A regional daily columnist and comedienne has had her first national radio show broadcast this week.

Kate Fox, who writes for The Journal, Newcastle, was given her own mini series called The Prince of Happiness for BBC Radio 4 after the station’s head of comedy saw her perform a show at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

The first episode of the series aired on Sunday at 7.15pm, with the second being broadcast in the same time slot this week.

Kate has previously contributed to Radio 4 shows including Saturday Live, Woman’s Hour and Arthur Smith’s Balham Bash.

She told The Northern Echo: “I’ve popped up on BBC Radio 4 quite a lot over the past few years, but only ever speaking for a minute at a time usually, doing topical poems.

“I feel like this is the most exposing and personal thing I’ve done so far, but I’m really chuffed with the response I’ve had.”

Kate is a trained radio journalist and worked at stations across the North of England from 1998 to 2006.