Episodes
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Mark Steel's In Town - Paris
Mark Steel is back with the 12th series of his award-winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.
In this final episode Mark visits Paris. Yeah, that Paris. The one in France. Where he performs on a boat on the river Seine. In this special extended edition of the programme Mark performs the show in English and then in French, for a French-speaking audience.
The English version is first and the French version starts at 35 minutes.
In this series, Mark also popped to Nottingham, Tring, The Isles of Scilly, Salisbury, and Newport. And for the first time, there will be extended versions of each episode available on BBC sounds.
Written and performed by Mark Steel
Additional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Sarah SharpeProduction co-ordinator Katie BaumSound Manager Jerry PealProducer Carl CooperProducer Richard Morris
With special thanks to Mark's French teacher Fatima Belaouzi
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
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Mark Steel's In Town - Paris
Mark Steel is back with the 12th series of his award winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.
In this final episode Mark visits Paris. Yeah, that Paris. The one in France. Where he performs on a boat on the river Seine.
In this series, Mark also popped to the Nottingham, Tring, The Isles of Scilly, Salisbury, and Newport. And for the first time, there will be extended versions of each episode available on BBC sounds.
Written and performed by Mark Steel
Additional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Sarah SharpeProduction co-ordinator Katie BaumSound Manager Jerry PealProducer Carl CooperProducer Richard Morris
With special thanks to Mark's French teacher Fatima Belaouzi
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
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Missing episodes?
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Mark Steel's In Town - Newport
Mark Steel is back with the 12th series of his award winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.
In this fifth episode Mark visits Newport in South Wales.
In this series, Mark will also be popping to Nottingham, Tring, The Isles of Scilly, Salisbury and Paris. And for the first time, there will be extended versions of each episode available on BBC sounds.
Written and performed by Mark Steel
Additional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Sarah SharpeProduction co-ordinator Katie BaumSound Manager Jerry PealProducer Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
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Mark Steel's In Town - Salisbury
Mark Steel is back with the 12th series of his award winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.
In this fourth episode Mark visits Salisbury in Wiltshire
In this series, Mark will also be popping to Nottingham, Tring, The Isles of Scilly, Newport and Paris. And for the first time, there will be extended versions of each episode available on BBC sounds.
Written and performed by Mark Steel
Additional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Sarah SharpeProduction co-ordinator Katie BaumSound Manager Jerry PealProducer Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
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Mark Steel's In Town - The Isles of Scilly
Mark Steel is back with the 12th series of his award winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.
In this third episode Mark visits The Isles of Scilly.
In this series, Mark will also be popping to Nottingham, Tring, Salisbury, Newport and Paris. And for the first time, there will be extended versions of each episode available on BBC sounds.
Written and performed by Mark Steel
Additional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Sarah SharpeProduction co-ordinator Katie BaumSound Manager Jerry PealProducer Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
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Mark Steel's In Town - Tring
Mark Steel is back with the 12th series of his award winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.
In this second episode Mark travels to Tring in Hertfordshire, home of the Natural History Museum, former private museum of Walter Rothschild, where he goes to see the exhibit of fleas dressed as Mexicans.
In this series, Mark will also be popping to Nottingham, The Isles of Scilly, Salisbury, Newport and Paris. And for the first time, there will be extended versions of each episode available on BBC sounds.
Written and performed by Mark Steel
Additional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Sarah SharpeProduction co-ordinator Katie BaumSound Manager Jerry PealProducer Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
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Mark Steel's In Town - Nottingham
"Ay up me duck"
Mark Steel is back with the 12th series of his award winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.
In this first episode Mark visits Nottingham, a contrarian city, full of heroes, rebels, caves and lovers of mushy peas. He learns about local legends, Robin Hood, Lord Byron, DH Lawrence, Brian Clough, and the most famous of all, Frank the xylophone player. He looks at the history of the Luddites, the cheese riots and visits three pubs that are all the oldest in the country.
