Mark Steel’s In Town

Mark visits towns across the UK, meets the locals, and creates a stand up show for them – and us – about the town. Check out all the information, book to see the show live, and listen to episodes on BBC Sounds or below.

The Mark Steel Solution:

Mark’s BBC radio series.

Series 1 – Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 5 in 1992:

The Royal Family – ‘The Royal Family should be chosen by weekly lottery’ ( 9 October 1992)
The Family – ‘Nobody should be allowed to live in the same family for more than a year’ (16 October 1992)
Judges – “Criminals should be recruited as high courts judges” (23 October 1992)
School – “Nobody should go to school until they’re 35” (30 October 1992)
England – “Anyone born in England should be deported” (6 November 1992)
The Economy – “All government economic policy should be decided by sport” (13 November 1992)

Series 2 – Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1994:

Unemployment – “Having a job should be illegal” (15 July 1994)
Transport – “Transport should only be paid for by people who don’t use it” (22 July 1994)
Housing – “Everyone in Britain should be rehoused at random” (29 July 1994)
The Royal Family – “The Royal Family should be chosen by weekly lottery” (presumably 5 August 1994)

Series 3 – Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995:

Sexuality – “Everyone should have to be gay for two years”
Charity – “Anybody who gives to charity should be jailed”
Crime – “Criminals should decide their own punishment”
Immigration – “Anyone born in England should be deported”

Series 4 – Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1996:

Religion – “People should have to change their religion every Monday”
Media – “Anyone in charge of the media should be sacked after thirty minutes”
Education – “Nobody should go to school until they are 36”
Life – “Pessimists should be persecuted by law”

The Mark Steel Revolution:

Originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1998:
The French Revolution (30th June 1998)
The Sexual Revolution (7th July 1998)
The Russian Revolution (14th July 1998)
The Industrial Revolution (21st July 1998)
The American Civil War (28th July 1998)
The Evolution of Man (4th August 1998)

The Mark Steel Lectures:

Originally broadcast on Radio 4 between 1999 and 2002:

Series 1 – Englishmen who changed the course of history

Oliver Cromwell (9 August 1999)
W G Grace (16 August 1999)
Charlie Chaplin (23 August 1999)
Thomas Paine (30 August 1999)

Series 2 – People with a passion

Lord Byron (13 February 2001)
Aristotle (20 March 2001)
Leonardo Da Vinci(27 March 2001)
Che Guevara (3 April 2001)
Billie Holliday (10 April 2001)
Karl Marx (17 April 2001)

Series 3 – People with a passion

Ludwig Van Beethoven (18 September 2002)
Hannibal (25 September 2002)
Isaac Newton (2 October 2002)
Mary Shelley (9 October 2002)
Muhammad Ali (16 October 2002)
Napoleon Bonaparte (23 October 2002)