In a similar manner to Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album, James Veitch is contractually obliged to make a Radio 4 series. (This isn't actually a surprise. I think it might even be how commissioning works.) However, that doesn't really help him.
Since it probably has to be something of a success, it might as well be about a topic that's currently a bit popular. How about the dark web. The shadowy underworld of the internet used for the trading of drugs, weapons, and properly dodgy porn. Excellent source of comedy, I'm sure.
Luckily, it is, mainly because none of it is terribly serious. It's done in that psuedo "behind the scenes" style, with chats between Veitch and his producer, discussing with what they're going to do in each scene. We get those amusing descriptions along the lines of "do one of those things where we bash all of the people together from the archives", ahead of exactly that.
Which doesn't exactly endear him to the production team, meaning we get a pleasing amount of sarcastic back and forth between them. Though there's also a decent amount of other voices, with this sneakily being a bit informative about its topic at the same time.
Fairly light, but manages to combine documentary and entertainment in a reasonable way, enough that I'll give a listen to the rest of the series.
Tagged: Radio Comedy Cast Informative Autobiographical