Why I created a parody of Woman’s Hour

Comedian Lorna Rose Treen

It was when an episode of Woman’s Hour went from a segment about orphans into one about sparkly socks, and then Nigel Slater started talking about cake, that I knew: women’s talk shows are ripe for comedy.

I joined Woman’s Hour on a BBC trainee scheme in 2017, right after graduating from university. Working on a magazine-style show was fantastic: I spent my days ringing up interesting people. I’d go into the green room and find a senior politician sitting next to a true-crime podcaster and a social-media star launching a fashion brand.

Sometimes I was completely out of my depth. Aged 22, I was answering calls for the menopause phone-in, even though I knew nothing about it. Other items were just so ridiculous – like the time we got Morris dancers to perform on the show. Of course no one could see them, so it was just 90 seconds of bells ringing. On one slow news day we booked a young woman who’d gone viral because she was doing a dance and a fridge fell on her. She became known as “Fridge Girl”. Another time, I remember everyone was so excited when Jane Garvey was due to interview Hillary Clinton – it was all top secret. Then, right before, Hillary fell down the stairs and we lost the interview.

The job turned out to be a gift for an aspiring comedian. The short-form nature of it meant there was always something new. I was also surrounded by women of all kinds: clever women, stupid women, creative women, silly women, inspiring women. It’s bizarre to me that some people don’t think women are funny.

For a long time, I thought I’d never have a career in comedy because I’m not interested in identity-based jokes. I’m a bisexual dyslexic from the Midlands, but I don’t want to write about that. My joy is playing pretend.

Lorna Rose Treen and Jonathan Oldfield

So I’ve created a new Radio 4 show (with my partner Jonathan Oldfield) lovingly parodying women’s panel shows – from women’s news and current affairs programmes to something like Loose Women. It’s in the same vein as The One Show and the brilliant spoof This Time with Alan Partridge.

Our version, Time of the Week, follows the Woman’s Hour format, so it has a regular host and a roster of guests. The cast is mainly up-and-coming character comedians, and it’s a great excuse to make a comedy chock-a-block with women when the industry is still so male-dominated.

We won’t be using current news necessarily, but there are types of stories that always come up. They always have “the first woman” to do something, like sail around the world, but you start to run out of those – so our comic version might be the first woman to fit her whole forearm in her mouth. Every year on Woman’s Hour, we’d do a discussion around “Do women feel the cold more?”, so in our parody we put a man and a woman inside a fridge to find out. And it’s always funny looking at men taking up space in clueless ways. I’ll never forget when former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott made himself women’s minister – that just writes itself.

Emma Barnett on her first day hosting Woman’s Hour in 2021 – BBC Radio 4

It has been interesting seeing Woman’s Hour change recently. When I started there it was Jenni Murray and Jane Garvey, who chose stories on their philosophical, rather than timely, appeal. When Emma Barnett took over in 2021, she valued a heavy news peg. Some people preferred the old format, others love the new one.

I suppose that demonstrates how mad it is to have one programme that’s meant to represent all women: all ages, all backgrounds. It’s an impossible task. I remember looking around the office and seeing our floor full of women, while all the other floors were full of men. So you’ve given women – 50 per cent of the population – just this one programme to cater to us all?

I grew up on Radio 4, and having a show on the station is such a dream. The best thing would be if people tune into our programme and think it’s the real Woman’s Hour! And, while I would love for the show to create a community, I’ve found the BBC very frustrating as an institution. In particular: its staff structure. It’s impossible to move up as a young person. So many talented women are shut off from those higher positions. I spent time in radio drama, and my manager told me bluntly: “You’re never going to become a producer here.” As soon as a producer does retire, they close the position. Now women are finally getting a foot in the door, but there’s no money for us.

I’m proud that our writers’ room is female and non-binary. We’re not mocking anyone, it’s not hard satire; my comedy’s really optimistic. I hope people will feel it’s done with affection, that it’s something a bit different – made by women, about women – and asking fun questions about what place this show has in 2024.

Tune in – and don’t forget your sparkly socks.

As told to Marianka Swain. ‘Time of the Week’ is coming to Radio 4 and BBC Sounds on June 29. Lorna Rose Treen: Skin Pigeon is at the Soho Theatre, London, July 3-6

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