So what do we make of the news that BBC2 is going to make a TV version of the excellent Radio 4 comedy Down The Line?
Well obviously there’s a top-notch list of castmembers attached led by Paul Whitehouse. And it’s following hot on the heels of other Radio 4 comedies transferring to TV – recent weeks have seen Genius and I’ve Never Seen Star Wars debut.
But I’m a little more apprehensive about this. You see Down the Line is based on something that already happens – the radio phone-in. From LBC to Talksport to Five Live to Radio 4 – we all know and understand the grammar of the radio phone-in. That’s what Down The Line mocks, with its ignorant presenter Gary Bellamy.
TV’s different. There’s no phone-in programme that I can think of for it to mock. I guess the Matthew Wright programme on Five is about it – and to be honest I can’t remember if they actually take calls to air, or just limit it to views. Instead, we’re constantly urged to text and email our thoughts.
The TV version is going to be more about meeting members of the public, but again that’s not really based on the grammar of a pre-existing show. There’s Jeremy Kyle at one end, and Question Time at the other. The vox-pop is a standard I guess (and Charlie Brooker mused on it during last night’s excellent Newswipe), but is there really a programme that relies on them?
The joy of Down The Line has been the fact that it’s only a very small step removed from programmes that do air – yes, I am thinking of Stephen Nolan on Five Live. If the TV version mocks something that doesn’t really exist then it’ll be missing the point. But let’s wait until we actually see it.