Street and Lane

Street and Lane was a BBC radio comedy series written by Dave Sheasby and Ian McMillan. The main characters, Johnny Street (Nicholas Lane/Shaun Dooley) and Arthur Lane (Fine Time Fontayne) play partners in a small Yorkshire building firm. The series records their rather odd experiences in Yorkshire suburbia, doing a variety of small and large jobs for householders.

Street and Lane often wax philosophical to each other about life, the Universe, and everything. Lane worked for Street's father in the firm, which apparently suffered from certain financial irregularities. Street gave up a teaching career to rescue the family business. The humour is understated, lurking under a stereotypically laconic Yorkshire mindset.

Various running jokes are used. "Head Office calling!" means Mrs. Street, who fields customer calls at home, is calling Johnny on his mobile phone. The "lady with the boiler on Misperton Avenue" is a fictional customer used as an all-purpose excuse for not being able to take on a job right away (the builders do not want to seem desperate for business) or for making a quick exit from an embarrassing situation.

The first series (4 episodes) was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2005 with Nicholas Lane as Johnny and last repeated in 2015. A second series was broadcast in 2007 with Shaun Dooley in the same role. The series was repeated in 2014.

Dave Sheasby died in 2010, making it unlikely that more episodes will be written.