The raincoat, the cigar, the spluttering convertible car, the villain's deed in the first scene and the final "...just one more thing".

The American TV detective series Columbo was a literature inspired, award-winning, rule-breaking, television original spanning over thirty years. It turned the 'whodunit?' into the 'how-do-you-catch-them?'

But just who were the people that were able to keep millions of people around the world glued to their seats when you already knew who had committed the crime in the first five minutes?

That was the question that presenter, crime writer Mark Billingham, and myself wanted to answer in 2007. For both of us, Just One More Thing: Columbo! was a true labour of love. There were setbacks, delays and might-have-beens. Yet, in the end, with a little of that Columbo tenacity, we managed to assemble a truly all star cast. The Emmy Award-winning Bill Link as: The creator of Columbo; Steven Bochco, creator of Hill Street Blues and LA Law as: The story editor on Columbo; Oscar-winning Jonathan Demme, director of Silence of the Lambs as: Director of Columbo. Guest star Robert Vaughn (Magnificent Seven et al) as: The villain.

And of course, always looking for a pencil, Columbo himself: Mr Peter Falk. When we spoke with him he was warm, charming and befitting his thoughts on his most famous creation, "very, very, funny".

In the programme we hear about the raincoat, Dostoevsky and the inverted mystery form. From class war to voyeurism. From fights over the scripts, to people being banned from the film lot. From the pressure to deliver the big 'pop' ending, to the wife you never saw (or did you?). What came across most, though, was a feeling of love for Columbo - the character and the man playing him.

Sometimes television, and especially so called 'genre' television, can be seen as being 'disposable'. Yet, we found that Columbo was a touchstone for American Presidents as well as for people around the world. In recent days, MPs reviewing the success of police enquires said it was Columbo, not Clouseau, that would be the benchmark for forensic analysis. That's quite an achievement for a forgetful, fictional, TV detective.

I tried my utmost to make Lt. Columbo a guest at his own biography. He often helps the programme along, with little pointers and reminders. Of course there had to be one final question, and as Mark Billingham has recently said, the thrill of Peter Falk, as Columbo, asking "er... just one more thing, Mr Billingham, Mr McHugh", will be something we will treasure for a very long time.

I hope the chance to hear this documentary again will stand as a small tribute to mark the passing of one of the great screen actors, Peter Falk.

Peter McHugh is the producer of Just One More Thing: Columbo!

• Listen to Just One More Thing: Columbo! at 2330 on Wednesday 27th July and for seven days after transmission, on the Radio 4 web site (Ed's note: Listen to it now, you're running out of time! PM)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ym8bb

Tony Hancock opened tonight's Archive on 4 about Face to Face, the hugely influential interview programme that ran on BBC television from 1959 to 1962. In the programme, produced by Chris Ledgard, Sue MacGregor interviews producer and creator of the programme Hugh Burnett. We learn about its presenter John Freeman - who didn't want to participate in this programme - and the many remarkable people who appeared in the Face to Face chair.

According to Wikipedia, Freeman interviewed 35 guests during the first series of Face to Face (the programme was later revived - between 1989 and 1998), only two of whom were women - Edith Sitwell and Simone Signoret. These photographs of Face to Face guests, taken during production by unnamed staff photographers, come from the BBC's picture library. The captions are just as they appear in the archive.

Listen to the programme on the Radio 4 web site and watch BBC Two's heartbreaking profile of Hancock on the iPlayer.

2. Gilbert Harding

Gilbert Harding appeared in Face To Face on 18th Sept 1960

3. Martin Luther King

Dr Martin Luther King, Minister of the Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, talks with producer Hugh Burnett in artist Feliks Topolski's home before taking part in BBC TV's 'Face To Face' programme on Sunday, 29th October 1961. The Negro leader in the struggle for civil rights in the Southern States of America flew to London for this special live transmisson of 'Face To Face'.

4. Edith Sitwell

On May 6th 1959 the distinguished author and poet Dame Edith Sitwell was interviewed on her life, her ideals and ambitions by John Freeman

5. Stirling Moss

Stirling Moss. World famous racing driver appeared on Face To Face with John Freeman on 12th June 1960

6. Cecil Beaton

Cecil Beaton with Felix Topolski and Hugh Burnett on 18th February 1962

7. Bertrand Russell

John Freeman, Bertrand Russell and Hugh Burnett, 4th March 1959. The last survivor of a dead epoch - this is how the distinguished philosopher describes himself. Now is his eighty-seventh year, he has used his long life to challenge the accepted ideas and conventional attitudes of the day. Lord Russell discusses with john Freeman his appearance, his achievements and his unfulfilled ambitions

8. Carl Jung

Professor Carl Gustav Jung and John Freeman in Jung's home in Zurich in 1959

9. Henry Moore

Picture shows Henry Moore being interviewed by John Freeman in 'Face To Face' (for transmission Sunday 21st February 1960). The programme moved out of its usual setting in the studio. For the first time in the series the interview was recorded by television cameras in the subject's home; in this case, Mr. Moore's studio at Much Hadham in Hertfordshire. An interview with Henry Moore is something of a rarity, for he says 'It is a mistake for the sculptor to speak or write very often about his job. It releases tensions needed for his work'.

