Spats is a British radio comedy sketch series broadcast on digital radio

Digital radio

Digital radio has several meanings:1. Today the most common meaning is digital radio broadcasting technologies, such as the digital audio broadcasting system, also known as Eureka 147. In these systems, the analog audio signal is digitized into zeros and ones, compressed using formats such as...

 station BBC 7

BBC 7

BBC Radio 4 Extra, formerly known as BBC 7 and BBC Radio 7, is a British digital radio station broadcasting comedy, drama, and children's programming nationally 24 hours a day. It is the principal broadcasting outlet for the BBC's archive of spoken-word entertainment...

. The series is written and presented by John-Luke Roberts

John-Luke Roberts

Luke Roberts , better known as John-Luke Roberts is a British comedy writer and performer, most noted for his BBC 7 sketch series Spats....

 (credited as Luke Roberts in the first series), with additional material written by Nadia Kamil. Kamil also stars in the show, alongside Stephen Critchlow

Stephen Critchlow

Stephen Critchlow is a popular and versatile British actor, notable for his work in the theatre and appearances on radio series such as Truly, Madly, Bletchley, The Way We Live Right Now and Spats, along with radio episodes of Torchwood and Doctor Who...

 and Clare Wille

Clare Wille

Clare Wille is a popular English stage and television actress.Clare has been working as an actress and voiceover artist since graduating from RADA in 1997...

. The series first started as a pilot

Television pilot

A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

, first broadcast on 11 December 2006.

Each episode of Spats looks at two sides of some kind of argument. Examples include "Religion v Atheism (and Other Religions)", "Love v Something Better" and "The Living vs The Dead". Each episode then presents a series of sketches, consisting of what Roberts himself describes as "perfectly adequate sketch comedy" concerning the themes. At the end of each episode, one of the sides is declared by Roberts the winner.

Episodes

Including the pilot, there have been nine episodes broadcast, with a third series commissioned. The third series see the winning themes from the second series facing the winners from the first and the pilot. The second series was recorded in front of a studio audience, whereas the first series and pilot were not. Also, the second series has episodes which last 30 minutes, whereas the pilot and first series episodes were 15 minutes.

List of episodes

Episode	Air Date	Winner
Pilot and Series 1 - 2006-2007
1. Pilot: Mankind v Nature Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...	2006-12-11	Mankind
2. Science Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...  v The Arts The arts The arts are a vast subdivision of culture, composed of many creative endeavors and disciplines. It is a broader term than "art", which as a description of a field usually means only the visual arts. The arts encompass visual arts, literary arts and the performing arts – music, theatre, dance and...	2007-07-20	The Arts
3. Religion Religion Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...  v Atheism Atheism Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...  (and Other Religions)	2007-07-27	Atheism (and Other Religions)
4. The Present Present Present is a time that is neither past nor future.Present may also refer to:- Time and timing :* Present tense, the grammatical tense of a verb* Before Present, radiocarbon dates relative to AD 1950* Presenting, a medical term* Presenteeism...  v Ye Past Past Most generally, the past is a term used to indicate the totality of events which occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience time, and is...	2007-08-03	Ye Past
5. Love Love Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...  v Something Better	2007-08-10	Something Better
Series 2 - 2008
6. Society Society A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...  vs The Individual Individual An individual is a person or any specific object or thing in a collection. Individuality is the state or quality of being an individual; a person separate from other persons and possessing his or her own needs, goals, and desires. Being self expressive...	2008-07-08	The Individual
7. Men vs Women	2008-07-15	Women
8. Apathy Apathy Apathy is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical or physical life.They may lack a sense of purpose or meaning in...  vs Effort	2008-07-22	Apathy
9. The Living Life Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...  vs The Dead The Dead The Dead may refer to:* The dead, those who have experienced death* 'The Dead' , by Rupert Brooke* "The Dead" , by James Joyce* The Dead , adapted from Joyce's story* James Joyce's The Dead, Broadway musical...	2008-07-29	The Dead