra has a short season of the rarely-repeated News Huddlines (though a good couple of decades before I joined the writing team). Particularly looking forward to the disclaimer before episode 3, which features a Chinese state visit! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

Delighted to have an article in the latest edition of Intermission from @talkingpicturestv.bsky.social 'Desperately Seeking Betty' features some new research into Egyptian sand-dancers Wilson, Keppel & Betty - plus a previously unseen picture of the original Betty.

Good to see Beryl Reid back on stage.

The latest repeat of 'The Right Time' on Radio 4 Extra includes my sketch for Graeme Garden (plus Clive Swift and Paula Wilcox), described on the website as 'a new TV quiz show for the hard of memory'. It starts at 24:58. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Slightly mystified by Amazon's new special offer. I ordered two items and they threw in a Dead Dad poem for free.

Proof that you don't have to chain-smoke like crazy to own a set of radio star cards - you can also binge on Bridgewater Biscuits. Here's a bit of 30s glamour: impressionist Florence Desmond and two character comedians - Jeanne de Casalis (Mrs Feather) and Suzette Tarri (Our Ada).

From w/c 21 September 1985 : Dusty Bin goes Latin with this 3-2-1 TV Times cover. #80s

This month is both the 70th anniversary of the start of Crackerjack and of ITV. Trying my utmost not to have favourites, I've celebrated one in Yours magazine and the other in Radio Times.

Today in Yours magazine, I manage to cram the entire history of Crackerjack from 1955 to 2021 into a double-page spread. That surely deserves a Crackerjack pencil.

Another spotting of #ShakespeareOnTheRadio 💀🎧 in the wild - this time in @waterstones.bsky.social Gower Street, London. Thank you to @staffordquips.bsky.social for the photos 📘📘📘 @edinburghup.bsky.social #Shakespeare #RadioDrama #AudioDrama

John Henry - trendiest spectacle-wearer of 1923. 'Bigamy Killed the Radio Star' now available from bookshops, online outlets and Zuckerbergia.

The book of the radio interview of the TV series is still available from all bookish outlets - shops, online and the odd ice-cream van. 'It's Friday, It's Crackerjack!' tells the entire history of the show from 1955 to 2021.

It’s such an excellent book and history of a classic children’s TV show. I promise you’ll love it.

In my book 'It's Friday, It's Crackerjack' I talk to everyone from a cameraman on the very first episode to Sam, Mark & team from the 21st century CBBC shows.

'Mr Grumble' was Joe Baker's father - and the scriptwriter was Jack Douglas' brother.