The Masterson Inheritance was an improvised comedy series broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 1993 to 1995 billed as "an improvised historical saga of a family at war with itself.

In each programme, the cast members – Josie Lawrence, Phelim McDermott, Paul Merton, Caroline Quentin, Lee Simpson, and Jim Sweeney – would be given a particular historical setting, and, incorporating suggestions from the audience, would improvise that episode in the saga of the Masterson family.

[2] One episode, The Marooned Mastersons, was never broadcast but is available on Jim Sweeney's website.

Each episode of the saga was introduced by and ended with Erich Korngold's Hollywood-style title music from the 1946 film noir Deception.

It questioned the longevity of the format once people got bored with listening to their mistakes.