As well as Nottingham, In this series, Mark be popping to the Isles of Scilly, Tring, Salisbury, Newport and Paris. And for the first time, there will be extended versions of each episode available on BBC sounds.
Written and performed by Mark Steel
Additional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Sarah SharpeProduction co-ordinator Katie Baum Sound Manager Jerry PealProducer Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
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There’s one thing you definitely can’t miss in Whitby and that’s the ruined abbey up on a cliff looking down on the town. It’s also hard to miss the jawbone of a blue whale set atop the opposite hill and the fact that Dracula was researched and written here by Bram Stoker. You’ll not go wanting if you are in search of a chip, either. Mark Steel manages to dodge the seagulls and presents his findings to a local audience at The Brunswick Centre.
The full box set of all episodes (with well over 50 towns visited) is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
Written by and starring...Mark SteelWith additional material from Pete SinclairProduction Coordinator...Beverly TaggProducer...Julia McKenzieA BBC Studios Production.
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Walthamstow has got plenty going for it - "it has the requisite villagey middle-class bit, but with a proper gor-blimey guv'nor East End heart", says one newspaper article and Mark finds a town mid-gentrification. The dog track has gone, the famously long market remains but there is also a Viking Shop and an extraordinary showroom and workshop with a vast range of neon light fittings called God's Own Junkyard. There is a museum dedicated to the designer William Morris who used to live there and there's evidence of a recent war too in the form of the cycling scheme known as "mini-Holland." Hopefully Mark will tread carefully. With guest local MP Stella Creasy.
The full box set of all episodes (with well over 50 towns visited) is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
Written by and starring...Mark SteelWith additional material from Pete SinclairProduction Coordinator...Beverly TaggProducer...Julia McKenzieA BBC Studios Production.
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The famous Blyth Staithes (created for off-loading coal into ships) were the backdrop for one of the grimmest scenes in the Michael Caine classic Get Carter - the smoggy industrial view at the time described by the director as an "absolute vision of hell". Undaunted, comedian Mark Steel travels to this part of Northumberland and finds a fascinating industrial legacy, a posh pub, a very nice beach and prominent indications of its role in the first and second World Wars. Does a town blighted by so many closures show any evidence of green shoots? Mark presents his findings to a local audience at The Phoenix Theatre and as ever gets away with just the right amount of affection rudeness and we learn more about a very distinctive coastal town in the UK.
The full box set of all episodes (with well over 50 towns visited) is available now wherever you get your podcasts.
Written by and starring...Mark SteelWith additional material from Pete SinclairProduction Coordinator...Beverly TaggProducer...Julia McKenzieA BBC Studios Production.
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Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with a short series of shows recorded during the coronavirus pandemic.
Following two COVID-friendly live outdoor episodes Mark is back for a special, one-off show performed to a remote, virtual audience where he'll be talking about some of the places he has visited over the course of 10 series of Mark Steel’s in Town. He’ll explore what’s happened since his visits and tell us about some of the things that never made it in to the broadcast shows.
Written and performed by Mark SteelProduction co-ordinator Beverly TaggSound Manager, Marc Willcox Producer, Carl Cooper
Picture Credit, Tom Stanier
A BBC Studios Production
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Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with a short series of shows recorded outdoors during the coronavirus pandemic.
The bubonic plague didn't stop Shakespeare from working so for this second outdoor show, Mark performs on a tree stump in The Dell Gardens, Stratford-upon-Avon in front of a small but lovely local crowd.
In between being interrupted by geese, Mark asks the people gathered on the grass in the RSC's outdoor performance area on the banks of the River Avon, just by the church where Shakespeare is buried, across from the Shakespeare ice-cream boat, not far from the Hamlet statue, if they've noticed any sort of theme to the place.
Mark also looks at what else Stratford has to offer and visits the Butterfly Farm, the Tudor World museum and he discovers that the town was also once the home of the Teletubbies.
