REVIEWS 2024

Returning to recent BBC output:

Early in the New Year we had the first of four welcome episodes of McLEVY IN THE NEW WORLD by David Ashton (R4, 1415, 4 Jan 24). The first two episodes were repeats of McLevy and Jean's arrival in San Francisco at the height of the Gold Rush and sorting out a grave miscarriage of justice. Following this were two new episodes (beginning 1415, 11 Jan 24). In this wild and lawless West they are soon investigating crooked gambling rings and dodgy land deals. Then a poker player is found murdered. Unfortunately for McLevy, the local Mayor decides that he is the chief suspect. The resourceful former Inspector of Police has to disappear. Brian Cox and Siobhan Redmond take the leads; production was by Bruce Young.

BOSWELL'S LIFE OF GANDHI (1415, R4, 5 Jan 24) was a repeat; an amusing take on the life of Gandhi by Jon Canter, in his 'Life of Boswell' series which I've somehow managed to miss. Boswell has become a time-travelling biographer, interviewing and visiting all sorts of interesting historical figures. On this occasion he meets Gandhi, the Indian lawyer, politician, leader, social activist and writer. He attempts to become a better man under Gandhi's guidance. He begins with the best of intentions, temporarily giving up some of his favourite vices for a while, but when confronted with the master's blazing passion for self-improvment and his missionary zeal for vegetarianism, it's not long before something has to give. Boswell was played by Miles Jupp in this entertaining tale, and production was by was Sally Avens.

TRESPASS, by David Pownall was his final play (R4, 1415, 14 Feb 2024). David died in 2022 and over the course of a long and productive career he wrote around 65 dramas. Barry Pike wrote a summary of his work for us in 2002. "David has been writing challenging plays for radio since 1973 ... all individual, none written to formula. You never know what you are going to get with Pownall, which means you won't like all he's done, but what you do like you'll like very much. Some of his radio plays have also been done in the theatre - e.g. Music to Murder By and Master Class - but most were written for radio and exploit the resources of the medium to the full." This play had a complicated plot, looking at many of today's problems through a moment in history when the peasant-poet John Clare takes part in a remarkable poetry festival. I noted Nigel Anthony in the cast; probably the longest-serving radio drama actor in the country. Lord Tim was played by Robert Glenister, John Clare by Adrian Scarborough and Marjorie by Clare Corbett, with Nigel Anthony playing The Earl. Production was by Martin Jenkins, who produced over thirty of David's plays. This was an independent production by Pier.

Mike Walker has been productive recently, with his new plays about the Medicis. But I was also taken with his tale A TSAR IN LONDON (R4, 1415, 27 Feb 24), based on a idea by Michael Crick. It was a piece of speculation about what Peter the Great and his entourage might have got up to in London in February 1698 whilst he was learning about ship-building and naval tactics. He stayed in the house of the noted diarist, gardener and writer John Evelyn. The Russian party trashed the house and grounds, and thereby hangs a tale. Sir Christopher Wren, the royal surveyor, added up the bill for the damage. It totalled £305 9s 6d and included £3 for "wheelbarrows broke by the Czar". No part of the house escaped damage. All the floors were covered with grease and ink, and three new floors had to be provided. The tiled stoves, locks to the doors, and all the paintwork had to be renewed. The curtains, quilts, and bed linen were 'tore in pieces.' All the chairs in the house, numbering over fifty, were broken, or had disappeared, probably used to stoke the fires. Three hundred window panes were broken and there were 'twenty fine pictures very much tore and all frames broke.' The garden which was Evelyn’s pride was ruined. The curious may wish to follow this up on Wikipedia and elsewhere. Anyway - to return to the drama; the writer imagines that Peter and John Evelyn met, and speculates about what they did. Peter was played by Greg Kolpakchi, John by Michael Bertenshaw and Letitia, a young actress, by Siena Kelly. The producer was Sasha Yevtushenko.

