Mark Steel’s in Town: Series 13 & 14

Synopsis

Mark Steel’s award-winning comedy travel show is back, with extended episodes!Listen to two more series of Mark Steel’s award-winning show, in which he explores weird and wonderful towns around the UK and beyond. Mark writes and performs a tailor-made evening of stand-up for local residents, after thoroughly researching their history, people and idiosyncrasies. These towns have nothing in common other than their uniqueness. Listen to this joyful exploration of the UK and discover there’s a lot more to places than meets the eye!Mark’s destinations for Series 13 include Margate, Stoke-on-Trent, Malvern, East Grinstead, Nether Edge and Coleraine in Northern Ireland. He samples the local honey, visits the shops, cafes, a rum keg and the bowls club that once threw out Ronnie Wood for inappropriate behaviour. He listens for the ghost of Elgar, and discovers the magical places where T.S Eliot wrote a verse of The Wasteland, J.M.W Turner painted views of the Harbour, Tracy Emin spent her formative years and Pete Doherty has his name on a wall of fame for eating a "mega breakfast" in under 20 minutes…In Series 14 Mark pops into Oakham, Wrexham, Cambridge, Lewisham, Lerwick and Unst in Shetland. Joining Mark in Series 14 is Clare Balding, who’s also in town to take him on a ramble around Rutland. He finds himself in a village that's proudly twinned with Paris (even if the Parisians don’t know), finds Europe’s largest man-made lake (which required flooding a local village) and hangs horseshoes the other way round (so the devil falls out, obviously). He travels up the country to the farthest north where Viking heritage meets oil rigs and knitting patterns, where the winter fire festival Up Helly Aa lights up the darkness, and where the locals are masters of making their own fun.Written and performed by Mark SteelAdditional material by Pete SinclairProduced by Carl CooperProduction co-ordinators: Caroline Barlow and Katie BaumSound Manager: Jerry PealFirst Broadcast BBC Radio 4, 24th Jun - 29th Jul 2024 (series 13) & 7th Oct - 10th Nov 2025 (series 14).©2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2026 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd