I love Radio 4 BUT.....

[MrsDickens]

....there are some programmes that have me bellowing at the radio like an enraged moose . Like their 'hilarious' comedy slots at 11.30am and 6.30pm. Just endured the horror of a sitcom with Ronnie Corbett as a bumbling grand-dad whose ghastly family ticked every cliche box you can name. Just unbelievably bad, and the memory of many others lingers with me, more's the pity (eg. Pam Ayres' sitcom; that appalling thing about the spies on a boat, and the interminable Scottish woman and her nightmare friends/dog/mother/boyfriend)

So I was wondering - what on Radio 4 can you otherwise-loyal listeners just not abide?

Can't believe none of you have mentioned From Our Own Correspondent, best radio programme ever.

I heart Eddie Mair too.

I agree, QueenofWhatever - FOOC () IS great. It's full of wonderful observations and can be incredibly touching.

No-one's mentioned 'Down the Line' either. Made me shout with laughter. But I'm not sure I'd have believed it was real (I only came to it after the kerfuffle when people thought it was a genuine phone-in)

'Poetry Please' always sounds so worthy, but is always delivered in a drony/ depressed -ooo peotry's so valuable and so hallowed - kind of way, leaving me feeling low - a switch off.
Also hate those quizes where they have to follow complicated clues to guess the link. Boring and pointless.
Love lots of other stuff tho.

Just a minutes bores me

minute

starting to wonder why any of us listen....

I love Today.

DH and I once went to visit a Saturday broadcast of it, having won it in a charity auction . John Humphreys is lovely (he's sooo tiny!) and Sarah Montague is great fun. We met John Simpson too, plus the editors,, producers, whole tech team in the studio. Fascinating and well worth getting up for.

But when it's followed by Melvin Bl00dy Bragg droning his pompous drivel on In Our Time, I have to leap for the off switch.

I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue isn't the same without Humph, but I do like to hear Paul Merton on Just a Minute.

ISIHAC hasn't been the same since it lost Willie Rushton.

Having been a hardened R4 listener for years with a dh who listens to nothing else, I'm finding I'm tuning to R2 a lot atm
I still love the news quiz, and Woman's hour and the Archers,Gardeners World... I even quite like that Pam Ayres thing
but the rest of the "comedy"...
count Arthur Strong? please...and then Quote UnQuote and MoneyBox... yawn!
Veg Talk was fab! btw

....Counterpoint - the musical quiz show at 11pm on a saturday night .....is my idea of fun....well it cost me 60 quid in baby sitting last time I went out on a Saturday night so perhaps its just as well - I so totally agree about that Ronnie Corbet nonsense - and when the woman was announcing it she sounded so proud...."a new comedy ...with Ronnie Corbet!!!" - it is dire, cant we campaign to get it taken off.....its just not funny.... Paul Gambacini on Counterpoint reminds me of listening to the American chart show when I was younger.....I'll tell you what I hate - all those sanctimonious money box programmes ....I turn right over to radio two......so in summary I am a radio four person (lifelong Archers listener...not really a fan its just I cant stop....) - but mostly radio two and I moved away from Radio one when the sainted Jo Wylie was shafted off the morning show.....which was about when I became a mother....so is it connected - do you stop listening to Radio One when you become a mother ...so that your children can get into it? I am going on a bit here but as I said baby sitters are a tad expensive and hard to come by on a saturday night -

Gardener's Question Time doesn't float my boat

I love Just a Minute.

Have never been able to stand R4 drama - its the only thing guaranteed to make me switch off.

In Our times, Week in Westminster, Westminster Hour, Women's hour are all good background programmes for me.

The Week in Westminster is a big fave for me.

The Obs today has a feature on In Our Time including info on all its archive.

I am always in the car at 2.45 ish on weekdays and have to endure the unadulterated crtap that is the R4 Afternoon play for several seconds until I can get to the off button.

Every day some average actors take on an accent of the past/the world/part of the UK and fail miserably to nail it. Not even in the same ball park.

And the writing is leaden and off the page, nothing like the spoken word.

And the storylines...fgs

I HATE HATE HATE them

I should just say that I was forced to listen to a whole Count Arthur Strong and started off loathing it. But I was sold by the end and I think it's very well written indeed. Love it now!

I love the Now Show. and I'm sorry I haven't a Clue.and News Quiz.

minimamoth - I'm with you there (I listen to the podcasts on the train and out running, and have a job not laughing inappropriately ) I love Moneybox and the Bottom Line too. And fooc... but anything with Melvyn Bragg and a lot of the "Drarmar" I cannot listen to.

catinthehat2 I hate that stuff too. Seems odd when some of the best journalism is on R4, they had to dilute their output with "this is RL with some made-up bits". If I wanted that I'd read the DM...

The election coverage.

What I find disturbing is how often I actually listen to Gardener's Question Time and find myself musing on what they're saying. Nooooooo, I'm not interested in gardening, but almost anything can draw me in.