Mark Steel's in Town

Comedian Mark Steel visits the island of Malta and performs a bespoke stand-up show for the local audience.

Mark Steel kicks off a short series recorded during the coronavirus pandemic.

For the first ever outdoor Mark Steel's In Town episode - and BBC Radio 4 Comedy's first ever COVID-friendly audience show - what better place to start than on the beach in Brighton?

The town is famous for its pavilion, piers and progressive nature as well as for being the playground of George, Prince Regent

But Mark is performing on the pebbles, accompanied by the sound of the waves, with a busy zip-wire ride and squawking seagulls overhead.

It's a first for the show but a completely normal day in life of Brighton's locals.

Written and performed by Mark Steel.

Additional material by Pete Sinclair.

Production co-ordinator: Beverly Tagg Sound Manager: Jerry Peal

Producer: Carl Cooper

A BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in November 2020.

There’s one thing you definitely can’t miss in Whitby and that’s the ruined abbey up on a cliff looking down on the town. It’s also hard to miss the jawbone of a blue whale set atop the opposite hill and the fact that Dracula was researched and written here by Bram Stoker. You’ll not go wanting if you are in search of a chip, either. Mark Steel manages to dodge the seagulls and presents his findings to a local audience at The Brunswick Centre.

The full box set of all episodes (with well over 50 towns visited) is available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Written by and starring...Mark Steel With additional material from Pete Sinclair Production Coordinator...Beverly Tagg Producer...Julia McKenzie A BBC Studios Production.

Walthamstow has got plenty going for it - "it has the requisite villagey middle-class bit, but with a proper gor-blimey guv'nor East End heart", says one newspaper article and Mark finds a town mid-gentrification. The dog track has gone, the famously long market remains but there is also a Viking Shop and an extraordinary showroom and workshop with a vast range of neon light fittings called God's Own Junkyard. There is a museum dedicated to the designer William Morris who used to live there and there's evidence of a recent war too in the form of the cycling scheme known as "mini-Holland." Hopefully Mark will tread carefully. With guest local MP Stella Creasy.

The full box set of all episodes (with well over 50 towns visited) is available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Written by and starring...Mark Steel With additional material from Pete Sinclair Production Coordinator...Beverly Tagg Producer...Julia McKenzie A BBC Studios Production.

The famous Blyth Staithes (created for off-loading coal into ships) were the backdrop for one of the grimmest scenes in the Michael Caine classic Get Carter - the smoggy industrial view at the time described by the director as an "absolute vision of hell". Undaunted, comedian Mark Steel travels to this part of Northumberland and finds a fascinating industrial legacy, a posh pub, a very nice beach and prominent indications of its role in the first and second World Wars. Does a town blighted by so many closures show any evidence of green shoots? Mark presents his findings to a local audience at The Phoenix Theatre and as ever gets away with just the right amount of affection rudeness and we learn more about a very distinctive coastal town in the UK.

The full box set of all episodes (with well over 50 towns visited) is available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Written by and starring...Mark Steel With additional material from Pete Sinclair Production Coordinator...Beverly Tagg Producer...Julia McKenzie A BBC Studios Production.