Set in London 1985, In The Long Run is about the Easmon family. Amid the tower blocks and shell suits, life for Walter and Evelyn Easmon is all about quiet routine. They arrived from Sierra Leone 13 years ago and are happy earning enough to pay the bills with a bit left over to send back home. Walter works hard alongside his mate and neighbour Bagpipes at the local factory while Evelyn patrols the estate selling make-up door-to-door. Their British born son Akuna and his best mate Scott hang out on the estate playing football and doing their best to dodge the local thugs. But when Walter's brother Valentine arrives to the UK, his energy and lust for life changes everything. He crashes into their lives bringing laughter and chaos and igniting a passion for music in Akuna. And though he frustrates Evelyn and tests Walter's patience, Akuna adores his 'funcle' Valentine because after all, he's family.

Comedian Bill Bailey tells – and joyfully re-enacts – the story of Alfred Russel Wallace, the "geeky Victorian collector" whom Bailey paints as the greatest naturalist of his era. Wallace's role in working out how species evolved has been overshadowed by Darwin: each independently came up with the theory of evolution, but Wallace's tireless efforts, collecting tens of thousands of specimens in the islands of what is now Indonesia, have been sidelined. Bailey wants him back in the pantheon, so he retraces Wallace's steps and has fun catching frogs, meeting monkeys and eating toasted dragonflies. You can tell he's in his element, crashing through jungles, wading in rivers, pinning butterflies to boards, and he makes it a delightful programme to watch – with a payload of fascinating history on a neglected hero.

Bernard Black runs his own bookshop even though he doesn't much like people who buy books and hates having customers...

Is It Bill Bailey? is a stand up/sketch comedy series written by and starring Bill Bailey. One series of six episodes was produced and aired on BBC Two in 1998. Is It Bill Bailey? was the first show Bailey wrote and presented. Each episode features Bailey performing an amount of stand-up comedy on stage, interspersed with comedy sketches starring himself and other actors. As well as performing parodies of pop songs or performers, Bailey deconstructs music from television shows such as Doctor Who or Starsky and Hutch. The programme was produced by BBC Scotland and many of the sketches feature Scottish actors such as Forbes Masson and Ford Kiernan. Geraldine McNulty, Norman Lovett and Simon Pegg also feature. Additional material was also contributed by frequent collaborators Sean Lock and Martin Trenaman. The series ran for six episodes but has never been repeated, recommissioned, or released on DVD. Many songs and routines featured in the show were first performed in his Cosmic Jam tour and TV show Asylum. A few others were later used during his Bewilderness tour. The title is derived from the Rizla game, the opening credits of the show showing Bill with a Rizla on his forehead, bearing his own name.

"Never Mind the Buzzcocks" is a comedy panel game show with a pop and rock music theme. The show is infamous for its dry, sarcastic humor and scathing, provocative attacks on the pop industry.