New newspaper satire in the works

The creator of political TV shows A Very Social Secretary and The Trial of Tony Blair is writing a satire for Radio 4. Alistair Beaton is writing six episodes of a comedy set around a newspaper company. The writer has said he hopes the six-part comedy will have the potential to run to several series and also be adapted for television.

The comedy is set to satirise the way the media works, politics and attitudes to celebrity. Beaton has had experience with this, having previously worked on the hit topical Channel 4 sitcom Drop the Dead Donkey and Not the 9 O'Clock News and Spitting Image.

As part of his research, Beaton is on a tour of three national newspapers. His first is The Guardian. He told the paper, "I have wanted to write about newspapers for some time. I want to use the paper as a platform for being satirical about current events and how the modern media works. I want it to be funny and scathing but I also want it to be accurate."

Beaton went on to say that he hoped the series would be 'a window on contemporary society' rather than focusing solely on newspapers. He said the series is to be: "a window on the world rather than just a series about the media."

Beaton's most famous programmes have tried to satirise the Blair government. A Very Social Secretary looked at the life of disgraced former Home Secretary David Blunkett whilst The Trial of Tony Blair was set in 2010, and followed the notion that the former Prime Minister worried about being charged for war crimes following the Iraq War. Both series starred Robert Lindsay as Blair.