R4's Gunpowder Plot comedy

Radio 4’s often heavyweight Afternoon Play is being given over to sketch group the Penny Dreadfuls for a spoof history of Guy Fawkes.

The trio of David Reed, Humphrey Ker and Thom Tuck will be joined by other actors for the 45-minute show, which will go out on November 5.

The Edinburgh Fringe stars have previously written and performed two series of the Victorian-themed Brothers Faversham for Radio 7.

Meanwhile, stand-up Andy Zaltzman has also landed a four-part Radio 4 series, in which he promises a comic history of the past ten years.

Other comics will join him in Andy Zaltzman’s History Of The Third Millennium, which promises a mix of ‘stand-up, sketches, facts and blatant lies’ to examine the major events and trends of the last decade.

Zaltzman has co-written and hosted the Radio 4 shows Political Animal and The Department and The Times’s satirical podcast The Bugle, all with Daily Show correspondent John Oliver.

Free tickets for the recordings of both Zaltman’s and the Penny Dreadfuls’ shows have been released – see our free tickets page for details.

Published: 30 Sep 2009