10. John Reith

The subject of 'Face To Face' on Sunday, October 30th 1960 at 9.45pm is John Reith - first Lord Reith of Stonehaven - the man who inspired the pattern of broadcasting not only in Britain but in all the other countries which took the BBC as a model when setting up their own broadcasting systems. He was Director-General when the BBC started the world's first regular television service in 1936, but this will be the first time he has taken part in a television programme.

Steve Bowbrick is editor of the Radio 4 blog

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ym5fc

Whilst working on this week's Britain In A Box, I had a rare treat when we managed to obtain a copy of the original, never-broadcast pilot of 'Men Behaving Badly'. The pilot was made for Thames TV, directed by their then Head of Comedy, John Howard Davies and starred the eventual cast of the first series, Harry Enfield, Martin Clunes, Caroline Quentin and Lesley Ash.

By common consent it was awful and, unusually, a second pilot was commissioned; this time directed by Martin Dennis, who went on to helm all the subsequent episodes of this long running show. That version was considered good enough to go for a series. Now the existence of this first pilot is one of those stories you hear about around the business but I was not at all sure if a copy still existed. In the event, writer Simon Nye had a cassette and, with the generous permission of all involved we were allowed not only to view it but even to use a short clip in this week's show.

It is interesting to note the changes that the team made between recording a pilot that didn't work and one that did and they discuss some aspects of that process on the show, which is the 3rd in our current series.

Pilots are funny things. It's not always clear if you are trying out the show to see if it works or looking out for what needs adjusting: a "we're doing it but not exactly sure how" sort of pilot; or rather a "shall we make this at all" type pilot. Getting that distinction wrong can lead to some pretty tough conversations after the event.

In the US the system is clear; there is a distinct 'pilot season' - from mid January through to late April, when every writer, producer, actor, TV agent and network executive in Hollywood frantically works night and day spending tens of millions of dollars in the hope of landing that elusive series sale for a new Drama or Comedy series. In that race there is no doubt. There are a frighteningly tiny number of slots available in the network schedules and you are all fighting to grab one of them. And if you win the race, you do in the certain knowledge that you then move on to the 'now what do we need to change' stage of the process. We would quite honestly make a 6 part series here with the money that is spent on any one of these pilots; as a UK writer working there once said to me, we could make one episode on the cost of the crew hospitality alone.

Here in the UK we tend to order pilots when we need them and we try to make them as near to ready for broadcast as possible. It sometimes happens that a particular artist or maybe an idea becomes flavour of the month and gets offered several pilots at the same time. I once called an agent to ask if one of his acts would be interested in doing a pilot for me, only to be told he was much in demand already. "He's got more pilots than Heathrow, Paul" was the exact response.

In fact the first pilot I ever produced was the first episode of the Young Ones. I delivered it to my boss who showed it to a group of his colleagues and reported the reactions back to me. "Don't worry, we've got more expensive flops than that in the vaults already" was one comment. Which brings us full circle, as that was said by John Howard Davies, who directed the first attempt at 'Men Behaving Badly' and who had the foresight to commission a second pilot and stick with the show.

Paul Jackson is presenter of Britain in a Box

• Listen to the third episode of Britain in a Box, about Men Behaving Badly, on Radio 4 this morning at 1030.
• Read the previous Britain in a Box blog posts, about World in Action and The Old Grey Whistle Test.
• Men Behaving Badly on the BBC Comedy web site and on Wikipedia. The Young Ones on YouTube.
• The picture shows Martin Clunes as Gary and Neil Morrissey as Tony, in series 6 of Men Behaving Badly.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y4cjj

''Serendipity'. Or to be even more direct, 'luck'. Those are the words I most associate with Britain In A Box which returns for a fourth series this Saturday.

This is the programme where comedy producer and television executive Paul Jackson delves back into the origins of TV classics and explores what they can tell us of the era that gave rise to them. It's the programme where (as we have done in previous series) we get to ask television executives whatever possessed them to commission the likes of Big Brother, The Sweeney or Monitor, where producers reveal why they brought together The Two Ronnies or developed Pot Black, and where writers and show creators try to remember just what it was that helped them sell the idea of Coronation Street, Rising Damp or Shameless to Network Controllers. And all too often it is luck... serendipity... being in the right place at the right time.

