''The Ape That Got Lucky'' was a four-part radio series broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

in August 2005. Written by

Chris Addison Christopher David Addison (born 5 November 1971) is a British comedian, writer, actor, and director. He is perhaps best known for his role as a regular panellist on ''Mock the Week''. He is also known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of ...

and

Carl Cooper Carl Norman Cooper (born 4 August 1960) is a Welsh former Anglican bishop who was the Bishop of St David's from 2002 to 2008. Early life Cooper was born on 4 August 1960 and grew up in Wigan in Lancashire. He first spent time in Wales as an un ...

, it was based around Chris Addison giving a lecture on the evolution of man from "ugly ape" into the all time "Top Species". Addison was supported in this spoof lecture by Professor Austin Herring, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at St Dunstan's College Cambridge, who was played by

Geoffrey McGivern Geoffrey M. McGivern is a British actor in film, television, radio and stage, as well as a comedian. He is best known for originating the role of Ford Prefect in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. Career He played Ford Prefect in the ra ...

. The Professor was frequently ridiculed, and was usually introduced as the author of a particular book. The books were always amusingly titled, and were different in every introduction. Other cast members of the show were

Jo Enright Jo Enright is an English stand-up comedian and actress who has appeared in a number of television and radio comedy programmes. She is best known for her roles in ''The Job Lot'', '' Life's Too Short'' and ''Trollied''. Career In 1995, she mad ...

and

Dan Tetsell Dan Tetsell (born 2 July 1974) is a British actor, comedian and writer for radio, television and stage. He has worked on a number of projects, including '' The Museum of Everything'', ''That Was Then, This Is Now'', ''Newsjack'' and ''Parsons and ...

who performed sketches to illustrate the lecture. The series was produced by

Simon Nicholls Simon Nicholls (born 1977 in London) is a radio and TV comedy producer at the BBC. Education He was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford and the University of East Anglia (LLB, 1999). Career When Ed Reardon approached Nicholls about an id ...

. Professor Herring gave the impression of being a prolific author, although his book titles were invariably absurd. In the preamble to each show, Chris Addison would introduce the Professor as, for example: ''"...our resident expert...polymath...and author of many important scholarly works such as'' 'What are YOU looking at? – a sideways look at the origins of the squint' ''...and...'' 'Here's looking at Euclid – geometry in the films of Humphrey Bogart' '', as well as being editor of'' '

Pop Goes The Weasel "Pop! Goes the Weasel" (Roud 5249) is a traditional English and American song, a country dance, nursery rhyme, and singing game that emerged in the mid-19th century. It is commonly used in Jack-in-the-box toys and for ice cream trucks. The song ...

– a treasury of

vivisection Vivisection () is surgery conducted for experimental purposes on a living organism, typically animals with a central nervous system, to view living internal structure. The word is, more broadly, used as a pejorative catch-all term for experiment ...

anecdotes' ''." ''For each of his contributions within the main show, The Professor himself would also mention an 'appropriate' paper he had written relating to the topic being discussed, also humorously titled. In May 2006 ''The Ape That Got Lucky'' was awarded the Gold Sony Award for comedy. All four episodes were then released on a 2-CD set. The April 2006 series ''Chris Addison's Civilisation'' is a follow-up to ''The Ape That Got Lucky''; it has the same format and the same cast but the lectures focus on the building and making of a civilization rather than the evolution theme of this series.

External links

*
Chris Addison's Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ape That Got Lucky, The 2005 radio programme debuts 2005 radio programme endings BBC Radio 4 programmes BBC Radio comedy programmes