Five Rounds Rapid’s debut Fringe show in their new home town plays into two national obsessions – collecting and the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Set in BBC-obsessive Terence Plater’s Cathode Ray Museum in his back garden, the two-hander is a Reduced Shakespeare Company-style tour through the Beeb’s 90-year history, from its origins under Lord Reith to the recent proposed closure of BBC Three.

“We visited a very small sci-fi museum, which was run as a part-time hobby by a couple,” recalls Alix Cavanagh, who co-wrote the piece with Malcolm McKenzie and Gordon Ridout, and stars alongside Bob Sinfield as Terence’s long-suffering wife Ingrid.

"They had some real exhibits and props and costumes they had made themselves. There was obviously a lot of love and passion that had gone into it.”

At the same time, the BBC was celebrating its 90th anniversary and it seemed natural to marry the two together.

“It was the idea of someone having that same sort of passion and eccentricity in a museum that isn’t very good,” says Cavanagh. “It was a pleasure to twist it a bit.

“I think that eccentric passion for things is a very English thing – you have people with pubs in their back garden, or a prize collection.

“I adore the BBC for all its faults and recent problems – I think it’s an absolutely brilliant institution and worth every penny of the licence fee. It’s almost part of our national identity. When there is an event such as a Royal Wedding, I would never consider watching it on a different channel.”

There were certain aspects of the BBC Cavanagh didn’t want to leave out – from Dr Who (Five Rounds Rapid takes its name from the UNIT Brigadier’s regular catchphrase) to costume drama, and Michael Fish’s famous gaffe about the 1987 hurricane.

But there was also one elephant in the room that needed to be addressed.

“We acknowledge it and step away,” says Cavanagh. “Terence tries to mention Jimmy Savile and Ingrid tells him off in no uncertain terms. It was such a huge thing we couldn’t leave it out altogether, but it’s not a subject anyone would want to make jokes about.”

It’s not just about television either – after all, the BBC was all about radio for its first two decades.

“Even now Miranda Hart’s television show started off in a slightly different format on radio,” says Cavanagh. “Mitchell And Webb did a radio show before they did Peep Show. Comedy, current affairs and pop music: it’s all on the radio.

“There are bits and pieces in the show which are more obscure. We have had audience members as young as ten or teenagers coming with their parents to see the show and swapping stories about what they used to watch. It seems to have both an adult and family appeal, which is nice.”

That seems to fit the great Corporation itself, as it dusts itself down and makes moves to appeal to a new internet-savvy generation.

  • Complete History Of The BBC (Abridged), Dukebox, at The Iron Duke, Waterloo Street, Hove, Tuesday, May 6, to Monday, May 12
  • Starts 6.45pm, tickets £7/£6. Call 01273 917272.