Clara’s Verdict
I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 for over fifty years, and the fact that it remains genuinely, reliably funny is one of the quiet cultural miracles of British public life. This 2025 collection covers Series 83 and 84, hosted by Jack Dee, recorded live in Manchester, Warwick, and Bristol. At 5 hours and 35 minutes, it isn’t an audiobook in the conventional sense – it’s a comedy experience, one that operates according to its own deeply peculiar rules and rewards familiarity with those rules generously. If you already love the show, this is simply more of it, which is cause for uncomplicated celebration. If you don’t yet know it, consider this your introduction to a national institution that has outlasted governments, fashions, and several different versions of what “modern comedy” is supposed to look like.
I have reviewed audiobooks for over a decade, and I maintain that some of the best listening in the catalogue isn’t books at all – it’s radio comedy done by masters of the form, in front of a live audience that cannot quite believe its luck.
About the Audiobook
Published by BBC Digital Audio in February 2026, this compilation covers two complete series: Series 83 (recorded July-August 2025, first broadcast on Radio 4) and Series 84 (November-December 2025). The format will be familiar to anyone who has encountered ISIHAC before, and baffling but quickly addictive to anyone who hasn’t. The panel games aren’t really panel games – they’re pretexts for wordplay, improvisation, and the kind of elaborate innuendo that could pass an Ofcom audit whilst leaving a live studio audience breathless. Mornington Crescent remains impervious to explanation and entirely irresistible. One Song to the Tune of Another remains one of the great instruments of comedic chaos ever devised. Colin Sell at the piano continues to provide musical accompaniment to rounds he has had very little warning about, with the stoicism of a man who has made peace with his fate.
The Series 83 and 84 casts are stellar across both series: Charli XCX, Gary Delaney, Rory Bremner, Harry Enfield, Lucy Porter, Miles Jupp, Marcus Brigstocke, Adrian Edmondson, Rachel Parris, Joe Lycett, Tony Hawks, Pippa Evans, Richard Coles, and Henning Wehn. Jack Dee’s “reluctant chairman” persona – mordant, world-weary, perpetually undermined by his panellists and apparently resigned to it – is in excellent form throughout. The lovely Samantha and Sven are, of course, present and lovingly accounted for. Dee’s excoriating introductions, which manage to both charm and insult their targets in the same sentence, are some of the finest examples of live radio writing currently produced in this country.
The Narration
Jack Dee hosts, rather than narrates – and the distinction matters. This is a live recording with a live audience, and the energy of those performances is entirely preserved. Dee’s ability to deliver elaborate compliments that are actually insults, and insults that somehow sound almost kind, is as sharp as it has ever been. The production by Jon Naismith is clean and well-balanced, ensuring that both the verbal jokes and Colin Sell’s musical disasters land with equal clarity. The sound of the audience laughing before they’ve quite processed why they’re laughing is, as always, part of the pleasure.
What Readers Say
This particular 2025 edition is newly released and hasn’t yet accumulated Audible UK ratings. The show’s audience, however, is one of the most loyally enthusiastic in British radio, and annual collections consistently draw five-star responses that describe ISIHAC as “the perfect antidote to everything” and “something that always makes me laugh even on the worst days.” For a programme over fifty years old, that kind of testimonial is remarkable. The consistency of audience affection across five decades suggests something deeper than nostalgia: this is simply very good comedy, reliably executed by very skilled people.
Who Should Listen?
Essential for existing fans of the series – this is two full series in a single download, which represents excellent value and several hours of reliable pleasure. For newcomers: if you enjoy The News Quiz, Just a Minute, or British panel comedy more broadly, ISIHAC is the original and in many people’s considered opinion still the finest example of the form. It requires no preparation and rewards repeated listening – many devotees have earlier series practically memorised and still laugh at them. Perfect for long journeys, kitchen tasks, gardening, ironing, or any activity that benefits from the steady company of people being extremely funny without appearing to try.
Tune in to a British institution – listen to I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue 2025 on Audible UK.
