Mark Steel's In Town

Mark performs from the Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, the politest town in Britain, even if no-one is quite sure how to pronounce it. He looks at some of the best (or worst) looking buildings in the country, a beautiful path that requires a Croatian bouncer, and the roles of famous figures such as Charles Darwin, Clive of India and Percy Thrower.

In the third programme, Mark visits the Shropshire Town of Shrewsbury, birthplace of Charles Darwin and home to the oldest building in the world to house a McDonalds.

Mark finds Shrewsbury to be a beautiful place with an identity crisis. Once in Wales, but now in England, Shrewsbury is a peaceful town with a bloody history. As one local points out, "We killed Owain Glynd?r outside WH Smith".

An idyllic setting in a loop of the river Severn, with its beautiful public gardens designed by Percy Thrower, patrolled daily by a Croatian nightclub bouncer.

Voted the politest town in Britain, the locals have very little to complain about. Apart from the disagreements over the buildings... and the statues... and the one-way system... and most of all, how to pronounce the name of the place.