The Reject Pile Podcast

Welcome to the last episode of The Reject Pile’s Summer 2026 run and, indeed, the foreseeable future.In the podcast intro, host Luke Edwards discusses his decision to draw a line after 12 episodes, before calling back to the previous episodes in this run, where we’ve analysed the first three pages of a sitcom by Annabel Edmonds along with comedy sketches by Peter Beare, Sarah Kelly, Mike Cooper and Sophie Hall, before going deep on The Skewer in our most recent episode with Dan Sweryt, and episodes from previous years featuring a deep-dive into Breaking the News, again with Dan Sweryt and Ellie Hayward which featured material from Nik Ilukkumbere, as well as other episodes covering more comedy sketches from Robbie Fox, James Docherty, Mike Grace, Rob Smyth and Luke.Luke gives credit to those that helped him to perform the material: Amy Tobin, Rob Stephenson, Kevin Welch, Alexis Coward, Ronan Hatfull, Rachel Cook, Jonathan Amphlett, Chris Gladwin and Annabelle Turner-Wheeler, and of course, I’ve been joined along the way by resident Reject Pile script editor, Phil Stewart.Luke goes on to introduce this episode’s guest: James Cary.James is one of the most prolific voices in British comedy of the last two decades, and as you’ll hear in our conversation, his work ethic and storytelling insights are incredible. Over the last twenty years, he has written for massive television hits like Miranda and My Family, and co-created the brilliant BBC comedy Bluestone 42. For eight years, he co-hosted the legendary industry podcast Sitcom Geeks alongside Dave Cohen, and today, he is still actively guiding the next generation of writers.You can find his masterclasses online through his YouTube channel and his excellent Substack, The Situation Room, where he shares expert advice on the mechanics of comedy writing. He is also a regular speaker on the circuit. He is a true master of the craft, an authority on what makes people laugh, and a fascinating conversationalist, and we dive into all of that in this episode.During the conversation, James mentions the following past and present projects. Here is a list with links included for reference:* James Cary - IMDB* James Cary - British Comedy Guide credits* Think the Unthinkable* My Hero * Citizen Khan* Milton Jones* Another Case of Milton Jones* The House of Milton Jones* The God Particle* God, the Bible and Everything (in 60 minutes)* The Stand-Up Theologian* Writing That Sitcom* Faith in Kids* Perrier Best Newcomer Award This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

In this penultimate episode of our Summer 2026 run, we break from the normal format for a deep-dive with comedy writer Dan Sweryt, who returns after his previous appearance on our Breaking the News episode, into writing for BBC Radio 4’s satirical tour de force The Skewer. Dan runs a course alongside Dave Cohen, designed to help aspiring writers gain their first writing credit for The Skewer. More information can be found here: https://www.davecohen.org.uk/pick-up-your-first-bbc-writing-credit/. During the episode, Dan provides an insight into what writers can expect from the course via feedback and reflections on previous unsuccessful submissions to The Skewer from host Luke Edwards and Reject Pile alumni Nik Ilukkumbere and Mike Grace. We also hear a couple of examples of successful pitches made to The Skewer by Dan. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

Sophie Hall is the guest for the fifth episode of our Summer 2026 run, and it’s our last comedy sketch of the series.Sophie is a London-based writer from Bolton. She performs stand-up and comedy poetry, with a particular love of the mundane and obscure pop culture. She has performed at venues and events like the Roundhouse and the Manchester Comedy Festival, and her work has popped up on BBC Radio, Virgin and, of course, ‘the internet’.You can find her work online at medium.com/@sophlouisehall, threads.com/@sophlouisehall and on bsky.app/profile/sophlouisehall.bsky.social. Sophie’s sketch is called App-aritions and it was performed by Chris Gladwin, Alexis Coward, Amy Tobin, Annabelle Turner-Wheeler and Jonathan Amphlett, with sound effects supplied by Rob Stephenson.As always, we start with an intro from host Luke Edwards, before showing the sketch, which is followed by a discussion between Luke, Sophie and The Reject Pile script editor Phil Stewart on the sketch, the writing and development process, and rejection. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

