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/ThatLukeEdwards

You 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