Radio review by Steve Bennett

There’s more than a whiff of Tales Of The Unexpected about Lenny Henry’s new radio series – and as a child of the 1980s, I’m sure he wouldn’t want it any other way.

The stories in Rogue’s Gallery are described as ‘comic monologues with twists-in-the-tale’ that the comedian-turned-actor-turned-diversity-campaigner both wrote and performed.

In the first he plays Matt Cooper, a jolly middle-aged Brummie – keeping the accent easy – who has been blind since his mother dropped him on the head as a baby. 

But it doesn’t stop him enjoying afternoons at the West Brom and nights at the Struggling Man pub, a home-from-home that he finds ‘bostin!’ There he laughs and jokes with the regulars. OK, so they are oldish jokes, but we can put that down to character, and 15 minutes in his jaunty company on the radio is certainly engaging, with enjoyably vivid descriptions of what he hears, feels and smells.

Cooper makes his way around by counting steps, loves his mates’ company and admits to liking his food. ’I don’t have any problems with body image,’ he says. ‘There aren’t many mirrors in my house.’

But his happy life looks as if it’ll be upended when he gets mugged on the way back home. He backchats his assailant: ‘Did all the little old ladies take kung fu lessons? You’re a coward mate; you should be ashamed of yourself…’

And as for what happens next, well, you’ll just have to listen.

Plenty of other shows have pulled off bigger twists, but Henry’s is still a pleasing denouement, making this neat vignette from a likeable character a fine audio nightcap.

• The first two episodes od Lenny Henry’s Rogues Gallery can be heard here.