I would imagine I am not the target audience for this show. Admittedly, I am a massive fan of The Archers (I blame my parents), but I’m afraid that’s my only weakness for the station – aside from the occasional episode of Just a Minute, of course.

It was clear from the outset that I was in the minority of non-Radio 4 listeners in the audience.When Alice Arnold, our own personal radio announcer throughout, opened the show by introducing the ‘UK Theme’, there was a collective gasp of wistful appreciation, around my bewildered self. So I was slightly concerned I would spend the entire show wondering what everyone was laughing at.

But I need not have worried. This Kathy Clugston-penned ‘musical homage’ provides an affectionate and wonderfully absurd tribute to a selection of the station’s shows. You know Kathy Clugston, she’s the Posh Radio 4 Lady (Scott Mills fans will understand), the radio announcer with the Northern Irish accent.

The beauty of the show is in the marriage of Clugston’s comedy and Desmond O’Connor’s music. With three live musicians on-stage throughout (James Hulme, Ryan Trebilcock and Gavin Whitworth), the audience was treated to toe-tapping jazzy music accompanied by the enthusiastic cast bemoaning the fate of their beloved station under the rule of new Controller, Selina Badminton (played brilliantly by Louise Plowright), who is planning to cut The Shipping Forecast (gasp), Woman’s Hour (what?!) and, possibly worst of all, is going to get rid of the pips (sacrilege!).

The musical numbers were received just as enthusiastically as they were performed – James Naughtie’s (Jonathan Dryden Taylor) secret love of Woman’s Hour provided much hilarity, as did the homage to ‘Britain’s Lullaby’, The Shipping Forecast, performed by the cast dressed in ridiculous, stereotypical fisherman’s outfits and giant bushy beards.

Michael Fenton Stevens’ performance as kitten-loving, piglet-stroking John Humphries was hilarious, but then, the whole cast played off each other wonderfully, and it was clear they were having a grand old time doing so. I loved the self-referential, self-aware nods to the musical genre. When James Naughtie returns from a treacherous sea crossing, John says “We thought you were dead!” to which he replies “In a musical comedy?!”. There were moments like this scattered throughout, and the audience lapped them up.

The only scene that I was slightly disappointed in was the Tennessee Williams rendition of my beloved Archers. It was funny, but it just didn’t seem to fit. But overall, I loved this performance. Stevens’ fit of the giggles before the fisherman’s Shipping Forecast song still has me smiling to myself, and I left the theatre wanting to catch Women’s Hour to find out more about “great sex when you’re 80”. I’ve clearly been missing out by not tuning in to 92.5-96.1 FM.