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unusual

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  • Home
  • Skewer Contributor Guide
  • The Skewer
  • The Skewer Script Layout

welcome to unusual

welcome to unusualwelcome to unusualwelcome to unusual

we are a multi award-winning production and creative content company. 


we are unusual.


Contact Us

CURRENTLY ON AIR

HOW TO WIN A CAMPAIGN, BBC Radio 4, Tuesdays 9.30am and BBC Sounds

HOW TO WIN A CAMPAIGN, BBC Radio 4, Tuesdays 9.30am and BBC Sounds

HOW TO WIN A CAMPAIGN, BBC Radio 4, Tuesdays 9.30am and BBC Sounds

A five part series in which former Downing street strategist and adviser to Boris Johnson, Cleo Watson investigates the dark arts of political  campaigning. Guests include Dominic Cummings and Craig Oliver, 

Writer / Presenter: Cleo Watson

Producer: Eliane Glaser

PANTANI: DEATH OF A PIRATE, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Sounds

HOW TO WIN A CAMPAIGN, BBC Radio 4, Tuesdays 9.30am and BBC Sounds

HOW TO WIN A CAMPAIGN, BBC Radio 4, Tuesdays 9.30am and BBC Sounds

When Italy’s greatest cyclist is mysteriously found dead, sensational allegations of mafia involvement see the world of cycling collide head on with the murky underworld of organised crime. For BBC Radio 5 Live's Sports Strangest Crimes brand, Hugh Dennis narrates this ten part series. 

Presenter: Hugh Dennis

Writer / Producer Katie Sayer

THE SKEWER Series 10, BBC Radio 4, Wednesday 11.15pm and BBC Sounds

HOW TO WIN A CAMPAIGN, BBC Radio 4, Tuesdays 9.30am and BBC Sounds

THE SKEWER Series 10, BBC Radio 4, Wednesday 11.15pm and BBC Sounds

Fresh from winning Gold for Best Comedy for the third year running at the Radio Academy Awards, Gold for Best Comedy at the British Podcast Awards and Highly Commended runner up as Podcast of The Year, the hit 'comedy concept album' and 'satirical river of sound' returns October 2023.

Creator / Producer: Jon Holmes 

AWARDS NEWS

  • The Skewer wins Gold for Best Comedy at The 2023 British Podcast Awards and is runner up and 'Highly Commeneded' as Podcast of the Year.  
  • The Skewer wins Gold for Best Comedy for the third year running at the 2023 Radio Academy ARIA Awards. Also wins Silver for its coverage of HM The Queen's death for our special The Skewer:The Queen . Listen here
  • Our sketch show Cool Skool Sketch Show written and performed by schoolkids is nominated  for Best Comedy in the 2023 Radio Academy ARAIA awards. 
  • The Skewer wins 2 Gold awards at the 2023 New York Festival for Best Comedy and Best Editing
  • The Skewer Highly Commended for Best Sketch Comedy in the 2023 BBC Audio Drama Awards.  
  • The Skewer is a finalist in the 2023 British Comedy Guide Awards
  • The Skewer wins Gold for Best Comedy (for the second year running) at the 2022 Radio Academy awards, while Cold Case Crime Cuts takes Silver. 
  • Cold Case Crime Cuts, Rockanory and The Skewer all nominated for Best Comedy in the 2022 Radio Academy Aria Awards.
  • Cold Case Crime Cuts wins at the 2022 British Podcast Awards in the Comedy category.
  • The Skewer and Rockanory won 3 x awards each at the 2022 New York Festival Awards, including Comedy, Innovation, Sound Design, Comedy Podcast, and Script. 
  • The Skewer won in 3 categories at the 2021 New York Festival Awards  - Comedy, Sound Art, and Innovation.
  • The Skewer wins a Gold (Sound Design) and a Bronze (Comedy) at the 2021 Audio Production Awards 
  • Cold Case Crime Cuts, our spoof true crime podcast made for Auddy, is a finalist in the New York Festival Awards for Best Podcast Comedy. 
  • The Skewer wins Gold (Best Radio Podcast) at the 2021 British Podcast Awards
  • The Skewer wins Gold (Best Comedy) and Silver (Best New Show) at the 2021 Radio Academy Awards, the #UKArias
  • The Skewer wins Gold for Best Comedy at the 2021 BBC Audio & Drama Awards
  • The Skewer (2 x series for BBC Radio 4 in 2020) won Gold at the New York Radio Festival in 2020, Gold at the 2020 Audio Production Awards (Best Comedy Producer), Bronze (Best Sound Design) at same, Silver at the 2020 Podcast Awards, and a picked up a nomination in the Chortle Awards ('Radio Comedy')
  • Actor Lance Fuller star of Cold Case Crime Cuts is shortlisted in the Best Performance category at the 2022 VoiceOver Awards
  • Now Wash Your Hands,  commissioned and produced during Lockdown1 for BBC Radio 4 won 'Best  Coronavirus Radio Idea' award at the RadioDays Europe Awards. 
  • The Skewer pilot (BBC Radio 4 - April 2019)  won the 'Best Comedy Producer' silver award at the 2019 Audio Production Awards.
  • The Halloween Skewer (BBC Radio 4 - October 2019) is nominated in two categories at the 2020 BBC Audio Drama Awards: 'Best Comedy' and 'Best Use of Sound'. 
  • Our mini-documentary 'The St Kitts' Music Festival' for the BBC was nominated as 'Best Travel Broadcast' in the 2019 Travel Media Awards. 

