Back in Blighty

"The everyday story of a country folk" was how the brilliant BBC Radio 4 satire Little Blighty on the Down described itself when it broke into Week-Ending's cosy Friday night monopoly of topical humour.

The first series (broadcast way back in 1988) is currently being repeated on BBC7, and it's well worth a Listen Again, not least for I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again veteran Jo Kendall's hectoring Mrs Roberts, Chair of the Parish Council - who, in later series, is forced to cede control of the Council to ex-circus employee, John Barnum.

Half the fun, almost two decades' later, is trying to match the Blighty characters and events to real life. Like Spitting Image retrospectives, Blighty piss-takes a very different world - where Tories rule, Labour is left-wing, and Nick Hancock was funny.