British Comedy Guide
Dilemma. Sue Perkins. Copyright: BBC
Dilemma

Dilemma

  • Radio panel show
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 2011 - 2015
  • 25 episodes (4 series)

Panel show in which Sue Perkins poses a series of moral and ethical dilemmas to a panel of comics and journalists.

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Key details

Genre
Panel Show
Broadcast
2011 - 2015
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
25 (4 series)
Creator
Danielle Ward
Star
Sue Perkins
Writers
Danielle Ward, Andy Wolton and David Reed
Producer
Ed Morrish
Company

Dilemma is a panel show hosted by Sue Perkins in which she poses a series of moral and ethical dilemmas to a panel of comics, journalists and other great thinkers of our time.

Would you cheat on your spouse for a million pounds?

Would you give your obnoxious colleague the credit for your work if it meant they got a job somewhere else?

Would you, on the balance of things, destroy Australia?

All of these, and dilemmas posed by the audience, will be answered. Remember, there are no wrong answers (There are, however, deeply damning ones).

Dilemma has been devised by award-winning comedian Danielle Ward (The News Quiz, Newswipe, Mock The Week).

In Series 1 Dominic Lawson was asked if he would provide an alibi for someone he hated; Fi Glover was offered £25,000 to give a talk to a company that once screwed over her husband; John Finnemore was asked if he'd grass up a sweet old lady who was shoplifting. (Yes, Yes, No, were the answers if you're interested.)

As well as these hypothetical questions, the show also features a variety of rounds which may include: Audience Dilemmas, where the panel 'solve' any problems the audience may be having; What Did I Do?, where each panellist relates a dilemma they were faced with in their own lives and the others have to guess how they resolved it; Why I Was Right, where each panellist is given an indefensible action that they must morally justify in 30 seconds; Choose Your Own Adventure, where the panellists get a series of dilemmas, each one following on from the last as they burrow their way deeper into a moral quagmire; and Quickfire, where shades of grey are dismissed in favour of a fingers-on-the-buzzers binary choice - "Would you rather eat a kitten or fight a swan?".

In the last series, ex-footballer Clarke Carlisle was asked if he would spend £200 healing a pet or £20 putting it down; Tom Wrigglesworth was offered the chance to end Mugabe's reign of terror by agreeing to become his butler; and Michael Rosen was asked whether or not he would reveal that Princess Diana had in fact faked her own death.

Additional details

Production
Studio

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Sunday 13th November 2011 at 7:15pm on BBC Radio 4
Most recent repeats

Recording details

  • BBC Radio Theatre, RADA Studios and Shaw Theatre

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