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About Us


unusual is an award winning production company, which has been in business for over a decade. We produce a wide range of long- and short-form programming for traditional broadcasters and online platforms across the genres of factual, comedy, music and entertainment. Our documentaries have covered topics as diverse as global sanitation, circumcision, sub-ocean exploration, the Holocaust, gambling, Justin Bieber and My Chemical Romance super fans, 

and WW1. We’ve travelled to India, the US, Macau, Rwanda, Pakistan and er, Huddersfield in search of the story. 


We’ve also made listeners to BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 4, 6Music, 5Live, commercial radio and podcasts laugh with a mix of sitcoms, sketch material, parodies, satire and some genuinely surreal silliness. Music and entertainment projects have seen us work with everyone from Slash to Dame Vera Lynn and from Marcus Mumford to Miranda Hart. We work with brands as diverse as Bulmers, Pathe, and Swarovski Optik, and have produced events for Advertising Week Europe.


We continue to work closely with the travel industry on all aspects of audio creative, including consultancy and podcast production. 


We've won Cannes Lions, Third Sector, and LIA Awards for our commercial work, alongside Radio Academy, Bafta, and industry awards for broadcasting. 


WE ARE UNUSUAL

RECENT THINGS WE'VE MADE

Amber Jolt: Truth Hunter

Jon Holmes: Generation Shame

Amber Jolt: Truth Hunter

From writer Bill Dare genuine investigative journalism meets podcast spoof as Truth Hunter Amber Jolt (Rosie Holt) goes after Amazon. Involved quite a lot of lawyers.  

LISTEN

The Naked Week

Jon Holmes: Generation Shame

Amber Jolt: Truth Hunter

From The Skewer’s Jon Holmes and host Andrew Hunter Murray comes a fresh way of dressing the week’s news in the altogether and parading it around for everyone to laugh at. New Friday night topical comedy

 for BBC Radio 4. 


LISTEN

Jon Holmes: Generation Shame

Jon Holmes: Generation Shame

Jon Holmes: Generation Shame

Between 1949-1976, 185,000 babies of unmarried mothers were put up for adoption in England & Wales, many by force. Jon Holmes investigates whether he was 

one of them.

Produced by BBC Studios in association with unusual for Radio 4's File on Four strand, 

LISTEN

OTHER STUFF we've THROWN TOGETHER

The Skewer

Absolute Radio Pirates

Absolute Radio Pirates

SERIES 10 TX October 2023 

For BBC Radio 4 we make the multi -award winning satire The Skewer, featuring new and diverse talent. A "satirical river of sound", The Skewer is designed for headphone listening, attaching you to a late night drip of current events  as they melt into your brain, evoking that feeling of drifting off but  with the occasional uncomfortable sleep-twitch, as though you've accidentally stepped off a kerb.
"A freeform assault on the senses..deeply haunting.. an eerily beautiful  discombobulating mosaic"comedy.co.uk
You are welcome to contribute.  Contributor Guide is here

Listen

Absolute Radio Pirates

Absolute Radio Pirates

Absolute Radio Pirates

For one day only on Friday 12th August Absolute Radio 60s presents Absolute Radio Pirates! A day celebrating the music and personalities of the pirate radio stations of the 1960s 55 years after they were brought to an end.

