Absolute Power

Sultans of spin and many beautiful sultanas too have been busier than ever in the past few Hutton-frenzied days. Never have they spun and woven so quickly so many different webs to aid the journalists whose columns and airtime they seek. By a rather chilling coincidence for it was scheduled 18 months ago, long before most had heard of Andrew Gilligan or Dr David Kelly the fictional masters of deceit are also back on air.

The good news is that this ripper spoof of political PR is back on radio after its successful foray into television. The bad news is that this is the last time Mark Tavener's tales will grace radio. But then, that's what successful transitions to TV do for you. As before, Stephen Fry is Charles Prentice, a man so low he has to reach up to tickle a snake's belly, and John Bird (above, with Fry) is Martin McCabe, a representative of old-school PR, but no less venal for that. It is a testament to the power of spin that Prentice and McCabe can do the same job for new Labour as they did for the Tories - although they do feel uncomfortable about it.

Other than that it's good to note that someone at the Beeb also feels that February is the worst month of the year - the fag end of winter but still too far from spring - and that we need some special laughs to get through it. Thus the return of Absolute Power (February 5, 6.30pm). This Stephen Fry/John Bird dissection of the dark arts of PR has made a successful transition to TV, with the result that this, the third series on radio, will be the last, so cherish it.

Spin comedy makes screen switch

BBC Radio 4 comedy Absolute Power, which stars Stephen Fry and John Bird as machiavellian spin doctors, is making the switch to BBC2.

Mark Tavener, having killed off his booze-sodden BBC crime correspondent George Cragge, now concentrates on Charles Prentiss and Martin McCabe, minor characters in his comedy-thriller cycle In The Red. They have axed the Beeb's management so successfully that they now find themselves jobless and setting up as spin doctors. Absolute Power (11.30am, Radio 4) gives Stephen Fry and John Bird one or two nice one-liners - but nowhere near enough to sustain 30 minutes.