John Fortune

In November last year, The South Bank Show produced a wonderful profile of the satirical veterans Bird and Fortune. During the programme, the pair did a two-handed analysis of the sub-prime crisis. Aside from being achingly funny, this nine-minute sketch provided a devastatingly accurate analysis of how the mess came about. You can still see it on YouTube, where it has already notched up (literally) millions of hits without any publicity.

It makes sense, therefore, that Bremner, Bird and Fortune should tackle the crisis in greater depth in this new four-part series. They are certain to offer a sharper - and far funnier - guide to the crisis than many an economic analyst.

David Chater, The Times, 1st November 2008

Everyone, from the writer Christopher William Hill down, seems to have had a whale of a time making this comedy set in the past but concerning a radio soap that takes place in 2008.

And you can see why. Two worlds are your oyster, and events in both of them are known. In 1962 you have all the events going on that happened then - reds under the bed, mainly - while the 2008 stuff that the characters in the soap imagine would be commonplace now (still with me?) provokes the usual knowing laughter that comes from knowing how wrong they got it.

Toss in rampant paranoia along the lines of 1984 (the book, not the year), a death or two and a first-rate cast (Peter Bowles, Cheryl Campbell and John Fortune) and you have something that should come to boil nicely over the next six weeks.

Chris Campling, The Times, 28th January 2008