a new novel for Jaz to film ("Put plenty of cricket in it." says Felix) while Ping is urging him to commit to Pet Peeves 2, the fee for which will be needed to pay his hospital bill. At the end of the first series (Ep. 5), a blossoming romance with a young woman of similar temperament was cruelly dashed by her allergy to cats, dander from which could be found in Ed's beard. At the end of the fourth series Ed became involved with the popular novelist Mary Potter (Sally Grace), spending several nights a week with her by the start of the fifth series, though by the end of the seventh series he had rekindled an old romance with Fiona (Jenny Agutter). By Series 12 his romantic focus had moved to his agency colleague, Maggie (Pippa Haywood). Humour Much humour comes from Ed's rants and inability to stop himself getting carried away in his angry tirades, often triggered by learning that somebody younger than him is proving more successful (such as the author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss; one tirade follows Ed receiving several copies of the book as gifts for his birthday and working out how much in royalties Truss will have received because of the book sales). Underlying this however, are observations of the injustices and stupidities ("sheer asininity") of modern life. Writers Ed Reardon is played by actor Christopher Douglas, who also co-writes the series with Andrew Nickolds. A spin-off book was published in November 2005. Awards Ed Reardon's Week has twice been voted Best Radio Programme by the Broadcasting Press Guild, at their 32nd Annual Television and Radio Awards in 2006 and at the 37th in 2011. Critical reaction Gillian Reynolds, writing for The Daily Telegraph, called Reardon a "sublime creation" who was becoming "a national treasure" in 2012, and in 2016 complimented Douglas's "sublime performance" that makes Ed Reardon the "supreme social commentator on our times". The Independent also praised it, saying it "crackled with great lines, without any of that telegraphing you get too often in Radio 4 comedy". Miranda Sawyer in The Guardian found Reardon brilliantly observed, but more annoying than funny. Stage version Christopher Douglas and Andrew Nickolds have written a stage version, Ed Reardon: A Writer's Burden, which played at the Pleasance Courtyard during the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was directed by Adrian Lloyd-James. Episode list