Mark Steel's in Town; Case Notes; Sony awards nominations

Stand-up almost always fails on radio, simply because at some point during the transfer between stage and studio, a keen comedy producer decides that there should be a concept. Why not have the comedian pretend to be an agony aunt? Or get the audience to shout out news topics? Or – and this is truly shuddersome – how about taking a few jokes and turning them into sketches? Mark Steel's in Town (R4) has the dreaded concept: veteran comic Steel turns up at a nondescript UK municipality, spends time there and creates a bespoke stand-up show. But this concept works because we hear none of the research, nothing of Mark chatting to locals, hanging out in local libraries and pubs. We just get a straightforward stand-up show with a receptive audience. It's great. On Wednesday, in the first of his new series, Steel took us to Dartford in Kent. The resulting very funny half-hour took in gypsy tart, the pedants' revolt and – I was very impressed by this – an email from Mick Jagger, on holiday in Mustique, comparing the joys of his vacation location to the delights of Dartford, where he was born. Neither snotty nor sycophantic, Steel tied it all together with generous humour. Next week he visits my home town of Wilmslow. I am on tenterhooks (most uncomfortable, I must say). Case Notes , another Radio 4 regular, returned with a timely assessment of mephedrone, aka meow meow. We heard from users who suffered ups – "This oomph, a sense of euphoria, you're chewing your face off" – and downs: "A four-day nightmare: no sleep, unfounded terror, debilitating terror about anything and everything, I was beside myself." We also heard from scientists, who told us what we could all have guessed from those graphic descriptions – that meow meow is most likely an amphetamine. More interesting was the idea that the law as it stands isn't quick enough to react to ever-morphing legal highs. So far, research hasn't established that mephedrone is definitely an amphetamine, but, with teenagers dying, action needed to be taken. A drugs worker suggested a quarantine status for recreational drugs that appeared dangerous but were not yet fully investigated, which seemed sensible. You do wonder who listens to a show like this though: politicians; skunk smokers; anyone who might find it useful? A quick glance over the 2010 Sony awards nominations , announced last week. LBC's Nick Ferrari was the big story, with five nominations for his feisty, clever, news-driven breakfast show: unfashionable, but high quality, and run on a shoestring. Nice to see nods for three great female broadcasters: 5 Live's Victoria Derbyshire (three nominations), Radio 4's Jenni Murray (one, plus Woman's Hour as a whole) and 6 Music newbie Lauren Laverne (two). 6 Music and Asian Network pulled in nine nominations between them. Mark Steel got one: yay! And how encouraging that two of the three nominees for UK Station of the Year are not from the BBC: Absolute and TalkSport. Bring on the gongs!