Agendum: Series 1

The BBC Radio 4 Current Affairs Parody

By: Jason Hazeley, Joel Morris

Narrated by: Carrie Quinlan, Full Cast, Jason Hazeley, Joel Morris, Justin Edwards

Length: 1 hr and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

A current affairs parody & stupidly feasible visit to the 24-hour Hall Of Opinion Mirrors. Because there are two stories to every story.

Created by Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris, the masterminds behind Philomena Cunk and the adult spoof Ladybird books, the show was piloted in September 2017 and sent off to Radio 4. 28 minutes later, it was commissioned for its first series, which started going out in August 2018...

The show comes from Pozzitive, proud producers of Cabin Pressure, Thanks A Lot, Milton Jones!, Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation, The Brig Society, The Castle, Armando Iannucci’s Charm Offensive, Shush! & Kevin Eldon Will See You Now...

Carrie Quinlan (“John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme”) , Justin Edwards (“The Thick Of It”), Melanie Hudson (“I’m Alan Partridge”), Samson Kayo (“Famalam”), Jess Robinson (“The Imitation Game”), Luke Sumner and Tony Way (“Game Of Thrones”) star in the first episode – “Breakthrough” -, where a scientific breakthrough, a human rights scandal and Britain’s favourite fruit come under the idiot microscope of a team of talking heads, hosted by hostioneer Alexandra Palisades. Also featuring the voice of Josh Berry.

In Episode 2, “Crisis”, Kath Hughes, Simon Kane (“John Finnemore’s Souvenir Programme”) and Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong join the Agendum team as a cotton-based crisis, a row about dimensionality and the ethics of the whoopee cushion are analyzed with forensic skill by a team of paid voices, chaired by chairperson-in-chief Alexandra Palisades.

In the third episode, (“Shock"), a deadly pandemic, an inappropriate economic yardstick and a very special anniversary are thrown about by some talking heads who probably came in a taxi, corralled by presenterer Alexandra Palisades.

And in the final episode- “Threat” - the very young, the very old and Stevenage all come under the microscope of talking, collimated by Alexandra Palisades. Also featuring Peter Serafinowicz (“Shaun Of The Dead”) as a guest Paul McCartney.

©2018 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2018 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Good silly satire

The show plays the same game as The Day Today or, especially, Listen Against (which I think had some of the same creative team) with lots of clever silly names, eccentric interviewees and playing with the conventions and phrases of ‘serious’ news programmes.

It feels a little slighter or more one-note in format than those shows. Listen Against had a bit more variety in the ways it played with news and reportage tropes.

But in fairness if I had heard this show first I would have loved it unreservedly.

Carrie Quinlan is a brilliant enough comic voice to play the straightman perfectly and the rest of the cast are consistently great.

The final episode had the best laughs for me so I’m looking forward to a second series given that hint of the writing team and cast really beginning to hit their stride. But the whole series is a really solid start.

WHAT A PILE OF DRIVEL.

There are things you do not joke about, Cancer and children being made to cry by being told that their parents are dead and their parents hated them. I couldn't think of anything LESS funny.
I'm surprised that Justin Edwards was involved with this, he's better than that. I would definitely NOT recommend this, it's a waste of a credit.