Dead or alive? Tune in!

This Sunday sees the return of the critically acclaimed Dead Or Alive Show.   Fresh from receiving a BBC Radio 1 National Student Radio Award nomination, the quirky and at times, dark show – “It’s not for the faint-hearted,” assures one of the writers, Rob Morton – promises to give us an insight into the casts’ more “idiosyncratic” sense of humour.

“What we did first time around was…alright,” modestly concedes Patrick Edwards, another of the lead writers. It was “alright” enough to win Radio Warwick’s coveted Best Speech award and to attract the praise of the Head of BBC Comedy, who was “impressed by the quality of the writing”. Goodness knows why they have changed the format of the new series. “I think people might be surprised by the format change,” said Patrick, “last time we too closely resembled stuff that had already been done…like the Day Today…but this time we’ve gone for something unique – quite literally!”

The second series, This is Unique FM, is set in a student radio station and follows the goings-on of the presenters. “Admittedly the show is slightly informed by our personal experiences at RaW, but…programs like ‘What’s the Bleeding Problems?’ are just meant to be totally ironic. We’re not taking a pop at anyone!” assures James Spence, actor on the show. Will this mean that DOAS’s second series will lack punch?  “Well, you tell me!” jokes Rob, “We’re bringing back the Hitler sitcom ‘Aufwiedersehen Adolph’ as well as doing adult versions of kids’ TV shows…Postman Pat takes part in a drive-by for god sake!” Rest assured then that the show will be just as extreme as the last time.

But where does this aggressive satire, if not outright anger, come from? “Pat,” insists James, “I’m just glad that Rob’s around to brighten the place up again.” “You notice how different they are when they write sketches on their own, but when they come together…it kinda works,” says Josh Hatley, another the show’s regulars. And it’s true. Listening to a preview of the first episode, one could detect a curious blend of influences that ranges from the ‘haha-bonk’ funniness of Peter Sellers to the grittier work of Armando Iannucci and Ricky Gervais. It’s a mixture of humours that strangely complement one another, helped greatly by the show’s ‘mockumentary style’. “I think the advert break worked last time… it allows us to add odd little sketches in between the main body of the sitcom,” says Rob.

The writers have established a very unique style of telling jokes; each laced with levels of hidden complexity. “You’ll definitely get something new every time you listen to it,” says Josh, “well, we hope!” Will this be the show that gets them the National Student Radio Award they narrowly missed out on? “Let’s just say it would be nice to meet Fearne Cotton again,” says James, “and Steve Lamacq – if he’s sober this time!”

The Dead Or Alive Show: This is Unique FM stars Polly Boon, Patrick Edwards, Rob Morton, James Spence, Josh Hatley, Jono Higgs, Alex Wells and Stacey Ryder. The series will be running for six episodes on RaW (www.radio.warwick.ac.uk), every Sunday at 9pm, starting from the 7th February.  If you didn’t get to hear it the first time, you can download the first series as a podcast. Just type ‘The Dead Or Alive Show’ into iTunes or visit their website, www.thedeadoraliveshow.tk.