Radio Wales to broadcast comedy about Brexit
- BBC Radio Wales is to broadcast comedy special The Great Welsh Brexit Road Trip
- Starring stand-up Leroy Brito, the show follows a businessman character gauging the nation's mood on Brexit
- Producers say: "We hope some listeners tuning in mid-show will be baffled as to whether it's real or not"
BBC Radio Wales is to broadcast The Great Welsh Brexit Road Trip, a comedy special looking at the topic of the UK leaving the European Union.
The one-off show has been created by and stars up-and-coming stand-up comedian Leroy Brito.
In the show he plays Martin George, a successful businessman and prominent Brexiteer. The semi-improvised comedy observes as he travels up and down the country gauging the nation's mood one year on from the EU referendum. Joined by a BBC journalist, George is 'brexcited' to show off his Leave camp pals and also convert the dreaded 'Bremoaners'.
Sara Lloyd-Gregory will play the journalist Bronwen Matthias, with the cast list also featuring John Rutledge, Daniel Glyn, Ignacio Lopez, Nigel Crowle and Llinos Mai.
The show has been developed with Zipline Creative, the production company behind hit radio comedy The Unexplainers and TV format Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience.
The company explains: "The format of the show feels like your standard BBC Political magazine feature, but the bizarre characters and the weird reactions they have to Brexit takes it to strange places. We hope some listeners tuning in mid-show will be baffled as to whether it's real or not."
Speaking about the show, Leroy Brito says: "We wanted to tackle the Brexit subject as it's a topic that has and will impact all our lives in the UK, everybody has an opinion on it plus it gives me a chance to prove that I'm not wasting my degree in politics."
Brito has been working the comedy club circuit since 2012 and will make his debut at the Edinburgh Festival this year as part of the Lunchtime Special line-up. His previous broadcast experience includes making the online short Butetown for the BBC.
Talking about how The Great Welsh Brexit Road Trip was developed, Brito explains: "We really wanted to push the satire side of things but it's been really difficult to satire the craziness what's been going on. When we initially came up for the concept of the show, Brexit had just happened and things were still up in the air and nobody had a clue what was going on, fast forward a year we've just had another election and everything is up on the air and nobody has a clue what's going on."
Producer Rhys Waters comments: "It was great to be given the chance to work Leory and some of the best up-and-coming comedy talent in Wales. We love mixing improv with scripted comedy, it's an approach that's allowed us to create a radio mockumentary in the same vein as Radio 4's Down The Line."
BBC Radio Wales will broadcast The Great Welsh Brexit Road Trip at 6:30pm on Friday the 23rd of June, the anniversary of the momentous referendum. It will be available to listen to worldwide after broadcast via BBC Radio Player.