Mark Steel’s in Town

RADIO 4, 6.30PM

♦ Mark Steel returns for more of his location-specific comedy roadshow, poking gentle fun at Britain’s towns and cities in front of audiences ready to laugh at themselves. This week it’s the turn of Blyth in Northumberland, former mining town and industrial backdrop of the Michael Caine film Get Garter, chosen by the director to portray an “absolute vision of hell”. On Steel’s travels to the Phoenix Theatre, however, he finds a rich history and characters including strongman Willie Carr and goal-scoring dynamo Bella Reay.