This is the fourth episode of our run of episodes in Summer 2026.In host Luke Edwards’ intro he mentions that we’ve had a family sitcom set on a deserted island, a post-apocalyptic comedy sketch in an Olympic commentary booth, and a character study of a needy jester in a medieval court, and this episode features a sketch submitted by Mike Cooper that imagines a yacht club’s annual quiz.This is technically Mike’s second appearance on The Reject Pile, after his submissions to our earlier episode on Breaking the News rejects, which is an episode we highly recommend if you’re interested in writing for Breaking the News, as we were joined by Ellie Hayward and Dan Sweryt who run a course on helping writers get a credit on that show.Luke mentions that he’s planning a future episode with Dan, this time focused on BBC Radio 4’s The Skewer, as Dan also runs a course helping writers with that show and he is a very seasoned contributor to it in his own right. So, if you’ve had any unsuccessful submissions to The Skewer that you’d like us to feature on the show, please send them to [email protected] also gives a shout-out to another previous guest of ours, James Docherty, for his credit on last week’s episode of Breaking the News. Well done James.In the intro, Luke also mentions that, in the last week, we’ve seen England knocked out of the 2026 World Cup in the semi-finals by Argentina, so it felt fitting for him to mention a series of essays that he wrote on his Substack two years ago, called ‘Why I’m no longer following football’. It’s a very open and honest account of his love/hate relationship with the sport that started aged 10 at Euro 96 and has now seen him clock up his own 30 years of hurt. If you do check it out, we’d love to hear your feedback on it and, of course, we encourage you to share it along, as well as this podcast.Now, let’s introduce this episode’s guest.Mike is an award-winning comedy writer* who has had a modicum of success on radio over the years, with sketches and jokes appearing on BBC Radio 4, 4 Extra, BBC Radio Scotland and Union Jack Radio.He also finally got the illustrious TV credit he so badly desired when one of his gags appeared on a televised episode of Breaking the News.Mike occasionally writes in a three-man team, and scripts they have written have received extremely good feedback from industry professionals.He’s also written a number of his own TV and Film scripts which he tells us are in various “stages of development”.You can find Mike on Bluesky @mikecooperrp.bsky.social or, if you want to see his yearly holiday pics, on Instagram @mikecooperrp.*The award Mike won was Clubman of the Year - Franche Villa U13s 1988.Mike’s sketch is called Ports Win Prizes and it was performed by Jonathan Amphlett, Alexis Coward, Chris Gladwin, Amy Tobin, Annabelle Turner-Wheeler and Luke Edwards, with sound effects supplied by Rob Stephenson.After the sketch, Luke is joined by Mike and The Reject Pile script editor Phil Stewart for a discussion on the sketch and the development process. The word association website that Mike mentions is http://relatedwords.io/. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

Welcome to the third episode of the Summer 2026 run of The Reject Pile, featuring our new visualised format including video of the cast performing the material.The episode starts with host Luke Edwards’ podcast intro, wherein he acknowledges positive feedback on social media from Mike Cooper on Bluesky commenting on the “cracking advice” and “excellent, insightful conversations” that have made him want to get writing. It’s great to know that the podcast is having an effect, so do feel free to get in touch with feedback via our socials @RejectPilePod on Bluesky, Instagram, Threads, Facebook and X, or via email to [email protected]. Ratings, comments, likes and subscribes on Substack, YouTube or wherever you listen are also most welcome.Now, to today’s episode with guest, Sarah Kelly (Instagram | TikTok), and her comedy sketch Medieval Medicine.Up front I want to give a potential trigger warning that the sketch features a vomit sound effect (3 minutes 50 seconds to 3 minutes 58 seconds), so you might want to skip forward at that point.Sarah currently works in Unscripted TV as an Assistant Producer, winning the Banijay Big Pitch in 2024, which meant she got to go to the Edinburgh TV Festival and meet lots of important people with job titles like “VP of EMEA Sales - Warner Bros” and have absolutely nothing in common with any of them.Sarah writes sitcoms, sketches and scripts in her spare time, and records them for TikTok and Instagram when she has the time and doesn’t give herself the ick too much. She’s currently working on a debut comedy novel ‘Toddlers Don’t Solve Murders’ about a mum who witnesses someone being pushed off a roof to their death, before discovering that it’s been reported as a suicide, and resolving to solve the case herself - toddler and baby in tow.One of Sarah’s recent sitcoms ‘Witt’s End’ was a Quarter Finalist in the Female Pilot Club competition; so she allowed herself to be a quarter proud and three quarters bitter and weepy.Other competition highlights include being a runner up in the Curtis Brown Creative Writing Flash Fiction competition.The performers for Sarah’s sketch were Annabelle Turner-Wheeler, Alexis Coward and Amy Tobin, and once again, thanks to Rob Stephenson for sourcing the sound effects, even if one of them has resulted in a trigger warning!Joining Luke and Sarah after the sketch, for a discussion on the sketch and the development process, is The Reject Pile’s script editor Phil Stewart. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

