Ed Reardon's Week: Series 7 (Episodes 1-4)

Radio 4's most curmudgeonly author is back for a new series, complete with his trusty companion Elgar, his pipe and his never ending capacity for scrimping and scraping at whatever scraps his agent, Ping, can offer him to keep body, mind and cat together. In these four episodes, austerity has hit Ed hard.

But things may be looking up as he starts working with the most disturbingly fresh and mesmerizingly compelling voice of his generation, Ben Herbert, and finds himself employed on a corporate video along with director and old sparring partner Jaz Milvane.

He also enrols on a writing course and learns a thing or two about setting up his very own `Script Doctor' service.

Plus, Ed finds himself in the middle of some sibling rivalry when Ping's sister, Py, undertakes some work experience at the agency. Written by Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds, and guest starring Stephanie Cole as Olive, John Fortune as Felix and Barunka O'Shaughnessy as Ping.