To mark the anniversary, Absolute Radio Pirates combines new interviews with archive broadcasts - and loads of great music - to tell the real story of the pirates, their love of music and the move into illegality.


With Tony Blackburn, Johnnie Walker, and archive from (among others) John Peel, Kenny Everett, and Tommy Vance. 


Made with the assistance of the 

Audio Content Fund


Carbon Lifeforms

Absolute Radio Pirates

Carbon Lifeforms

A eco-comedy hybrid magazine show as comedian Jon Long teams up with scientist Dr Tara Shine that emits entertainment and education as they aim to (carbon) capture all things climate.


Carbon Lifeforms returns in 2023

Listen

No Platformed

No Platformed

Carbon Lifeforms

Three members of staff, one dysfunctional railway station, zero passengers. Brand new comedy that drives a train through sitcom-land via a platform crowded with big name cameos, absurd goings-on, and very silly jokes.


Sitcom written by Gareth Ceredig. Starring Geoff McGivern, Tim Downie, and Alexandra Mardell. 


with Olivia Williams, Tracy Ann Oberman, Hugh Dennis, Rufus Jones

Listen

Slaving Away

No Platformed

Unsafe Space

Sitcom for Audible Originals 


Meet Miranda, happy-go-lucky single girl who just happens to be a dominatrix with a dungeon in her flat. Sure she's got to whip clients for money, but she's also got the hoovering to do. Stars Miranda Kane, Hugh Dennis, Richard Herring, Jon Holmes, Kevin Eldon., Anthony Head and more....


Slaving Away continues to top Audible's download chart.  

Listen

Unsafe Space

No Platformed

Unsafe Space

New series for 2023 BBC Radio 4


Diversity of thought, though provoking debate and comedy in the unsafe space. 


Following a successful broadcast pilot, Unsafe Space returns for a full series in 2023.


Featuring (among many others) Simon Evans, Andrew Doyle, Billy Bragg, Owen Jones, Rosie Holt, Eeshan Ackbar, Graham Linehan, Zuby, Jake Yapp, Larry & Paul, April Reign and David Lammy MP. 

Listen

Rockanory

Giggle in a Gallery

Lost Voices

Shaun Keaveny narrates apocryphal rock n'roll tales of debauchery in Absolute Radio's first ever scripted comedy. 


Also stars Jake Yapp, Alasdair Beckett King, Naomi McDonald, Alex Sievewright


Original music: Jake Yapp, Nick Bosworth 


2002 New York Festival Award Winner for 'Best Writing' and 'Best Comedy'

2022 Radio Academy Award Nominee for Best Comedy


Made with the assistance of the 

Audio Content Fund

Listen

Lost Voices

Giggle in a Gallery

Lost Voices

We recently worked with the charity Pancreatic Cancer UK on a project called 'Lost Voices', creating a soundscape from the voices of celebrities, musicians, and Hollywood stars that have died from pancreatic cancer. People diagnosed with the disease usually die within 3 months, and we wanted to help 'break through the silence' by raising awareness - and money! 

Watch

Giggle in a Gallery

Giggle in a Gallery

Giggle in a Gallery

We created besoke audio guides 

(narrated by Hugh Dennis) for the 

Turner Contemporary art gallery

 in Margate, Kent.


Galleries and museums are constantly looking for ways to engage new audiences, which is where we stepped in a brand new audio guide. 


 “A lot of people are put off art galleries because they think of art as a very high-brow subject which can only be enjoyed in a very serious and intellectual way. It isn’t, it is there to be enjoyed by everyone, and I hope a slightly irreverent gallery guide might help change that perception.”


Hugh Dennis

 (Outnumbered, Mock the Week, 

The Now Show)


Half The Money Each

Between The Ears: Noise

Giggle in a Gallery

Two Part Documentary for Absolute Radio


A commercial tie-in with e-One, for the cinema release of 'Stan and Ollie', comedian Jo Brand tells the story of the double act. 


