Fighting Talk

Review - Fighting Talk: BBC Radio 5

Do you like sports? Do you like fun? Do you like quizzes where the answers regularly come from the obscure depths of miscellaneous knowledge? If the answer to these questions was no, then what on earth do you do for fun? If the answer was yes, however, then BBC Radio 5's Fighting Talk is the radio show for you.

It's never wise to announce that the new presenter of a programme is "comedian so-and-so". You're more likely to decide for yourself when someone is funny rather than take somebody else's word for it. Being told somebody is a stand-up usually makes you determined not to find them funny. Nonetheless, in line with the Corporation's present policy of ensuring that most radio shows are fronted by either television actors or comedians, the new presenter of Fighting Talk is Josh Widdicombe, who'll share his position with former Sky Sports anchor Georgie Thompson.

There's nothing on British radio quite as divisive as this comedy chat format, which solicits opinions on the sporting stories of the week, handing out "points for punditry". In a good week, they'll have guests such as Bob Mills, Martin Kelner and Eleanor Oldroyd, people who know how to tiptoe up to the precipice of scandal and then retreat before they end up in trouble. This has resulted in some fairly hair-raising moments in the past, even when the presenters were experienced self-op radio hands such as Colin Murray or Johnny Vaughan. There's a world of difference between a presenter who can be funny and a funny person who can present. It should be interesting to see how Widdicombe handles the job.

Christian O'Connell to return to Fighting Talk

O'Connell to front Saturday panel show this weekend along with two new presenters including commentator Jonathan Pearce

Colin Murray regrets Clare Balding comments

'The second I said it I knew it was too much'. Colin Murray speaks for the first time about his regrets over the comments he made about Clare Balding on 5Live's Fighting Talk.

BBC 'got it wrong' over Balding gag

The BBC has admitted that it "got it wrong" about a live quiz show which discussed "curing" Clare Balding of homosexuality, on Radio 5 live.

At the end of Saturday's Fighting Talk on Radio 5 Live, a wonderfully quizzical sports knowledge contest (back on my listening menu as long as Adam and Joe are away from 6 Music), there was a challenge to contestants to name great Finns. Martin Bayfield picked a Finnish strong man, Gideon Coe ingeniously chose Finn McCool, the legendary Irish hero who built the Giant's Causeway. He also, said Coe, acquired the wisdom of the salmon by sucking a bit of salmon skin from his burnt thumb. At this point they fell to discussing what the wisdom of the salmon might be, exactly the kind of thing that keeps me listening.

There was a salutary lesson for radio producers last Saturday on Fighting Talk (Radio 5, 11am). Someone forgot to switch off the participants' microphones during the news, so the item about Jon Venables being returned to prison was undercut by Colin Murray et al sniggering and whispering about far more important things, probably football related.