The Masterson Inheritance was an improvised

Improvisation

Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...

 comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

 from 1993 to 1995 billed as "an improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself." There were three series and two Christmas specials. From time to time, repeats of the show are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

In each programme, the cast members – Josie Lawrence

Josie Lawrence

Josie Lawrence is a British comedienne and actress best known for her work with the Comedy Store Players improvisational troupe, the television series Whose Line Is It Anyway? and more recently her role as Manda Best in EastEnders....

, Phelim McDermott, Paul Merton

Paul Merton

Paul Merton is a British comedian, writer, actor and television presenter. Known for his improvisation skill, his humour is rooted in deadpan, surreal and sometimes dark comedy...

, Caroline Quentin

Caroline Quentin

Caroline Jones known by her stage name Caroline Quentin, is an English actress. Quentin became known for her television appearances in Men Behaving Badly, playing Dorothy, and playing Maddy Magellan in Jonathan Creek for three years.-Early life:...

, Lee Simpson

Lee Simpson

Lee Simpson is a British actor and comedian best known as a member of the improvisational group The Comedy Store Players.He has appeared in a number of roles, including the sitcoms Terry and Julian and Drop The Dead Donkey, the films Paper Mask and Nuns On The Run, and played a key role in...

, and Jim Sweeney – would be given a particular historical setting, and, incorporating suggestions from the audience, would improvise that episode in the saga of the Masterson family. One episode, The Marooned Mastersons, was never broadcast but is available on Jim Sweeney's website.

Episode list

Series	Episode	Title	Historical Setting	First broadcast
1	1	The Curse of the Mastersons	The 1760s and the slave trade	22 April 1993
	2	The Mastersons and Johnson	The 1790s	29 April 1993
	3	Scurvy	The 1800s at sea	6 May 1993
	4	The Sweat of the Mastersons	Victorian Victorian era The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...  London London London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...	13 May 1993
	5	The Tatting of the Mastersons	19th century America	20 May 1993
	6	The Mastersons Lose Everything	The 1890s	27 May 1993
Special	1	The Stuffing of the Mastersons	Victorian Victorian era The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...  Christmas	25 December 1993
2	1	Beware the Ides of Masterson	Imperial Rome	11 June 1994
	2	The Quest for the Other Rabbit's Foot	The court of King Arthur King Arthur King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...	18 June 1994
	3	Last Word to the Mastersons	The industrial revolution Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...	25 June 1994
	4	The Jousting Mastersons	Late 15th century	2 July 1994
	5	The Gangrene of the Mastersons	The Crimean War Crimean War The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...	9 July 1994
	6	The Mastersons Go Down	The Hercules (passenger ship)	16 July 1994
3	1	The Mastersons Magical Marquee (1)	Travelling Victorian Victorian era The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...  circus Circus A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...	24 June 1995
	2	The Mastersons Magical Marquee (2)		1 July 1995
	3	Masterson Rides Again	19th century public school Public School (UK) A public school, in common British usage, is a school that is neither administered nor financed by the state or from taxpayer contributions, and is instead funded by a combination of endowments, tuition fees and charitable contributions, usually existing as a non profit-making charitable trust...	8 July 1995
	4	The Masterson Bunch	Early 20th century before the great war	15 July 1995
	5	The Pain of the Mastersons	The romantic poets	22 July 1995
	6	The St Valentine's Day Masterson	1920s Hollywood	29 July 1995
Special	2	The Mastersons' Christmas Cracker	An isolated village of ancient beliefs	25 December 1995

External links

• The Masterson Inheritance fansite
• Episode listing from epguides.com