Joining Luke in The Reject Pile this episode is writer Peter Beare with his comedy sketch Late to the Game. Luke starts the episode with his traditional podcast intro where he calls back to the previous episode featuring the sitcom ‘Stuck’ with writer Annabel Edmonds, before giving a shout-out to Nik Ilukkumbere and Robbie Fox, whose work has previously been featured on the show, for their credits on the episode of Breaking the News broadcast on 3rd July 2026.Luke then introduces this episode’s guest, Peter Beare. Peter is a massive fan of comedy, who mainly does work as a writer but has also been known to perform.Peter started out as a regular submitter to an online weekly comic creation challenge called ‘Stripfight’ (now defunct, but some of his entries can be seen at dangnabbit.com), before having work from his very first submission featured on Newsjack, and going on to accrue more credits during the Nish Kumar and Angela Barnes eras.Fascinated by the mechanics of creativity and humour, Peter’s approach to structured sketch ideation can be found as a mnemonic called ‘SOUP RECIPE’ on the British Comedy Guide website - which was referenced by James Docherty on a previous episode of The Reject Pile.Peter’s sketch Late to the Game was performed by Jonathan Amphlett and Alexis Coward, with Rob Stephenson helping to source the sound effects.After the performance of Late to the Game, Peter joins Luke and The Reject Pile’s script editor Phil Stewart for a discussion about the sketch as well as the writing and development process. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

The Reject Pile returns with this, the first of a new run of episodes for Summer 2026, and our very first sitcom! Thank you to Annabel Edmonds for sending in the first three pages of her sitcom ‘Stuck’.Annabel is a comedy writer/performer who mostly works in sketch, audio and improv. Her career highlights include being shortlisted for SNL UK, being nominated for Best Scripted Podcast with her show Punorama Investigates and pretending to be a zombie with Improv the Dead. She has now written four sitcom scripts; Stuck was her first.Annabel joins host Luke Edwards and resident Reject Pile script editor Phil Stewart for a discussion around the first three pages of Stuck, as well as some supporting materials that were submitted including a character breakdown and a summary of the various plots for the rest of the pilot episode that this extract was taken from. You’ll hear this after an initial introduction from Luke and a recording of The Reject Pile cast reading the first three pages.Joining Luke in the cast for this episode were Jonathan Amphlett, Chris Gladwin, Alexis Coward, Amy Tobin and Annabelle Turner-Wheeler.You can keep up with Annabel Edmonds at her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annabel_edmonds_comedy/.For more Reject Pile content and links to our socials, visit https://linktr.ee/RejectPilePod, and you can find out more about Luke at https://linktr.ee/ThatLukeEdwards, and Phil at https://linktr.ee/phil_stewart. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

This episode of The Reject Pile is the last of a three episode run in Autumn 2025, and it features Breaking News: a comedy sketch written by Robbie Fox which was submitted to the third episode of series three of BBC Radio 4's DMs Are Open. The episode had the prompt: 'Breaking'.Robbie, born and raised in Walthamstow and a graduate of the Comedy Writing and Performance degree at Southampton Solent, is a former stand-up comedian and character act, now budding actor/writer. You can hear his work in the character series 'Neuroses Journal', audio sitcom 'Consummate Professionals', and the live sketch group 'Tuxedo Cat'.Helping host Luke Edwards to perform Breaking News were Jonathan Amphlett, Alexis Coward, Rachel Cook (YouTube, Instagram), Ronan Hatfull and Rob Stephenson. You'll first hear an intro from Luke, as he walks in the West Berkshire countryside accompanied by his dog Mac, before hearing the Breaking News sketch, followed by a discussion on the development process of the sketch between Luke, Robbie and resident Reject Pile script editor Phil Stewart.As always, you can get in touch to send us your own rejected material, or any feedback and correspondence to [email protected] or @RejectPilePod on Instagram, Threads, X, Bluesky or Facebook. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

In this episode, we feature 'The Doctor Won't See You'; a comedy sketch submitted by experienced comedy writer James Docherty to the second episode of the second series of BBC Radio 4's open door sketch comedy show DMs Are Open. The prompt for that episode was 'Love' and we hear from James about his approach to responding to that brief. James is a sketch and joke writer with work appearing on Breaking The News, Noising Up, DMs Are Open, The Treason Show, and Newsbiscuit. You can find James on Bluesky @jsdocherty.bsky.social, Threads @j_s_docherty, and Reddit @james_s_docherty.If you're not familiar with The Reject Pile, you'll first hear our cast's performance of the sketch, before host Luke Edwards deep dives into the writing, feedback and editing process through a discussion with James and resident script editor, Phil Stewart.'The Doctor Won't See You' was performed by Alexis Coward, Rachel Cook (YouTube, Instagram), Ronan Hatfull and Rob Stephenson.If you would like to submit any of your rejected works of art or entertainment, please get in touch at [email protected] or @RejectPilePod on Instagram, Threads, X, Bluesky or Facebook. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

