Reluctant Persuaders

Reluctant Persuaders is a BBC Radio 4 sitcom, written by Edward Rowett.^[3] It stars Nigel Havers, Josie Lawrence, Mathew Baynton, Rasmus Hardiker, Olivia Nixon and Kieran Hodgson,^[4][7] and was produced by Absolutely Productions.^[8] It ran for four series, with a Christmas special, between September 2015 and April 2021.^[4][9]

Reluctant Persuaders

Genre	Situation comedy
Running time	30 minutes
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
Home station	BBC Radio 4
Starring	Nigel Havers Josie Lawrence Mathew Baynton Rasmus Hardiker Olivia Nixon Kieran Hodgson[1][2]
Written by	Edward Rowett[3]
Original release	15 September 2015[4] – 6 April 2021[5]
No. of series	4[6]
No. of episodes	20[6]
Website	Reluctant Persuaders at BBC Radio 4

Plot

Reluctant Persuaders follows Hardacre's, 'the worst advertising agency in London'.^[3]

Cast

• Nigel Havers as Rupert Hardacre^[4]
• Josie Lawrence as Amanda Brook^[4]
• Mathew Baynton as Joe Starling^[9]
• Rasmus Hardiker as Teddy (series 1, 3, 4 and Christmas special)^[4]
• Kieran Hodgson as Teddy (series 2)^[7]
• Olivia Nixon as Laura^[4]

Episodes

Series One

Episode number	Title	Original airdate
1	"Lemon"	15 September 2015 (2015-09-15)
London's worst advertising agency plans to re-launch with a guerrilla marketing campaign.[10]
2	"We Try Harder"	22 September 2015 (2015-09-22)
Hardacre enlists Amanda's help to win back one of his old accounts.[11]
3	"The Best A Man Can Get"	29 September 2015 (2015-09-29)
Things are getting desperate for the staff of Hardacre's - the work is not coming in and accounts chief Amanda Brook finds herself reduced to pleading for the business of India.[12]
4	"Vorsprung Durch Technik"	6 October 2015 (2015-10-06)
The team are set to be featured in advertising industry magazine Campaign, but unfortunately the entire staff is trapped in a lift.[13]

Series Two

No.	Episode No.	Title	Original airdate
5	1	"Live Young"	6 April 2017 (2017-04-06)
6	2	"Just Do It"	13 April 2017 (2017-04-13)
7	3	"Give a Man a Fish"	20 April 2017 (2017-04-20)
8	4	"Think Different"	27 April 2017 (2017-04-27)

Series Three

No.	Episode No.	Title	Original airdate
9	1	"Ideas For Life"	4 October 2018 (2018-10-04)
10	2	"Happiest Place on Earth"	11 October 2018 (2018-10-11)
11	3	"Connecting People"	18 October 2018 (2018-10-18)
12	4	"Because She's Worth It"	25 October 2018 (2018-10-25)
13	5	"The Appliance of Science"	1 November 2018 (2018-11-01)

Special

Episode number	Title	Original airdate
14	"Holidays Are Coming"	16 November 2018 (2018-11-16)

Series Four

No.	Episode No.	Title	Original airdate
15	1	"If You Like A Lot Of Chocolate On Your Biscuit..."	2 March 2021 (2021-03-02)
16	2	"Because Change Happenz"	9 March 2021 (2021-03-09)
17	3	"At Your Side"	16 March 2021 (2021-03-16)
18	4	"Ask The Man Who Owns One"	23 March 2021 (2021-03-23)
19	5	"Have A Break"	30 March 2021 (2021-03-30)
20	6	"Join Our Club"	6 April 2021 (2021-04-06)

Broadcast history

Reluctant Persuaders was originally broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Repeats have since aired on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Awards

Reluctant Persuaders won the award for Best Scripted Comedy (Studio Audience) at the 2016 BBC Audio Drama Awards.^[14]