New topical format for Friday nights with Andrew Hunter Murray and Amy Hoggart

Radio 4 has commissioned a full series of The Naked Week to join its topical Friday Night Comedy lineup.

Andrew Hunter Murray hosts the show – which begins on November 29 –  along with chief correspondent  Amy Hoggart.

Hoggart, below, is the daughter of late political correspondent Simon Hoggart, long-time host of Radio 4's News Quiz and was a  regular on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, an American political satire show on TBS.

 Meanwhile Hunter Murray is an author best known for being part of the No Such Thing As A Fish podcast team.

The Naked Week  was piloted in summer 2023, alongside other news-based formats including TL;DR with Catherine Bohart, which will return for a second series next summer.

Produced by The Skewer’s Jon Holmes, The Naked Week looks at both the big stories and the way the news is packaged and presented. It is recorded in front of a live audience and billed as what would happen if  ‘Private Eye, TV Burp, and Popbitch had a lovely, if slightly demonic, baby’.

Hunter Murray said: "The news has been mad for some years now and it's a privilege to be given time on Radio 4 to attempt to work out what is going on, who’s responsible, and whether there is possibly any compensation money in it for us all. Consider this show a support group, albeit one that offers stupid jokes instead of therapy.’

Holmes added: ‘The news has had its own way for far too long, so it’s about time someone came in and showed it who’s boss. We’ll be prodding around its inner workings with a mix of forensically dissected footage, rigorous journalism, and a healthy disrespect for authority. Oh, and jokes. There will be lots of jokes.’

The show was ordered by Julia McKenzie, commissioner of comedy and entertainment for Radio 4.

She said: ‘Friday Night Comedy is an integral part of the Radio 4 comedy offering and I know it’s a highlight of many listeners’ weeks – so I’m thrilled that another brilliant topical comedy is joining the lineup. Andrew, Jon and the team have got a unique take on dissecting the news and listeners have a lot to look forward to.’

Published: 9 Oct 2024