Serendipity also comes into play when we select which four TV classics should come under Paul's gaze during February. Obviously we go for a mix of programmes, spanning the decades. We consider personal favourites - ones that played a (not so) small part in our own development. And we look for examples that broke the mould or at least help define their particular genre. But most of all, we look for programmes that say something of the time in which they were broadcast, that reflect the cares and concerns of the audiences that took them to their heart.

Naturally we check our short list with Radio 4 and the Commisioning Editor to see if our choices strike a chord with them (or at least doesn't duplicate what's being done elsewhere on the Network). And occasionally we start again. So it's with luck and serendipity that we end up with this line-up for the up-and-coming series:

• The heavy-weight World In Action which launched the television career of John Pilger, helped free the Birmingham 6 and was itself to fall victim to the broadcasting changes introduced by Margaret Thatcher; The head-nodding Old Grey Whistle Test that took popular music seriously, played fast and loose with the schedule and managed to survive punk (initially by sidestepping it) before petering out as rap music took hold;
• The slow-burning Men Behaving Badly, the sitcom that began life on ITV, lost its male lead after the first series, was cancelled after the second... and yet survived to not only help define and reflect the laddish culture of the 1990s but also to become the BBC's most successful sitcom of the decade; and
• The short-running Driving School, which may only have lasted for 6 programmes but achieved phenomenal audience figures, created probably the first 'reality TV' celebrity (in Maureen Rees) and helped launched a whole new genre of television programmes - the docusoap.

And of course, the serendipity doesn't end there. With this selection of programmes comes a rich seam of characters and personalities, telling their own tales of luck (both good and bad) and being in the right place at the right (or wrong) time - including the likes of Alan Yentob, Annie Nightingale, Beryl Vertue, Bob Harris, Chris Mullin, Douglas Hurd, Harry Enfield, Ian Anderson, Jah Wobble, Jeremy Isaacs, John Pilger, Leslie Ash, Mark Ellen, Martin Clunes, Mike Appleton, Molly Dineen, Paul Morley, Phil Hall, Simon Donald and Simon Nye. See if you can spot which is which... and why they were there.

Paul Kobrak is a senior documentary producer at BBC Radio 4

In this clip, not included in the programme, Chris Mullin - World in Action reporter and later an MP - tells Paul about the almost comical cloak-and-dagger procedure required to record an interview with a republican terrorist:

• The new series of Britain in a Box begins with World in Action at 1030 this Saturday.
• The picture shows the Birmingham 6 - Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker - subjects of the first episode of Britain in a Box, on their arrest in 1974.

Editor's note: Jane Berthoud is in charge of radio comedy at the BBC. Here's a speech she made on Tuesday in which she announced some interesting new comedy pilots for Radio 4 - SB

Miranda Hart, Genius, I've Never Seen Star Wars, Little Britain, League of Gentlemen, Goodness Gracious Me, Alan Partridge, Mitchell & Webb... the list of comedy transfers from radio to TV is long and impressive. So do we have the next one lined up for you tonight?

As many of you know, BBC Radio Comedy makes over 160 hours of original comedy each year, from some of the country's best new writers and performers. Our topical comedy podcast remains top of the charts with over 1.4 millions downloads every week. Currently on Radio 4, North by Northamptonshire by Katherine Jakeways with Sheila Hancock, McKenzie Crook and Kevin Eldon is delighting both press and punters.

Micky Flanagan's recent series at 6.30 on Radio 4 was outstanding. Funny. Warm. A real treat which resonated with the audience in a very special way. As a direct result of this, TV has now signed a development deal with Micky. And I have every confidence that a second Radio 4 series will be commissioned in the not too distant future. I can also announce now, new commissions at 6.30 on Radio 4 from Lucy Montgomery and Tom Wrigglesworth, both of whom I'm delighted to be working with.

The unique relationship radio comedy has with TV comedy - we are one department - means we are able to do some very interesting things together. One of these is a series which starts to transmit on Radio 4 on Tues 20th July and this is Happy Tuesdays. This is jointly commissioned by TV & radio - i.e. by Cheryl Taylor (Controller, Comedy Commissioning) and myself.

Happy Tuesdays is a series of five scripted comedy pilots in which some of the most exciting comedy talent around have been given the chance to try out new ideas and formats on Radio 4. These may then be picked up by radio and/or TV. In this series Justin Moorhouse has written his first audience sitcom, with Jim Poyser, in which Justin is newly divorced and sleeping in his father-in-law's spare room. In this episode he starts dating again, but somehow, everything seems to have changed since he last tried. Anne Reid is fantastic alongside Justin, playing his Gran and Lloyd Langford makes a great work colleague.

