Shrewsbury

Mark Steel's in Town

"Floreat Salopia - May Shrewsbury Flourish"

Mark visits the Shropshire Town of Shrewsbury, birthplace of Charles Darwin and home to the oldest building in the world to house a McDonalds.

Mark finds Shrewsbury to be a beautiful place with an identity crisis. Once in Wales, but now in England, Shrewsbury is a peaceful town with a bloody history. As one local points out, "We killed Owain Glyndwr outside WH Smith".

An Idyllic setting in a loop of the river Severn, with its beautiful public gardens designed by Percy Thrower, patrolled daily by a Croatian nightclub bouncer.

Voted the politest town in Britain, the locals have very little to complain about. Apart from the disagreements over the buildings... and the statues... and the one-way system... and most of all, how to pronounce the name of the place.

Mark Steel's sixth series of the award winning show that travels around the country, researching the history, heritage and culture of six towns that have nothing in common but their uniqueness, and performs a bespoke evening of comedy for the local residents.

Written and performed by ... Mark Steel Additional material by ... Pete Sinclair Production co-ordinator ... Hayley Sterling Producer ... Carl Cooper A BBC Radio Comedy Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in 2015. .