BBC newsreader joins Chichester celebration of the magic of radio

It will warm you up nicely for a very special entertainment coming to Chichester Festival Theatre in celebration of the magic of radio.

Dame Joanna Lumley will be the special guest for Radio Live which promises a hilarious romp through broadcasting history with Charlotte and with Sir Richard Stilgoe, Alistair McGowan and Garry Richardson (Saturday, January 20, performances at 2.30pm and 7.30pm – tickets on https://www.cft.org.uk/events/radio-live#dates).

As Charlotte recalls, the whole thing developed out of a special gala event at the Wigmore Hall in central London marking BBC Radio 4 Today programme’s 60th anniversary.

“Garry and Richard were doing it and I was invited to go along and spoke and we just really enjoyed it. I read some cuttings from The News Quiz and told some funny stories of what happens when things go wrong and we were just chatting afterwards and we said that we should make a show out of it. I had left the BBC by then which made it much easier for me as I was a free-lancer. Garry and Richard went away and got various people involved and one of the people they contacted was Alistair McGowan. He is a fantastic impressionist and a very lovely person. In fact that's the thing about it. They're all such lovely people to work with, and we've just had so much fun. I would think that we've probably done seven or eight of the shows by now, and Chichester is always a lovely place to play. It's a wonderful venue, a lovely theatre space which still feels very intimate and you get a tremendous audience very keen on the radio, an audience that really appreciates a joyous celebration of the radio. And I think what people really enjoy is seeing the face behind the voice and just hearing about all the things that go on behind the scenes.”

For Charlotte there is real magic in the radio: “It is really about the pictures that are in your mind and in your imagination. When you're watching TV in a way you don't have to think which I know is a very rude thing to say about television because a lot of really good things happen on television but with the radio it is up to your imagination and up to your own ideas.

"And it just feels so evocative. It brings up so many thoughts and I just think that the radio stimulates my brain whereas if I'm sitting in front of the television I tend to fall asleep! And you really get the power of the words. I'm a great fan of drama on radio and it really is just magical. I was brought up on the radio. We didn't have a TV until I was 12. My parents were very keen on literature and on reading but we listened to all sorts of things on the radio, things like Round The Horne. And it just went straight over my head but I was aware of my parents laughing!”

Tickets from the venue.