And I'm sure Justin will tell you more later. In another of the shows, ex burger van owner and Greek immigrant, Angelos, who you will know from Shooting Stars, has his own spoof chat show, and again the cast is great. As well as Dan Renton Skinner playing Angelos we also have Katherine Jakeways (again) with Katy Wix and Rufus Jones. Then there is Mr & Mrs Smith, an audience sitcom about a couple, Will & Annabell, who've only been married for a year but following an unimaginative birthday present - a draining rack - Annabelle (played by Sarah Hadland) signs them up for a course of marriage counselling.

Pauline Pepys' Dowry is the fourth in the series. By Beth Chalmers and Amy Shindler, with Olivia Coleman playing Pauline, Samuel Pepys' sister and David Mitchell playing Samuel. Apart from anything else, this has one of the best openings of a script I've read in a long time as Pauline and her friend chat about men they are dating whilst at an outing to the gallows, and yet another execution takes place in front of them. Also starring Sharon Horgan and Katherine Parkinson.

And finally a show that is still being cast, but written by two former in-house Radio Comedy writers, Gareth Gwynn and John-Luke Roberts, a very silly sitcom set in an antique shop, with Arthur Matthews script editing and Tim Mcinnerny playing one of the lead roles.

So to summarise, on Radio 4, a second series commissioned from Micky Flanagan, and brand new series from Lucy Montgomery and Tom Wrigglesworth. But coming up before all that, starting in July, five great new scripted comedy pilots, any of which may get picked up by Radio 4 or TV - what more do you need?

Jane Berthoud is head of radio comedy at the BBC

• Chortle, the comedy news web site, covered the Happy Tuesdays story.
• The BBC Comedy blog is a good source of laughs and behind-the-scenes stuff, quite a lot of it from Radio 4 and they've put a webcam in Angelos Epithemiou's flat.
• BBC Comedy has a Facebook page and they're on Twitter.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006sz6t

I can always tell when we've recorded a good edition of The Bottom Line: it is one where I have not had to speak very much.

Don't get me wrong. I love speaking. It's what I'm paid to do. And before we record the programme I always make sure that I have plenty to say on the topics we're discussing.

Fortunately, however, I'm modest enough to know that the Bottom Line is really about the guests rather than the presenter. And for the programme to succeed, it needs to show the guests at their most fluent and expressive.

And that is where the challenge of the programme lies.

To succeed, the conversation has to fizz; the guests have to bounce comments off each other and push their point out, rather than have it pulled from them. In short, the guests have to converse like the professional talkers who fill the airwaves - journalists, politicians, artistic performers and academics.

But the interesting fact is that when you take a significant number of business people out of their comfort zone and put them in a radio studio, they are not relaxed about practising the art of conversation.

Business-people are trained in all sorts of communication: they can bark orders or sell washing powder or talk to Powerpoint presentations. They are just not bred to appear on Midweek.

Put a microphone in front of many of our guests they are a little taciturn; they like to think about what they're saying; they are worried about disagreeing with the other guests or speaking out of turn. Sometimes, they even wait to be asked a question.

Unchecked, none of these habits give the programme the natural flow we are looking for. (After all, you would never feel a dinner party had been very stimulating if it consisted of the host simply asking a sequence of questions to one guest at a time). So my job as presenter is to make all the guests feel comfortable with the task at hand.

Now, over time I've made an interesting observation on what works and what doesn't in making the more reticent guests relax.

I used to give a rather vague pre-show chat to them all, emphasising that they should feel free to speak without being spoken to; that they could make their point when they wanted to, and even interrupt if it sounded natural.

But this turned out to be too imprecise. Business-people are task oriented and hungry for new skills. They want their briefing to be more target-driven.

So I have discovered that if, before the recording, I instead tell them that "on at least three occasions in the programme, you should make a comment without having been asked anything by me", they converse in a far more casual way.

In fact, some of the best conversations occur when I jokingly suggest the show is a competition to see who can initiate the most points and talk most.

Tell them that, and the discussion flows. I have to do very little work. To the listener the result is a programme that has a more variable pace and one that is altogether easier to listen to.

But I expect it's only programmes with business guests that would find the way to foster a natural-sounding round-table chat by giving specific advice upfront of a rather unnatural kind.

Evan Davis presents The Bottom Line, Dragon's Den and Today

• The new series The Bottom Line begins this evening at 2030.
• Some pictures taken at a recording of The Bottom Line in Broadcasting House last July