What's the Story, Ashley Storrie?
Comedy of the Week
BBC
3.8 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 2 February 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Despite a complex childhood, and with her teenage years spent guiding the career of her controversial comedian mother Janey Godley whilst caring for her depressed autistic father, Ashley has just had the most surreal, dramatic, tragic… and successful year of her life.
Her dream job was always in the magical world of TV with all its escapism, justice and happy endings. But the universe has a twisted sense of humour, and just as Ashley finally gets her big break, Janey is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Yay.
In this episode, we jump inside the brilliant and unhinged autistic brain of our “adult perma-child” protagonist and attempt to unspool this tragicomedy with some hilarious digressions en route.
Produced by Julia Sutherland Sound Design by Sean Kerwin A Dabster production for BBC Radio 4
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | Hello again, Intrepid Radio 4, listener. |
| 0:10.8 | Sitting there with your two-piece suit in front of your roaring fire, |
| 0:14.4 | like that cuck-holded husband from brief encounter, |
| 0:17.5 | wondering, who is this woman? |
| 0:19.8 | And what on earth is she saying? My name's Story you'll get used to my accent and this is my story Ashley Ashley's story |
| 0:38.3 | Ashley's story |
| 0:40.3 | Ashley Ashley's story |
| 0:46.3 | That's right boys |
| 0:51.3 | Ashley's back all right |
| 0:53.3 | With a jumbled peek into the unhinged mind of an adult perma child who has autism that a doctor diagnosed. |
| 1:00.3 | Are you gatekeeping autism again? |
| 1:02.3 | I'm not gatekeeping. |
| 1:03.3 | I just think it's important that a medical professional looked at me and said, |
| 1:07.5 | Oh, I. That's definitely the tism. |
| 1:09.8 | Hmm. |
| 1:10.7 | Sounds like gatekeeping. |
| 1:12.3 | Not everyone has that privilege, you know? |
| 1:15.1 | Yeah. |
| 1:15.8 | And not every quirky woman who likes Harry Potter |
| 1:17.7 | and feels a bit awkward in a social situation has autism. |
| 1:20.8 | Some of them are just weird. |
... |
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