Radio 2 moves its comedy back to Saturdays

Radio 2 has announced it will be shortly moving its Comedy Hour to Saturday nights, where it will occupy the 10pm - 11pm slot.

The Comedy Hour is currently on Thursday nights between 10 and 11pm, with a line-up featuring Matt Lucas' panel show And The Winner Is and a repeat of David Quantick's Blaggers Guide, but the slot will move to Saturday evenings from the 3rd April 2010.

This news means the stations' hour of comedy programming on Thursday nights survived exactly a year - the station switched its comedy from a Saturday lunchtime slot to its current position on Thursdays on the 4th April 2009.

Station controller Bob Shennan says Radio 2's new Saturday night slot will feature both new and established names, with forthcoming highlights including specially-commissioned shows featuring Richard Wilson and Ricky Tomlinson; another stand-up series from Irish comic Jason Byrne; and a five-part comedy panel show called Never Write Off The Germans, which will be broadcast as part of the network's celebration of this summer's football World Cup.

The station will also shortly be broadcasting a second season of Comedy Greats documentaries, with profiles of Bob Monkhouse, Tommy Cooper and Dave Allen.

Additionally, it has been announced that in the autumn Radio 2 will be extending its comedy reach to scour the country in a bid to crown the New Stand-Up Of The Year.