Down The Line

When this comedy series began it went out late. It still fooled gullible souls like me into thinking it really was a phone-in and not an exquisite parody of one. Host Gary Bellamy is played by Rhys Thomas, the voices of all those nutters, fanatics, drunks and po-faced poshies come from Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Amelia Bullmore, Simon Day, Lucy Montgomery and Felix Dexter. And very funny they are, probably because they are not a million miles away from the real people who call Radio 5 Live's real-life late-night hosts Tony Livesey and Stephen Nolan.

Regular listeners to radio phone-ins (not necessarily on Radio 4) can't help but nod in recognition of the cavalcade of callers ranging from the stupid and the xenophobic, to he near deranged and frankly offensive stereotypes reeled out by those cunning comics Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse, who have got their mates to call in to a spoof show, hosted by a spoof DJ. Soon to be unleashed on BBC2, this is a last chance to hear these grotesques in their natural habitat. Prepare to be appalled and amused in equal measure.

A one-off special edition of the spoof phone-in show, an eve of Budget salute to all the things we don't know and can't grasp about what's happened to the economy and why having a balance in the bank is suddenly a bad thing. Presented, as ever, by the utterly witless 'Gary Bellamy' (Rhys Thomas) with the only too believable callers played by Paul Whitehouse, Amelia Bullmore, Felix Dexter and co, with special guest Mark Gatiss. Word is that this show is about to transfer to television. Ah well, that'll be another one gone to where the big money grows.

The main trouble I've always found with comedy spoof Down the Line is that the material it's lampooning is just so laughable in and of itself - especially, but not limited to, Any Answers? every Saturday. However, this doesn't stop this programme being hilarious in its own right.

Radio 4 spoof phone-in to move to BBC2

Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson to star alongside Rhys Thomas as host Gary Bellamy.

Whitehouse and Higson: Making (radio) waves

When Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson followed The Fast Show with a spoof on phone-ins, they created an uproar. And their plans don't stop there.

Who do you think you're laughing at?

Down the Line is a Radio 4 comedy show that pretends to be a live phone-in but is actually a brilliant group of comedians making fun of such programmes. Gary Bellamy sounds like someone you'd hear on a local, rather than a network, station. But here he is on serious Radio 4, asking, "War: what is it good for?" and "Chocolate: are we too serious about it?" and "Toothpaste: has it gone too far?".

Laughing down the line

Now and again, Radio 4 does something quirky, funny and totally amazing, as one of its current comedy shows attests.

Joke's over for the phony phone-in

Radio is not so short of comedy that it needs to accommodate vanity projects, and its audience will make up its own mind, without benefit of publicity stunts, whether Down the Line is good enough to stay.

On the spoof

Down the Line began on Radio 4 two weeks ago. The BBC issued a two-page profile of its new young host, alongside a smiling picture of him. We took notice. "Gary Bellamy starts a new live phone-in", I wrote. "Basildon-born Bellamy made something of a name for himself as an award-winning talk-radio DJ in Canada", said The Observer. "A former Today researcher, he is now back on Radio 4 hosting a new late-night phone-in..." And so on. Oh, dear. We were all fooled, even The Radio Times.