John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme
John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme is a sketch comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Finnemore is the sole writer and performs with Margaret Cabourn-Smith, Simon Kane, Lawry Lewin and Carrie Quinlan. The first series was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2011, and further series have followed annually. The series contains sketches and character monologues, with only one major recurring character, a storyteller who narrates a tall tale in the last five minutes of most programmes, and who also provides the show's only recurring catchphrase, opening each story with "Well, since you ask me for...". The only other recurring character between episodes is an interviewer played by Carrie Quinlan named Patsy Straightwoman who is deliberately given no significant characteristics except for an awareness of her role as a "feed", which she sardonically remarks upon at the beginning of each sketch. All episodes from the fourth onwards include a comic song with words by Finnemore and music by Susannah Pearse. Each series has one sketch parodying the BBC Radio 4 series The Archers, portraying the show as it supposedly sounds to people who do not listen to it. The latest, ninth series was broadcast in 2021.
