| Show Name: | The Masterson Inheritance |
| Format: | Comedy |
| Runtime: | 30 minutes |
| Country: |  United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Home Station: | BBC Radio 4 |
| Starring: | Josie Lawrence Paul Merton Phelim McDermott Caroline Quentin Lee Simpson Jim Sweeney |
| First Aired: | 22 April 1993 |
| Last Aired: | 25 December 1995 |
| Num Series: | 3 |
| Num Episodes: | 20 |
| Audio Format: | Stereophonic sound |
The Masterson Inheritance was an improvised comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 1993 to 1995 billed as "an improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself."[1] There were three series and two Christmas specials. It was broadcast from 1993 to 1995. From time to time, repeats of the show are broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
In each programme, the cast members – Josie Lawrence, Phelim McDermott, Paul Merton, Caroline Quentin, Lee Simpson, 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.[2] One episode, The Marooned Mastersons, was never broadcast but is available on Jim Sweeney's website.
Each episode of the saga was introduced by and ended with Erich Korngold's Hollywood-style title music from the 1946 film noir Deception.
The Independent reckoned the show was genuinely improvised, due to the "air of suppressed panic", even if the improvisation revolved around a small number of choices. It questioned the longevity of the format once people got bored with listening to their mistakes.[3]
| 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 London | 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 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 | 18 June 1994 | |
| 3 | Last Word to the Mastersons | The Industrial Revolution | 25 June 1994 | |
| 4 | The Jousting Mastersons | Late 15th century | 2 July 1994 | |
| 5 | The Gangrene of the Mastersons | The Crimean War | 9 July 1994 | |
| 6 | The Mastersons Go Down | The Hercules (passenger ship) | 16 July 1994 | |
| 3 | 1 | The Mastersons Magical Marquee (1) | Travelling Victorian circus | 24 June 1995 |
| 2 | The Mastersons Magical Marquee (2) | 1 July 1995 | ||
| 3 | Masterson Rides Again | 19th century public school | 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 |