EXCLUSIVE: Lolly Adefope (Saltburn) has signed on alongside Fergus Craig, Jessica Fostekew, and Helen Cripps to lead the scripted podcast Dial F For Football written by comedian Rhys James (Live at the Apollo, Mock the Week) for Keep It Light Media (Parenting Hell with Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe and Wolf & Owl with Romesh Ranganathan and Tom Davis).
The pod will be directed by Mark G Smith and feature cameos from names such as Alan Davies, Ed Gamble, James Acaster, Lou Sanders, Ben Bailey-Smith and Phil Wang. Episodes will drop weekly from March 27.
The pod is described as an “audio comedy series” that gives listeners a behind-the-scenes look at a popular commercial sports radio station, Totalsport FM. Listeners join the show at a time when the station has decided to “modernize” its output by introducing more “diverse, dynamic and interesting talent,” a decision that provokes a reaction from its traditional listener base. As part of this attempt to drag the station into the 21st century, the station’s most popular double act ‘Des and Pete’ has been split up to make way for Lisa, a talented “urban” YouTuber.
Synopsis reads: Battling to make her way in an ultra-masculine environment, Lisa (Adefope) endeavors to prove her worth to the audience and her producer Carla (Jessica Fostekew), whilst also dealing with condescending remarks from some of her callers and in-studio guests. Meanwhile, Des (Fergus Craig) realizes he has to modernize with the station or face the same consequences as his former partner Pete. Listeners will hear all the on-air station ‘output’, but they will also hear everything that happens behind the scenes, gaining access to the conversations between the hosts and their producers and everything else that happens in the studio while the news and weather are being read, or when the adverts are being played. Crucially, they will hear the conversations between the hosts and their producers. This leads to a show-within-a-show set-up, with all the complexity that comes with it; think The Larry Sanders Show or Alan Partridge’s Mid Morning Matters. It’s an audio sitcom that prioritizes comedy, whilst also tackling issues of racism, sexism, toxicity, and the old guard struggling to come to terms with the new generation.
Dial F For Football was created and produced by Tayo Popoola, an audio producer and presenter who has worked ‘in and around’ sports radio for 10 years. The music and sound design were created by Tom Jenkins, who was sought out especially due to his previous work on Radio 4’s satirical phone-in comedy series Down The Line.