In 2005 Laura Solon became only the second woman in 25 years to win the prestigious Perrier Comedy Award. She was quickly snapped up by BBC Radio 4 to create a new sketch and character comedy series which is released here for the first time on audio. There will talking, not talking, some stories and a lion made out of China...

Laura Solon: Talking and Not Talking contains all six half-hour Radio 4 episodes over 3 CDs.

Amongst the funniest sketches are the barn conversion couple (which I probably found a little more amusing because I actually live in a barn conversion), the woman who does a really bad horse impression, the feuding librarians, the man who goes to work at a company that packs honey, the adult that goes to visit Santa and the woman who bursts into spontaneous religious singing.

Other sketches that are worth mentioning include Team Wilcox, the woman who just wants to talk about herself instead of listening to her friends problems, Mensa bullying, the man who can tell what dogs are thinking, and the frustrated metal detector.

But probably the funniest, and certainly the oddest character, is the mad woman who lives in care, has a friend who is a china lion and who hates the cleaner.

While the majority of this sketches work some are a little flat, and it was a shame that some of the characters weren't revisited later in the series. But as comedy sketches shows go, there are plenty of laughs to be had here.

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Nick Smithson