Gillian Reynolds

On the radio, this event had all the appeal of a party next door, full of people laughing uproariously at each other for no reason perceptible to anyone not actually present. Tim Minchin, the host, lacked any facility to describe to his radio audience what was going on. Papier mâché horses' heads were mentioned, ditto lavatory seats and plungers, none of them visible, audible or worth imagining. Kit and The Widow came on, making fun of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Stephen Sondheim but not very well. A melancholy song about pollution followed, then soprano Susan Bullock joined them for what was described as curry-oke, a singalong version of Nessun Dorma which was said to be in Punjabi and sounded quite astonishingly patronising and racist.

The interval talk was a bit better, but not much. Comedians Natalie Haynes and Steve Punt talked about comedy in literature, acting out one little scene from Aristophanes and another from Shakespeare badly enough to contradict their claims that, this way, they made sense. The Prom second half began with one of those pastiche piano pieces that meander from parody to parody, Rachmaninov to Tchaikovsky to Gershwin to Nino Rota to Pop Goes the Weasel and Roll Out the Barrel. All praise to the BBC Concert Orchestra for playing throughout with gusto and good humour. Curses on everyone else who took part in this grim exercise in condescension.

If your household is anxiously awaiting A-level results, hoping for the best, dreading the possibility of not getting into a top university, this nimble and astute satire by Joyce Bryant could make your hair stand on end or bring on gales of laughter (or possibly both). It's set at Hayborough University, 132 in the national rankings, so desperate for funding they've brought in a scary new Dean of Research Development. The schemes she comes up with are not far removed from academic reality, either. Sophie Thomson and Jonathan Keeble star.

Ian McDiarmid plays Dr Henry Pickerskill, a teacher at Haunchurst College for Boys in the days when it had boarders, icily remembering former pupils. Today, Patrick Trumball (Toby Longworth) who was fascinated by thunderstorms and lightning. What Dr Pickerskill spotted was that Trumball, an unusual child, also possessed a photographic memory which came in handy when the school's dodgy accountant blamed Pickerskill for a fraudulent tax return. Written and produced by Andrew McGibbon, this (all too short) series restores cynicism's good name.

Hats off to Ronnie Corbett and a cosy canine sitcom

Gillian Reynolds reviews the week in radio, including the second series of Ronnie Corbett's sitcom When the Dog Dies on Radio 4 Extra.

At last. A sketch show full of surprises, jokes that address the brain as well as the nether regions and a cast that doesn't cosh you with fake chumminess. It's as welcome (and as rare) as the sun coming out. Listen for posh schoolgirls Maisie (Natalie Walter) and Daisy (Montgomery) describing the film Black Swan in total teen detail to their horrified teacher. (I'm sure I sat behind their real-life models on the 92 bus the other day.) The mother who can't understand a word her daughter says also rings a bell. As does a modern bride and woman vicar. Good stuff.

While Stephen Fry discourses on persuasive language (in advertising and so on) on Radio 4 here's an agreeable alternative, a brand new series of the sitcom where Ronnie Corbett plays a widower with a dog, a rather tarty lodger (Liza Tarbuck), a comfortable lifestyle - and a daughterwho wishes he'd hurry up and sell his house. Written by Ian Davidson and Peter Vincent who perfectly understand the way Corbett gently inflects a line into a joke. Produced by Liz Anstee for CPL Independent Productions Ltd. Don't worry. It'll be on Radio 4 before long.

When the Dog Dies, Radio 4 Extra, preview

Gillian Reynolds looks ahead to a new series of the gentle comedy starring Ronnie Corbett.

Cabin Pressure is one of the best written, cast, acted and directed comedies on anywhere.

Although only radio can make us picture exactly the single old plane on which this little airline depends, only John Finnemore's pen plus the sublime talents of Stephanie Cole, Roger Allam, Anthony Head and Anna Crilly could, last Friday, raise a salutary barrier between the turbulent real world on either side of their glorious fiction. Produced and directed, brilliantly, by David Tyler for independents Pozzitive.

In the Midlands Arts Centre, near Edgbaston Cricket Ground, on practically the eve of the Test Match series against India, Paul Sinha talks about being British-Asian and a cricket fan. Remember Norman Tebbitt's famous test question: which team does he support? India, actually, because it was the team his family (who came to England in 1968) supported. This really is a splendid programme, with well-observed quips about allegiances, sport, society, families. A sociologist and a former Test cricketer offer back-up thoughts but this is a top Sinha innings.

On the Sunny Side of the Street plays in the background over an opening montage of quotes on the career of Hattie Jacques, from Sophie Tuckshop in ITMA on the radio to all those Carry On films. Barbara Windsor says she was "a national treasure", Eric Sykes (who played her brother in their long-running TV series) calls her "feisty", everyone says what a generous person she was. This isn't a totally sunny story, as anyone who saw that BBC docu-drama on her broken marriage to John Le Mesurier will recognise. But it is a kind one.