Pupils' comedy show up for top radio award

A sketch show written by schoolchildren is up against the likes of Alan Partridge and Frank Skinner in the UK’s leading radio awards.

Cool Skool Sketch Show, which airs on Kent’s KMFM  was written by Year 5 and 6 children from across the county, after attending  workshops.

More than 350 pupils attended the sessions, led by professional writers who worked on shows including Horrible Histories and Dead Ringers, before making ten five-minute programmes.

The shows were made by Unusual, the production company run by presenter and former Now Show regular Jon Holmes.  Listen to the episodes here.

When the show was announce KMFM’s head of broadcast Rob Wills said: ‘When Jon contacted me about this I couldn’t say no. So many children have benefited from him and his team visiting their school and I know how excited they are to hear their stories on the radio. We look forward to airing them.’

And Holmes added: ‘They say children say the funniest things, but it turns out that they also write and perform the funniest things too. From jokes about Boris’s parties to Covid-safe Fairy Tales via The Hulk in a China Shop, we’ve been seeking out the comedy stars of the future.’

Unusual’s Radio 4 topical mash-up show The Skewer was also nominated in the best comedy category of the Arias, the awards handed out by the Radio Academy, as well as the special category for shows based around the Queen’s death.

The radio programmes and podcasts shortlisted in The Comedy Award category are…

• Cool Skool Sketch Show (KMFM, produced by Unusual)
• Frank Skinner (Absolute Radio, produced by Avalon)
• From The Oasthouse: The Alan Partridge Podcast (Audible, by Baby Cow)
• IM1 The Worst Bits And More (Manx Radio)
• Nature Table, hosted by Sue Perkins (Radio 4, by BBC Studios)
• NonCensored, with Rosie Holt, Brendan Murphy and Eshaan Akbar (Lead Mojo Productions)
• Robin Ince's Reality Tunnel (Radio 4, by BBC Studios)
• The Skewer (Radio 4, produced by Unusual)
• Where There's A Will There's A Wake, the podcast presented by Kathy Burke, who is also  up for best new presenter

Elsewhere Elis James & John Robins are up for best speech presenter for their Radio 5 Live show and  Romesh Ranganathan's For The Love Of Hip Hop is in the running for best specialist music show and Rob Delaney's A Heart That Works is shortlisted for best audiobook.

The results will be announced at a ceremony on May 2, hosted by Rylan and Fleur East at London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane.

Rylan said: ‘Radio is a big part of my life and I know from doing my own show, it's a big part of people's lives around the country too.

‘From car rides to listening while doing the dishes at home, radio and podcasts allows you to be a part of people's day and for that reason, I love them. I want to wish a big congratulations to all the nominees today and I look forward to revealing all the winners.’

The full list of nominations across all 28 categories can be found at radioacademy.org

Published: 31 Mar 2023