The Skewer announces its switch from radio and podcast for a one-off TV version by slapping itself hard on the back. Showing the many awards it’s received since a 2019 pilot episode reassures the viewer that no matter how odd, how disorientating, how baffling, how disturbing, and possibly how tricky to follow these 19 minutes will be, you’re ultimately in safe (prize-winning) hands.

Those gongs will reside mainly in the household of Jon Holmes, the writer, comic and broadcaster who was previously best known for being fired from Virgin Radio (for a prank item called Swearword Hangman which resulted in a small child saying lots of rude words on air) and being let go by the BBC (he claimed it was in the name of furthering diversity, the corporation insisted it was a result of his contract running down and new opportunities being pursued). Meanwhile, rumours that he was sacked from his gig at XFM London for urinating in a famous colleague’s desk drawer appear to be pure mischief-making conjecture. 

Clearly, some kissing and making up occurred now that Holmes has been producing The Skewer on BBC Radio 4 over the past four years and, let’s face it, it’s a win-win for all sides. If you’ve accidentally or even deliberately found the show on its late-night slot, chances are you’ve been drawn in by its fast-paced cut-and-paste hatchet jobs on (mainly) politicians having their actual words spliced together to make it seem as though they’re saying something very silly, coarse or surreal. It all moves so speedily with various sound effects washing over each other that a second and possibly third listen is required to catch every snippet of content that’s being chucked into the mix. 

There’s a lot of Chris Morris in here (especially the trippy collage-style euphoria of Blue Jam), and some slices of Charlie Brooker and Adam Curtis; making the move to the small screen, these dazzling, loopy, dynamic visuals are the kind of thing Cold War Steve might come up with if he was given a TV deal. Images of apocalypse and devastation play out to bland or barmy statements from Truss, Sunak and Johnson, while many of the headline-grabbing stories of the last 36 months are given a satirical battering (Brexit, Trump, Meghan, Wagatha).

Three Twisted Years ends with a moving visual representation of Iran’s war against women, the names of those who have been killed or imprisoned or gone missing in recent times filling the screen and redacted to the accompaniment of Chase Holfelder’s take on ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’. For all its hilarious stupidity, The Skewer delivers a proper knock-out punch when it pulls back from delirium and makes poignancy its goal.

The Skewer: Three Twisted Years is on BBC iPlayer with new weekly episodes available on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.