Gillian Reynolds

The generous sexual morés of Bloomsbury have been a gift to satirists for decades, and Sue Limb becomes the latest writer to unwrap their comic potential. It is an Autumn afternoon at Sizzlinghurst Castle where writer Vera Sackcloth-Vest is planning one of her Sapphic elopements and wants to tidy the garden before she goes. "I must just tie up Mrs Herbert Stevens," she cries. "I don't want her thrashing about in a gale." Miriam Margolyes stars as Vera, while Alison Steadman and Morwenna Banks play her inamorata, Ginny Fox and Venus Traduces.

Newsjack (Radio 4 Extra, 10.30pm) is a topical comedy show with a significant difference. Anyone can write for it. This "open door" commitment means you can send in a joke or a sketch and it may get on air. Writers thus discovered include Ben Partridge (who went on to create It's Your Round), Eddie Robson (who wrote Radio 2's Welcome to Our Village, Please Invade Carefully) and Nadia Kamil (of The Now Show). I wonder if they all signed up to that iniquitous "standard" contract clause which grants to the BBC "all rights in all media in perpetuity"?

John Finnemore wrote the brilliant radio sitcom Cabin Pressure (and appeared in it as the haplessly optimistic son of the owner of a tiny airline). A sketch show by him was the first to appear in Radio 4 Controller Gwyneth Williams's new comedy slot after The Archers on Sunday nights where his powers of invention seemed somewhat overstretched. Hopes are high, however, for this fresh series where, with an excellent supporting cast, his undoubted gift for marrying recognisable characters with some very peculiar situations should shine.

Alex Horne Presents The Horne Section Edinburgh Special (Radio 4, 7.15pm) might bring some smiles at last to this now-dreaded comedy slot, introduced by Radio 4 controller Gwyneth Williams with the best of intentions: to cheer us up at the end of the weekend. Alas, that's harder to do than say as anyone who has sat with gritted teeth through the rants of Sue Perkins or the travails of Rory Bremner can attest. Alex Horne's 6.30pm week-night series was at least tuneful.

This is gentle, absurdist, mini-sketch comedy, piloted in Radio 2 then given a series there back last autumn. These four new episodes come with a significant additional element, an animated trailer. To watch this go to bbc.co.uk/radio4. It's short, sweet and matches the humour of the show, the work of clever young artist Tom Rourke. But why is radio promoting itself visually? Because that's what reaches a generation who use smartphones to access everything, train times to pizza offers, with radio somewhere in the middle. The visualisation of radio is a growing field, increasingly used by commercial operators (to match advertisers to audience) as well as the BBC (always anxious to catch new listeners in any corner of their net). What matters still, however, is programme calibre. I think you'll find it here, in the company of Diane Morgan, Joe Wilkinson and David O'Doherty.

Turn to Brian Gulliver's Travels (Radio 4, Wednesdays) for wit, invention and much laughter. This is the second series of satires on the way we live now, written by Bill Dare, presented as the memoirs of a libertine travel writer. Neil Pearson plays him, holed up in a mental hospital, telling his (initially) sceptical daughter about where he's been. Last week we heard his adventures in Lessington, where reading is forbidden and everything is instant (food, films, drink) and nearby Furington where the use of perfect grammar is mandatory and everything (food, films, beer) takes so much time that Gulliver and his latest female travelling companion flee back to Lessington, gratefully bolting down chicken nuggets and freely splitting infinitives. There are four more episodes to come. It is marvellous.

Paul Jackson, great practical grammarian of British television, on how Alan Simpson and Ray Galton's comedy characters, born on a BBC pilot programme in 1962, ruled the airwaves for 13 years after (with native versions in America, Sweden and Holland) and have influenced other British writers over several generations. Simpson and Galton join him, as do Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks of Birds of a Feather, Rob Grant and Doug Naylor of Red Dwarf, as well as Peter Flannery of Our Friends in the North.

This is a great series, conceived and written by Bill Dare, a name more usually associated with comedy production. Brian Gulliver (Neil Pearson) is in a mental hospital, recounting memories to his disenchanted daughter. He's been far away, caught up in strange lands among peoples with outlandish ways. The more he talks the more we begin to see what he's on about, grasping the point of Dare's truly Swiftian satire on modern life. This time, among the people of Chamanoa, our Gulliver is swept into the war between its Naturites and Nurturites.

Return of Joyce Bryant's brilliantly observed and all-too-true comedy about a new university struggling in the opposing tides of modern educational orthodoxy and market forces. At Hayborough University, like everywhere else in higher education, the deterringly high fees have kicked in as has a 20 per cent funding cut. So, as exam results arrive and potential students check their actual marks against the predictions, there's much juggling to do with who will go where. But at Hayborough these are desperate times. They must keep up their intake. So, how?

Two-part special of Andy Hamilton's great situation comedy, set in Hell with him in the lead role as the Devil (aka Old Harry, Satan, Prince of Darkness etc). Old Harry fans will know that anything that's going on upon Earth (even in banking) sooner or later catches Satan's attention. He's now learned that London is about to host the Olympic Games and decides to take a closer look. I wonder does Lord Coe realise that all that stands between him and total 2012 disaster is Annette Crosbie, as Edith, wrongly assigned to Hell, Satan's (sort of) conscience?