Micky Flanagan: What Chance Change?

The complete BBC radio series of Micky Flanagan’s autobiographical comedy show – plus pilot episode

‘Excellent, funny and poignant’ Miranda Sawyer, The Observer

Based on his Edinburgh Comedy Award-nominated show What Chance Change?, Micky Flanagan’s debut radio series combines brilliant stand-up with insightful behind-the-scenes interviews to tell the story of his life from the 1970s to the 2000s.

These five episodes chart the Cockney comedian’s progression from working-class Herbert to middle-class intellectual giant – and being awkwardly caught between both worlds. Via hilarious jokes and sharply-observed comic routines, Micky takes us from the mean streets of the East End to the leafy lanes of East Dulwich, outlining his rise to fame from Billingsgate fish porter to successful entertainer, from Sunblest to panini, tabloids to broadsheets and the street party to the dinner party. We hear how he left school without qualifications, ran away to New York to be an international lover and player, returned to education to become a teacher, and settled down with his wife and built his stand-up career.

Chatting to family, friends and special guests – including sociology professor Paul Willis, millionaire plumber Charlie Mullins, and fellow comedian Sean Lock – he considers how his upbringing shaped his identity, discusses the thorny issue of class and comedy, and explains how, over four decades, taking chances has changed his life.

Written and performed by Micky Flanagan
Produced by Tilusha Ghelani
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 6 January 2009 (pilot episode), 25 May-15 June 2010 (Series 1)

Micky Flanagan is one of the top stand-ups on the comedy circuit, and one of the UK’s best-loved and bestselling comedians.

He started his professional comedy career in 1997, and in 2001 performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as one of four headliners in the Big Value Comedy Show. In 2003, he returned to Edinburgh to co-headline with Nina Conti, and four years later, he was nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award for his first full-length solo show What Chance Change?

Since then, he has guested on numerous television panel games including Mock the Week 8 Out of 10 Cats and The Big Fat Quiz, hosted the 2010 Royal Variety Performance (which saw him nominated for Best Breakthrough Act at the British Comedy Awards) and appeared on TV shows ranging from Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow and Live at the Apollo to Sky One’s Detour de France and Thinking Aloud. On radio, he has been a panellist on The News Quiz, appeared on Desert Island Discs and presented What Chance Change? as a four-part series for BBC Radio 4.

He has toured Britain and Ireland with three blockbuster live shows, Out Out, Back in the Game and An’ Another Fing… The latter was the biggest stand-up tour of 2017, playing to over 600,000 people across the country (including 11 sold-out nights at the O2 Arena) and breaking box-office records. His DVDs sell in their millions, and he is responsible for half of all comedy downloads in the UK.

Micky Flanagan lives in East Dulwich, London with his wife and son.