A BBC Radio 4 comedy

Street and Lane

Series 1 and 2 of the comedy about a pair of mismatched Yorkshire builders battling to save their business. 
 
University dropout and would-be novelist Johnny Street and his worker-of-the-world mate Arthur Lane are the odd-couple partners in a one-horse, two-man family building firm (slogan: 'Up Your Street, Down Your Lane'). Together, they travel the Yorkshire suburbs in their white van, tackling tricky household repairs with their unique combination of art and craft. 
 
No job is too small for the intrepid duo: although some are a little unusual, like the perilously perched piano on a music teacher's stairs, the mystery whiff in an infants' school and the faulty tenor bell in a church belfry. But armed with their trusty ladders and a bucketful of banter, they manage to deal with whatever problems come their way - until a break-in makes Johnny start thinking about the road less travelled... 
 
Scripted by Ian McMillan and Dave Sheasby (The Blackburn Files), and suffused with their characteristic laconic humour, this wry, whimsical comedy stars Nick Lane and Shaun Dooley as Johnny Street and Fine Time Fontayne as Arthur Lane, with guest appearances from Geoffrey Whitehead, Stephen Hogan, Sandra Dickinson and Muzz Khan. 
 
Production credits 
Written by Ian McMillan and Dave Sheasby 
Produced and directed by David Hunter 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 19 August-9 September 2005 (Series 1), 3-24 January 2007 (Series 2) 
 
Cast 
Johnny Street - Nick Lane/Shaun Dooley 
Arthur Lane - Fine Time Fontayne 
Christine - Becky Hindley 
Tom - Richard Katz 
Great Northern Man - Gerard McDermott 
Mrs Priam-Rhodes - Margaret Robertson 
Ben Nevis - Kenny Blyth 
Tina - Hannah Storey 
Sidney Sanderson - Geoffrey Whitehead 
Alison - Bronwyn Lim 
Shafto - John Banks 
Stanley French - Stephen Hogan 
The Rev. Susan - Claire Rushbrook 
Madeleine - Sandra Dickinson 
Charles - John Carlisle 
Janet - Christine Kavanagh 
John - Mark Straker 
Franklin - Sam Dale 
Julia - Rachel Atkins 
Pete - Muzz Khan 
Lucy - Bethan Walker 
 
 
©2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Ian McMillan

Simon Armitage

Arthur Smith

Helen Lederer

Mark Radcliffe

Sophie Hannah

Stuart Maconie

Linda Smith

Mark Steel

Roger McGough

The BBC Radio 4 literary panel game

All 36 episodes of the maverick literary quiz 
 
Poet Ian McMillan is our host in this gleeful game of literary tomfoolery, outrageous parody and biting wit. Joining him for some lighthearted competitive wordplay are a quartet of writers and comedians, all ready and eager to run riot through the halls of great literature. 
 
Their bookish challenges include 'New Beginnings and Endings', which sees them topping and tailing well-known literary works to produce some very tall tales, 'Sound Effects', where they have to guess a book title from a mélange of sounds, and 'Conversation Consequences', where they imagine some unlikely meetings between fictional characters. Mrs Malaprop shares a Jacuzzi with Eliza Doolittle, Inspector Clouseau takes Blanche Dubois to a dance and The Dong with the luminous nose honks hooters with Cyrano de Bergerac... 
 
In addition, the panellists seize the chance to liberate famous authors from their individual genres and turn them loose on something different. Among their freewheeling stylings are Hunter S Thompson writing a public school prospectus, John Betjeman creating the copy for a Ford Probe brochure and Franz Kafka dispensing self-help advice in his Little Book of Calm. 
 
Wreaking havoc with the literary canon are Roger McGough, Miles Kington, Mark Thomas, Dillie Keane, John Hegley, Rory Motion, Mark Radcliffe, Arthur Smith, David Stafford, Helen Lederer, Sophie Hannah, Simon Armitage, Stuart Maconie, Linda Smith and Mark Steel. 
 
Presented by Ian McMillan 
Devised by Marc Jobst 
Produced by Marc Jobst and Viv Beeby 
 
NB: contains some dated attitudes and language 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 31 October-5 December 1995 (Series 1), 18 February-25 March 1997 (Series 2), 14 October-18 November 1997 (Series 3), 2 July-6 August 1998 (Series 4), 25 November-30 December 1998 (Series 5), 22 June-27 July 1999 (Series 6) 
 
 
(p) 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd 
© 2021 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Ian McMillan

Books by Ian McMillan

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