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Sisters In Satire

Sisters in Satire: a comedy journey exploring women in satire
from archive.org

From the dawn of broadcast comedy, women played a vital but largely overlooked role; more in the background rather than the forefront.

What impact did the sisters of satire from the 60’s and 70’s have on the comedy we know today and what was their cultural influence?

Just because they weren’t the stars of the show didn’t mean their influence wasn’t felt.

June Whitfield, Eleanor Bron and Miriam Margolyes were all quietly but firmly making their name in comedies such as The Glums, The Establishment Club and The Betty Witherspoon Show.

These women paved the way for comedians and actors such as Jan Ravens, Meera Syal and Linda Smith.

In the first of three programmes, Samira Ahmed is joined by actor/director Arabella Weir and former radio producer and novelist Lissa Evans.

They listen into some of the best sitcoms from the archives - and discuss the impact their funny women have had on contemporary comedy and the extent of their satirical legacy:

* THE BETTY WITHERSPOON SHOW
* WEEK ENDING
* VICTORIA WOOD - AS SEEN ON TV


From the dawn of broadcast comedy, women played a vital but largely overlooked role; more in the background rather than the forefront.

What impact did the sisters of satire from the 60’s and 70’s have on the comedy we know today and what was their cultural influence?

Just because they weren’t the stars of the show didn’t mean their influence wasn’t felt. June Whitfield, Eleanor Bron and Miriam Margolyes were all quietly but firmly making their name in comedies such as The Glums, The Establishment Club and The Betty Witherspoon Show.

These women paved the way for comedians and actors such as Jan Ravens, Meera Syal and Linda Smith.

In the second of three programmes, Samira Ahmed is joined by actor/director Arabella Weir, former radio producer and novelist Lissa Evan and actress Tiffany Stevenson.

They discuss some of the best sitcoms from the BBC archives and listen again to the joys of:

* WEEK ENDING
* GOODNESS GRACIOUS ME
* A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME WASTING

They assess the impact these funny women have had on contemporary comedy and the extent of their satirical legacy.

Join them on a comic journey from the early 1970’s to the present day in a celebration of women in satire

From the dawn of broadcast comedy, women played a vital but largely overlooked role; more in the background rather than the forefront.

What impact did the sisters of satire from the 60’s and 70’s have on the comedy we know today and what was their cultural influence?

In the less enlightened 1960S and 70s, women were often the butt of the joke, rather than making them.

Just because they weren’t the stars of the show didn’t mean their influence wasn’t felt. June Whitfield, Eleanor Bron and Miriam Margolyes were all quietly but firmly making their name in comedies such as The Glums, The Establishment Club and The Betty Witherspoon Show.

These women paved the way for comedians and actors such as Jan Ravens, Meera Syal and Linda Smith.

In the last of three programmes, Samira Ahmed is joined by actor and director Arabella Weir and former radio producer and novelist Lissa Evans to discuss some of the best sitcoms from the BBC archives to assess the impact funny women have had on contemporary comedy and the extent of their satirical legacy

Includes: WHERE'S THE F IN NEWS

Producer: Belinda Naylor

  1. 1, June, Betty and Victoria (26.6Mb)
  2. 2, Meera and Linda (23.9Mb)
  3. 3, Looking at Linda and Where's the F in News (27.4Mb)

MP3 files hosted by archive.org.