The Not Now Show: comedy programme taken off air after 25 years

The BBC has cancelled The Now Show on Radio 4, ending the topical comedy programme after 25 years.

The Friday night show, hosted by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis, has helped to launch the careers of countless stand-up comedians.

However, the latest series will be the last as Radio 4 shakes up its schedule.

The station lost more than a million listeners last year and its current audience of 9.1 million is the lowest since 2007. At the same time, BBC Sounds podcasts reached a record audience of 11.4 million.

‘We wanted new show with them’

Punt and Dennis will now host a new comedy podcast, RouteMasters, “in which they attempt to find the most entertaining route between random topics, people, places or things”. The 10 episodes will also air on Radio 4 later in the year.

A BBC spokesman said: “We decided that after 25 years on air, we wanted to end the show and create a new show with them instead.”

The Now Show began in 1998 and has run for 64 series. Its mix of stand-up, sketches and songs are performed in front of a studio audience. The final series begins on March 15.

Julia McKenzie, Radio 4’s commissioning editor for comedy, said: “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.”

‘Anything other than the topical’

Dennis and Punt said: “For the last 25 years, it has been a privilege and a pleasure to follow world-changing 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 BBC described The Now Show as “trailblazing and influential” in its day.

It made headlines in 2016 when Jon Holmes, a comedian who had appeared on the programme for years, claimed he had been fired because he was a white man.

The BBC said at the time that his contract had not been renewed but “this was a creative, not a diversity, decision”.