Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation

Last updated

Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation
GenreStand Up Comedy
Running time30 minutes
Country of origin United Kingdom
Language(s) English
Home station BBC Radio 4
Starring Jeremy Hardy
Gordon Kennedy
Debbie Isitt
Produced by David Tyler
Original release30 September 1993 –
8 October 2014
No. of series10
No. of episodes48 + 1 special
Website BBC Website

Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation was a BBC Radio 4 series of comedy lectures hosted by Jeremy Hardy, first broadcast in September 1993. The tenth and final series aired in 2014.

Contents

The lectures were on topics like "How to have a baby", "How to be truly loved", and often included Hardy's personal views on current affairs.

There were a series of sketches and mock interviews carried out with his two guests. Gordon Kennedy and Debbie Isitt were the two main guests, while other guests included Meera Syal, Rebecca Front, Alison Steadman, Stephen Frost, Miranda Richardson and Harriet Walter.

After Hardy's death on 1 February 2019, a final miniseries of two episodes entitled in past tense, When Jeremy Hardy Spoke To The Nation, aired on 16 & 23 May 2019 on Radio 4, with Sandi Toksvig narrating and David Tyler producing a retrospective of Hardy's life through clips of the series, some previously unheard to the public, along with other programmes Hardy participated in. [1] [2]

Episode guide

SeriesEpisodeTitleFirst broadcastGuests
11How to Stay Alive for as Long as You Possibly Can30 Sep 1993 Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost
2How to Be Truly Free7 Oct 1993Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost
3How to Earn Your Place in Heaven14 Oct 1993Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost
4How to Be an Adult21 Oct 1993Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost
5How to Have Sex28 Oct 1993Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost
6How to Know Your Place4 Nov 1993Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost
21How to Be a Popular Figure Around Town6 Oct 1994 Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
2How to Have a Baby13 Oct 1994Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
3How to Be a Leader of Men20 Oct 1994Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
4How to Be a Father (1)27 Oct 1994Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy, Ben Keaton
5How to Be a Father (2)3 Nov 1994Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
6How to Meet the Challenge of the 21st Century10 Nov 1994Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
31How to Be a Man6 Feb 1997 Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
2How to Bear Up Under the Strain13 Feb 1997 Meera Syal, Gordon Kennedy
3How to Make Your Presence Felt20 Feb 1997Meera Syal, Gordon Kennedy
4How to Improve Your Mind27 Feb 1997Meera Syal, Gordon Kennedy
5How to Keep Abreast of Developments6 Mar 1997Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
6How to Be Happy13 Mar 1997 Caroline Leddy, Gordon Kennedy
41How to Fight Fire with Fire6 Sep 2001 Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
2How to Live20 Sep 2001Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
3How to Work27 Sep 2001Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
4How to See Through Others' Eyes4 Oct 2001Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
5How to Hand the World on to the Next Generation11 Oct 2001Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
6When Jeremy Hardy Spoke to the Nation18 Oct 2001 Graeme Garden, Debbie Isitt
51How to Be Yourself8 Jan 2003 Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
2How to Belong15 Jan 2003Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
3How to Maximise Your Leisure22 Jan 2003Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
4How to Be Young29 Jan 2003Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy
61How to Be Afraid9 Sep 2004 Rebecca Front, Gordon Kennedy
2How to Argue Your Position16 Sep 2004Gordon Kennedy, Alison Steadman
3How to Choose23 Sep 2004Gordon Kennedy, Pauline McLynn
4How to Live Life to the Full30 Sep 2004 Juliet Stevenson, Gordon Kennedy
Special-Jeremy Hardy's New Year Cavalcade31 Dec 2004 Jack Dee, Armando Iannucci, John Oliver
71How to Feel3 Apr 2007 Gordon Kennedy, Miranda Richardson
2How to Believe10 Apr 2007 Alison Steadman, Ewan Bailey
3How to Die17 Apr 2007 Pauline McLynn, Paul B Davies
4How to Look24 Apr 2007 Juliet Stevenson, Paul B Davies
81How to Grow Up30 Jun 2010 Gordon Kennedy, Rebecca Front
2How To Confront The Vexed Issue Of British Identity Without Getting In The Most Fearful Bate About The Whole Thing7 Jul 2010 Gordon Kennedy, Shappi Khorsandi
3How to Have Faith14 Jul 2010Paul B Davies, Pauline McLynn
4How to Communicate Without Showing Off21 Jul 2010Paul B Davies, Morwenna Banks
91How to Exercise Power28 Feb 2013 Gordon Kennedy, Katy Brand
2How To Be a Woman in the 21st Century7 Mar 2013 Gordon Kennedy, Sara Pascoe
3How To Be a Man in the 21st Century14 Mar 2013 Paul Bassett Davies, Sue Perkins
4How to Speak21 Mar 2013 Pauline McLynn, Paul B Davies
101How to Eat Food17 Sept 2014 Paul Bassett Davies, Vicki Pepperdine
2How to Define Oneself in Terms of Regional, Cultural and Geopolitical Identity Without Tears24 Sept 2014Susan Murray, Moray Hunter
3How to Be a Good Citizen01 Oct 2014 Gordon Kennedy and Carla Mendonça
4How To Be Better Theologically, Socially, Nationally and in Terms of One's Own Personal Development, Responsibility and Interaction with the Fellow Humans with Whom we Share this Fragile Planet, and Ting08 Oct 2014Paul Bassett Davies and Carla Mendonça

Audio Books

Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation currently has four audio books on sale.

In addition the first series was adapted as a book, ISBN   0-413-69250-7, published by Methuen in 1993.

Awards

The show was nominated in 2004 for the Sony Comedy award. [3]

References

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