Written and performed by Mark SteelAdditional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Beverly TaggSound Manager, Jerry PealProducer, Carl Cooper
Picture Credit, Tom Stanier
A BBC Studios Production
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Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with a short series of shows recorded outdoors during the coronavirus pandemic.
For the first ever outdoor Mark Steel's In Town episode, and Radio 4 Comedy's first ever COVID-friendly audience show, what better place to start than on Brighton beach?
Famous for its pavilion, piers and progressive nature as well as for being the playground of George, Prince Regent, Brighton welcomes Mark where he performs on the pebbles, accompanied by the sound of the waves, with a busy zip-wire ride and squawking seagulls overhead. A first for the show but a completely normal day in life of the people of Brighton.
Written and performed by Mark SteelAdditional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator Beverly TaggSound Manager, Jerry PealProducer, Carl Cooper
Picture Credit, Tom Stanier
A BBC Studios Production
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Comedian Mark Steel visits the island of Malta and performs a bespoke stand-up show for the local audience.
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Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with the ninth series of his award-winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.
In this episode Mark visits the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire... and he manages to get out alive.
Written and performed by Mark SteelAdditional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator, Hayley SterlingSound Manager, Jerry Peal Producer, Carl Cooper
Picture Credit, Tom Stanier
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"Croeso i Mark Steel’s in Town, Sy’n dod wythnos yma o Aberystwyth"
Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with the ninth series of his award-winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.
In this episode Mark visits Aberystwyth in Ceredigion, Wales. He visits the National Library of Wales in search of books, which is a harder task than you would imagine. They do have The Holy Grail in there though, so that makes up for it. He speaks to some students, avoids some dangerous seagulls and discovers why Aber is the 'Athens of Wales'.
Written and performed by Mark SteelAdditional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator, Hayley SterlingSound Manager, Jerry Peal Producer, Carl Cooper
Picture Credit, Tom Stanier
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Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with the ninth series of his award-winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.
In this episode Mark visits Carlisle on the Scottish border and discovers why the whole place stinks of biscuits. He also comes across a cursing stone.
Written and performed by Mark SteelAdditional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator, Hayley SterlingSound Manager, Jerry Peal Producer, Carl Cooper
Picture Credit, Tom Stanier
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Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with the ninth series of his award-winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.
In this episode Mark visits King's Lynn.
King's Lynn has an apostrophe. And a river. And a traffic island full of rabbits. Mark has a delightful trip on a ferry.
And the Queen often visits the town on her way to Sandringham.
Written and performed by Mark SteelAdditional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator, Hayley SterlingSound Manager, Jerry Peal Producer, Carl Cooper
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2019.
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Mark Steel returns to Radio 4 with the ninth series of his award-winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.
In the first episode Mark visits Hastings.
Hastings is mainly known for its famous battle, but they don't like to go on about that. Apart from over seventy businesses with 1066 in the title, you hardly see it mentioned. A lot has happened there since 1066 though; they have an annual Pirates Day, for example, where everyone dresses as pirates and gets drunk. They have Jack in the Green day, where everyone paints themselves green and gets drunk. They also have a statue of a giant winkle, an alley under the prom with a spectacular light show and there are lots of lovely pubs too, where you can watch one of their thousands of bands... and get drunk. Oh, and there's a building supplier called William the Concreter.
Written and performed by Mark SteelAdditional material by Pete SinclairProduction co-ordinator, Hayley Sterling / Beverly TaggSound Manager, Jerry Peal Producer, Carl Cooper
Picture Credit, Tom Stanier
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Mark Steel visits Ventnor on the Isle of Wight.
He's performing at the Winter Gardens, the venue of his first ever gig when he got up and told some jokes in a talent contest on a childhood holiday.
Ventor has a microclimate, subsidence, and the residents claim that on some days they can see France reflected upside down in the sky.
Mark concludes this series of travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness.
Written and performed by Mark Steel.
Additional material by Pete Sinclair.
Producer: Carl Cooper
A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in January 2018.
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