What? Seriously?? with Dara Ó Briain and Isy Suttie

What? Seriously?? is a new podcast which combines comedy with quirky history, hosted by Dara Ó Briain and Isy Suttie, who will unravel an extraordinary real-life tale each week with the help of a celebrity guest.

What an absolute joy it was to produce this series. Dara and Isy are so fun and so funny and our special guests were very special and utterly brilliant. It's excellent to be able to say that - alongside some excellent comics and broadcasters - our line up also includes an actual astronaut, a chef, a Queen of the Jungle, one of The Traitors, and a bona fide Slow Horse.

Dara and Isy unearth stories that are definitely true, but also kind of unbelievable at the same time - the sort of stories that make you go ‘What? Seriously??’ when you hear them, but you resolve to tell them in the pub the first chance you get. The twist is that Dara and Isy have absolutely no idea how these strange-but-true tales will unfold and we’ll all be trying to figure it out together – or Dara and Isy will just go off on funny flights of fancy that are tangentially related to the story. They will be drip-fed the nuggets of narrative by a special guest expert who might just know something about the subject.

Across the series they will be joined by the astronaut Helen Sharman, the Aussie comedian Rhys Nicholson, Miles from The Traitors, I’m A Celeb winner Georgia Toffolo, the broadcaster Stuart Maconie, MasterChef star Louisa Ellis, the comedian Richard Herring, and Slow Horses star Chris Chung.

What? Seriously?? begins an 8-week series on Saturday 4th January 2025 at 23:00 on BBC Radio 4.

‘What? Seriously??’ with Dara Ó Briain and Isy Suttie.

Story compiled by Gareth Edwards and Dan Page.

Based on an original ideal by Dan Page.

Producer: Laura Grimshaw

Executive Producer: Jon Holmes

An unusual production for BBC Radio 4