Features interviews with Steve Coogan, John C Reilly, director Jon C Baird, Trevor & Simon, Steve Punt, Mel Hudson, Jon Culshaw and comedy writers Jason Hazeley and 

Joel Morris.


 

Advertising Week Europe

Between The Ears: Noise

Between The Ears: Noise

Live event at Bafta, Piccadilly


We worked with Global to write and produce  a live event at Bafta in front of 200 industry bigwigs as part of Advertising Week Europe. 


Written and directed by Jon Holmes it starred  Debra Stephenson, Terry Mynott and Mitch Benn, accompanied by their takes on Madonna, Dame Judi Dench, Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, David Attenborough, Henry VIII, Paul McCartney, and ,er, the Caramel Bunny,

Between The Ears: Noise

Between The Ears: Noise

Between The Ears: Noise

For BBC Radio 3, A sonic trip through our on-hold, tick-box, automated world, which turns bureaucracy into art and music.  


Producers: Eliane Glaser and Jon Holmes Composer: Neil Luck Performers: Patricia Auchterlonie (soprano), Tom Jackson (saxophone), Rebecca Burden (cello) Sound Design: Tony Churnside and Jon Holmes. Readings: Hazel Holder

LISTEN

Jon Holmes's: Bangers Mashed

As part of Radio 2's festive line-up, The Skewer's Jon Holmes took to the turntables with a Boxing Day special celebrating the art of the musical mashup. 


Turn it up to 11 and marvel at the magic of mash-ups like ABBA vs. Van Halen – ‘Super Jumper’, Adele vs. Daft Punk – ‘Something About The Fire’, and Coldplay vs. Oasis – ‘Don't Look Back At Yellow’.


With guests Ros Atkins, Zoe Ball, Sara Cox, Jeremy Vine, Ken Bruce, Scott Mills, Rylan, and more


Presenter Jon Holmes

Producer: Heather Davies

CHOICE OTHER STUFF

Cold Case Crime Cuts

Welcome To The Neighbourhood

Cold Case Crime Cuts

Cold Case Crime Cuts is a spoof true crime podcast – but where the ‘crimes’ investigated are those that have been committed in songs. (But without ever referencing the fact that they’re songs.)   


"A pin-sharp parody of US true crime podcasts," 


Winner: New York Festival 2022

Winner: British Podcast Awards 2022

Winner: Radio Academy Awards 2022

Nominee: 2022 Rose D'or 

Best Comedy Podcast 

Listen

The The One Show Show

Welcome To The Neighbourhood

Cold Case Crime Cuts

Hit podcast that adopts the forensic approach some take to analysing high-end box set television, and applies to the ultimate disposable TV: the BBC’s flagship light magazine programme The One Show.


A deep dive into TVs shallowest show. 


Jon Holmes, Marc Haynes and guests including Fi Glover, Jay Rayner, Peter Baynham, and many more 


"A joy" popbitch

Listen

Welcome To The Neighbourhood

Welcome To The Neighbourhood

Welcome To The Neighbourhood

Comedian Jayde Adams and guests dive into the feisty world of community apps and messageboards, sifting through the angry neighbourhood bins to find disgruntled comedy gold.


for BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4

Listen

Jeremy Vine: Agony Uncle

Jeremy Vine: Agony Uncle

Welcome To The Neighbourhood

Hugely popular comedy for BBC Radio 2. Jeremy Vine (as played by Lewis MacLeod) plays agony uncle to any number of celebrities who phone him up for advice during his show, while the records are on. 

Anne Frank's Trees

Jeremy Vine: Agony Uncle

Anne Frank's Trees

Documentary for Holocaust Day 

for BBC Radio 4


Presented by Michael Rosen

Slow Radio Comedy

Jeremy Vine: Agony Uncle

Anne Frank's Trees

Experimental sound-art-meets-comedy as  comedians, poets, and presenters swap the stage for the great outdoors, and perform - more slowly - with nature as their audience. 


Recorded on location in binaural stereo for BBC Radio 4


Starring:

Simon Evans, Natasha Hodgson, Lemn Sissay and Poppy & Rubina from the Brown Girls Do It Too podcast. 

Contact Us

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