What The Papers Say (an offshoot called What The Magazines Say was broadcast as a summer replacement on television) is a British radio, and formerly television, series. It consists of humorous or unusual quotes from headlines and comment pages in the previous week's newspapers (magazines were reviewed for the TV offshoot, What The Magazines Say), read in a variety of voices and accents by actors. The quotes are linked by a script read by a studio presenter, usually a prominent journalist. The show does not have a regular host, and is intended as a wry look at how British broadsheets and tabloids have covered the week's news stories. The programme currently broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 and was once broadcast on television – its first incarnation (1956–2008) was the second longest-running programme on British television after Panorama. Beginning in 1956 on Granada Television and ITV, the television series moved to Channel 4 and then to BBC2 before being discontinued in 2008. The programme was revived on Radio 4 in the run-up to the 2010 general election.
Links To Peel[]
John Peel's What The Magazines Say
Peel was guest presenter on the offshoot, What The Magazines Say, which was broadcast on 29th July 1995 on BBC2. During the programme, Peel reviewed several music magazines and fanzines, including publicly apologising to Damon Albarn after Peel's son William, claimed that his father was obnoxious to the Blur singer at the Phoenix Festival.
JP mentions fanzines 'Incite' (from Cambridge), 'Head Trash' (Great Sutton), 'Bobbins!' (Stockport), 'Here Be Monsters' (West Hampstead), 'Words I Might Have Ate' (Nottingham), 'Fast Connection' (Newcastle Upon Tyne).
Says he wants is a magazine with “the attitude of a fanzine” together with “the resources of Q and Mojo”. Describes fanzines as “hugely prejudiced, wildly enthusiastic, no respect for the person, and highly readable.” Unfortunately, like the major publications they “tend to concentrate on too narrow a range of bands and musicians.”