"For the last 25 years it has been a privilege and a pleasure to follow world changing news events and laugh at them. Now though we are very much looking forward to our new place in the Radio 4 line-up, with a new show, where we turn our sights on pretty much anything other than the topical!" — Hugh Dennis and Steve Punt

After 25 hugely successful years, BBC Radio 4 has announced that The Now Show’s spring 2024 series will be its last. Hosts Hugh Dennis and Steve Punt are soon to launch a new comedy podcast for the network, RouteMasters, which will take listeners on the most entertaining route between seemingly unconnected topics. The Now Show’s final series will feature another raft of exciting comedy talent performing sketches, songs and stand-up, in celebration of the programme’s trailblazing and influential style of comedy, which has been delighting listeners for 64 series.

Hugh Dennis and Steve Punt will keep Radio 4 listeners laughing with a fresh new comedy series, RouteMasters, a new podcast in which Punt and Dennis and their guest take a journey through new knowledge, as in turn, they attempt to find the most entertaining route between random topics, people, places or things which at first glance appear to be entirely unconnected. RouteMasters has been commissioned for an initial run of ten episodes to be released on BBC Sounds and will also air on Radio 4 in October.

Since its first episode in 1998, The Now Show has helped launch the careers of countless household-name standups and has been much loved by listeners. It covered many of the most memorable moments in British public life over the past 25 years, including the London Olympics, the total eclipse in 1999, the Brexit referendum, the Millennium, and the rise and fall of multiple Prime Ministers. Some episodes were recorded under remarkable and challenging circumstances – such as one show which went ahead with no audience after a police incident near the venue in 2005, and the first lockdown of the pandemic while the cast were confined to their homes. It is part of Radio 4’s popular Friday Night Comedy strand.

The pair will also be returning to Radio 4 later this year with the next season of The Train at Platform 4, beginning on 25 July in the 6.30pm comedy slot, and Steve Punt will be hosting another series of The 3rd Degree, starting 14 July at 4.30pm.

Radio 4 Commissioning Editor for Comedy, Julia McKenzie, commented, ‘As we reach this milestone, now feels like the right time for Hugh and Steve to turn their legendary comic talents to a new Radio 4 show. We are so proud of everything that The Now Show has achieved – it's been entertaining listeners with its distinctive blend of stand-up, sketches and songs for 25 years. As a former producer of the show as well as the current commissioner, I’d like to thank Hugh and Steve for their passion and commitment to audio comedy and the audience, as well as the production team at BBC Studios, and all the guest comedians, actors and writers involved in the show.’

Hugh Dennis and Steve Punt commented, ‘For the last 25 years it has been a privilege and a pleasure to follow world changing news events and laugh at them. Now though we are very much looking forward to our new place in the Radio 4 line-up, with a new show, where we turn our sights on pretty much anything other than the topical!’

The final series of The Now Show begins Friday 15 March at 6.30pm on BBC Radio 4. Subscribe to the Friday Night Comedy podcast on BBC Sounds and RSS for more upcoming topical satire.

RouteMasters is a  Listen production for BBC Radio 4. The executive producer is Suzy Grant.

The Now Show is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4. The producers are Sasha Bobak and Rajiv Karia, and the executive producer is Richard Morris.