Lucy Clarke

It takes a lot to make up for the pain of losing Ed [Reardon's Week], but Fabulous, which began a second series on Tuesday (Radio 4, 11pm), looks like doing more than its bit. It's completely different - it's written by a woman (Lucy Clarke), for one thing, and it's maonly about women, but there are parallels between Faye, the lead character, and Ed. Both are endlessly positive, in a grim, Blitz spirit kind of way, about the future even as the present falls apart about them. And each is played by an actor blessed with a voice perfectly matched to their character. In Faye's case it's Daisy Haggard, who manages to sound both husky and squeaky at the same time and is thus both sexy and mildly disconcerting, as though Fenella Fielding had within her the demon alter ego of Violet Elizabeth Bott.

There's no point in talking about the plot - we're deep in Bridget Jones country here - and the unending stream of punchlines and one-liners don't translate that well to the printed page (I know, because I wrote them down and, it seems, context is all), but Clarke is like Evans, Douglas and Nickolds in that she appears have had a whale of a time writing it all, laughing at her typewriter as she lets her imagination run riot. What larks, Pip.