Heresy

Radio review: Heresy

Guests and audience were both on form in tonight's edition of the panel show.

This panel show is returning for its eighth series, the fourth to feature Victoria Coren as host. The series began with guests Mark Steel, Christopher Biggins and novelist Jessica Berens (whom I've never heard of).

For those not familiar with the show, in each programme the guests talk about a normally held assumption and argue against it. In this week's edition the statements they had to argue against were: "Pantomime is an outdated art-form,", "Drunken displays on our nation's streets are a sign of national shame," and "It would be nice to live in a house like Downton Abbey."

While Biggins is obviously passionate about pantomime, not surprisingly it was Steel who was the funniest on the programme, especially with his idea of doing a panto version of King Lear. Berens seemed to add little to the programme, though. Obvious solution - have more comedians and less novelists. Not much else to be said.

Victoria Coren interview

The Heresy host talks about slaying sacred cows and reveals news of two upcoming Only Connect specials.

Panellists for new series of Heresy announced

Heresy, in which a panel of broadcasters pick apart everyday assumptions, will be bolstered by the presence of Peep Show star David Mitchell, Supersizer Sue Perkins, Googlewhacker Dave Gorman, actress Maureen Lipman, Private Eye medical correspondent Dr Phil Hammond and the moustachioed comedian Rufus Hound for its upcoming run.

Professing to "expose the wrong-headedness of received wisdom and kick back at knee-jerk reactions", Heresy has a rather sober brief for a comedy panel show, which is probably one of the reasons it keeps getting recommissioned by the serious folk at R4. It returns for a seventh series tonight, with host Victoria Coren welcoming comedian Rufus Hound, artist Grayson Perry and political journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer to the studio. They'll be disputing the received wisdom that women look better in men's clothes than vice versa; and that an artist who doesn't make his own work is a fraud.

Interesting to note how Radio 4 handles the debate show: in the blue corner you have the newest contender, David Aaronovitch (Devil's Advocate, Sat 10:15pm) with his serious slant, and in the red, we welcome back Heresy, which is just seriously funny. Victoria Coren takes on such topics as "an artist who doesn't make his own work is a fraud" and "women look better in men's clothes than men do in women's". The three challengers take such received wisdom, mangle it, and see what comes out in the wash. Grayson Perry, the cross-dressing Turner Prize-winning ceramicist, is possibly the best person to argue against both. Also on the new series debut panel is fearless comedian Russell Hound and political journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer. It is not just comedy, it is a poke in the brain and most welcome on this radio at any time. Ding, ding. Round one!

The received opinions that are up for unravelling never really matter - it's the level of wit used in the arguments to debunk them that count. David Baddiel and Rufus Hound are n their comedy comfort zones, but it's actually Germaine Greer who comes out as the funniest member of the panel this week.