Nottingham

Mark Steel sets out to discover what makes Nottingham special.

Mark Steel returns with the 12th series of his award winning show that travels around the country visiting towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness. After thoroughly researching each town, Mark writes and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for a local audience.

In this first episode Mark visits Nottingham, a contrarian city, full of heroes, rebels, caves and lovers of mushy peas. He learns about local legends, Robin Hood, Lord Byron, DH Lawrence, Brian Clough, and the most famous of all, Frank the xylophone player. He looks at the history of the Luddites, the cheese riots and visits three pubs that are all the oldest in the country.

As well as Nottingham, later in this series, Mark be will also be popping to the Isles of Scilly, Tring, Salisbury, Newport and Paris.

Written and performed by Mark Steel.

Additional material by Pete Sinclair.

Producer: Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in August 2022.