In this episode, host Luke Edwards and script editor Phil Stewart are joined by Mike Grace to discuss Dinosaur’s Den, which was an unsuccessful submission to Series 3, Episode 1 of BBC Radio 4’s open door show DMs Are Open. The prompt for the episode was ‘Brand New’.You can find out more about Mike at https://www.clippings.me/takingthemike.Helping Luke to perform Dinosaur’s Den were Jonathan Amphlett, Rachel Cook (YouTube, Instagram), Alexis Coward, Ronan Hatfull and Rob Stephenson.The episode also features an intro from Luke where he discusses correspondence from listeners as well as the response to the previous episode of the podcast: ‘Breaking the News Series 30 Rejects with Ellie Hayward and Dan Sweryt’, which you can hear at https://lredwards.substack.com/p/breaking-the-news-series-30-rejects or wherever you get your podcasts.To get in touch with correspondence for future episodes, or to submit your own rejected material, email [email protected]. You can also find social links for the podcast at https://linktr.ee/RejectPilePod.Luke’s social links can be found here: http://linktr.ee/ThatLukeEdwardsYou can find Phil on X at https://x.com/zenithbootleg. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

The Reject Pile returns for its second episode which focuses on material rejected from the 30th series of BBC Radio Scotland's open door topical panel show Breaking the News in early 2025.Joining Luke Edwards are Ellie Hayward and Dan Sweryt; two people who are not only seasoned contributors to Breaking the News in their own right, but are also hosts of a training course designed to help aspiring writers gain their first professional writing credit on the show. You can find out more about the course that Ellie and Dan run with Dave Cohen at https://www.davecohen.org.uk/learn-to-write-comedy/comedy-writing-courses/.You can also find Ellie on X at https://x.com/elliehay and Dan on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/swerytd.bsky.social or X at https://x.com/swerytd.Material was submitted by:- Mike Cooper, who you can find on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/mikecooperrp.bsky.social; - James Docherty, who is on Threads at https://www.threads.com/@j_s_docherty, Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/j_s_docherty and Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/jsdocherty.bsky.social;- Mike Grace, whose portfolio you can find at https://clippings.me/takingthemike;- Nik Ilukkumbere, who you can follow on X at https://x.com/gichowdotcom, Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/gichowdotcom/ and Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/gichowdotcom.bsky.social.Helping Luke with performing the submitted material were Rob Stephenson and Kevin Welch.You can hear Breaking the News at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b066zypj and The Skewer, which we also discuss in the episode, at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000czyb. The page that Dan mentions regarding submitting to The Skewer is available here: https://weareunusual.net/skewer-contributor-guide.Find The Reject Pile’s social links at https://linktr.ee/RejectPilePod and host Luke Edwards’ at https://linktr.ee/ThatLukeEdwards. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com

The Reject Pile gives a second chance to creative works of art or entertainment that have been rejected.Are you a writer, tired of having your work rejected with no feedback? Maybe you're a fan of comedy or drama, interested in hearing new material and taking a glimpse at the development process? Perhaps you work in the industry and want to hear the voices of emerging writers? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then The Reject Pile might be the show for you! And, heck, even if you didn't, you might just get entertained along the way! Join host Luke Edwards as he rifles through The Reject Pile to dig out material by new, aspiring and established writers. Scripts are performed with cast members Rob Stephenson, Amy Tobin and Kevin Welch, after development with script editor Phil Stewart, which is then explored in an analytical discussion. In this episode, we welcome Rob Smyth and his submission 'PC Who': a miscellany of moniker madness set in a police station. Rob is a sketch and sitcom writer from Lincoln who's had several broadcast credits on BBC's Newsjack, Breaking the News and The Show What You Wrote. You can follow Rob at https://x.com/2014Robertsmyth. We also hear Luke's submission to the first episode of the third series of BBC's DMs Are Open with a sketch called 'Brand New': a ridiculous romp of record shop repetition. You can find Luke's social media profiles at https://linktr.ee/ThatLukeEdwards. If you're a creative in any field, please do send your rejected material to us at [email protected]! Without that, there'll be no more episodes! Please do also let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions for future episodes. You can find our social links at https://linktr.ee/RejectPilePod. Finally, thanks to Nelly Edwards (https://linktr.ee/thenellyedwards) for the podcast artwork and Sam Edwards at Sunset Studios for support with audio production. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lredwards.substack.com