Genre Comedy Country United Kingdom | Running time 30 minutes | |
Other names The Penny Dreadfuls Present... The Brothers Faversham
The Penny Dreadfuls Present: More Brothers Faversham Home station BBC Radio 7
BBC Radio 4 Starring Humphrey Ker
David Reed
Thom Tuck
Ingrid Oliver | ||
The Penny Dreadfuls Present... is a British radio comedy programme, written and performed by comedy troupe the Penny Dreadfuls, with each episode looking at a different member of The Brothers Faversham, a collection of heroes of Victorian Britain. The first series was produced and broadcast by the BBC for BBC Radio 7 and aired between January and February 2008. The second series was broadcast in October 2008, and was repeated on BBC Radio 4 in December 2008 and January 2009. An episode on Guy Fawkes was broadcast in BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play slot on 5 November 2009.
Contents
Summary
The series is set in Britain during the Victorian Era and chronicles the lives of the Faversham family; specifically the offspring of Sir Digby and Lady Alexandra Faversham, an aristocratic couple of some standing. Sir Digby is a wealthy Kentish landowner, and Lady Alexandra (played by Ingrid Oliver) is the British Empire's greatest, sexiest and most pregnant spy. Their progeny without fail lead exceptional and exemplary lives, with each episode following one of the brothers from eventful birth through to untimely death.
Other than the stories of the brothers, other sketches appear in the show, including the early exploits of Lady Alexandra's spying, and adverts which either advertise products seen as modern at the time such as tarmac, or parody the adverts of today, such as those for compensation lawyers.
Production
The Penny Dreadfuls Present... is made by the BBC. The second series was commissioned before the first series was broadcast.