We were treated in March to a mini-series devoted to Daphne du Maurier and her work. There were dramatizations of three rather sinister short stories: The Blue Lenses (prod. Gemma Jenkins), The Little Photographer (Tracey Neale) and Don't Look Now (Sally Avens). We also had Moya O'Shea's BESIDE MYSELF (R4, 1415, 6 Mar 24), a biographical play about the writer. It opens with the elderly Daphne walking laboriously along the clifftops near Kilmarth. She is in an ill temper; she is attempting to write a new story but somehow the ideas won't come, so she's gone out for some fresh air. Unfortunately the routine of her walks is well known to her fans and they sometimes seek her out. So when a stranger approaches, Daphne is not optimistic. But as they walk along, she overcomes her initial irritation and starts to talk. She finds herself revealing much to him about her life. Helena Bonham Carter played Daphne, with Bill Nighy as the stranger. The producer was Tracey Neale.

I was moved by the play DRAGONS OF THE POOL by Kathryn Golding (R4, 1415, 7 Mar 24); a fictional story inspired by the true experiences of the Chinese seamen forcibly repatriated from Liverpool in 1945-46. The drama is set over 50 years and follows the story of middle-aged Leigh (Xinyu) and her long lost father. Several hundred Chinamen, many of them fathers of children in Liverpool, were suddenly collected by police one night shortly after the war and quiety deported overnight, without fuss or identity checks, to their country of origin. Middle-aged Leigh finds one day whilst looking on the internet that she is not the only person in Liverpool whose father suddenly disappeared all those years ago. She finds that a group has been formed called 'Dragons of the Pool' whose fathers all disappeared from the locality at about the same time, and its members are trying to find out what happened. She gets in touch with the organiser. ... Yvonne Foley, founder of Dragons and Lions, assisted with the research. Leigh was played by Liz Sutherland, Maggie by Lucy Speed, and Li Hauyu, Leigh's missing father, by Jeremy Ang Jones. The drama was created by Naked Productions and the producer was Polly Thomas.

Andrew McCaldon's play BENNY AND HITCH (R3, 1930, 10 Mar 24), repeated from Christmas Day 2022, was a fascinating two-hour extravaganza investigating the extraordinary relationship between director Alfred Hitchcock and the film composer Bernard Herrmann. By the late 1950s these two men, known to each other as ‘Benny’ and ‘Hitch’, have become the most famous composer-director duo in film history, creating masterpieces together, including Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho. But tensions grow between them, and their collaboration comes to a spectacular end at a recording session for the film Torn Curtain. From beyond the grave, Benny and Hitch try to work out whose fault it was. This riveting drama was recorded in front of an audience at Alexandra Palace with Tim McInnerny playing Benny and Toby Jones playing Hitch and with the BBC Concert Orchestra providing the music from their three best-known films. The producers were Ben Varley and Tracey Neale, and Tracey directed the performance.

THE VENTRILOQUIST'S DUMMY, by Amanda Dalton (R4, 1415, 4 Apr 24) was an exploration of the brain and the gut, and the links between them. Jess doesn't feel quite right, and no-one seems to know what the problem is. But if she listened to what her body was telling her, she'd soon be on the way back to an even keel.

The part of the the nervous system that regulates our gut, the enteric nervous system, is often called the body's “second brain.” Although it can't compose poetry or solve equations, this extensive network uses the same chemicals and cells as the brain to help us digest and to alert the brain when something is amiss. Gut and brain are in constant communication. They’re so close that they can feel each other’s pain. If you have a condition affecting your digestive system or nervous system, it may also affect the other. For example, the thought of an exciting event can make you feel “butterflies in your stomach,” while the thought of something dreadful might be “gut-wrenching.” And gut feeling is a major influencer in decision-making. This play explores the therapeutic process for a person whose gut and brain are out of sync; the relationship between mind and body and the mysterious wisdom of the 'second brain'. Jess was played by Christine Bottomley, Eurycles by Sanjeev Bhaskar and The Gut by Meera Syal. The producer was Nadia Molinari.

I am not generally a fan of monologues, but when there's a brilliant script and the reader is Stephen Fry, there's no alternative but to tune in and listen. THE PERFORMER, by William Humble (1415, 10-11 Apr 24) in two episodes on successive days had me hooked from the start; I was unable to turn it off. Stephen is a fantasic reader, and this was a compelling story about a teenager who's faced with a situation he doesn't know how to deal with. Like many adolescents, Matthew isn't entirely connected with reality. His dad is pretty dull, and his mother utterly predictable. But Matt is a bit of an oddball; he's not interested in pop groups or any of the usual things loved by teenagers; his idol is Sir Laurence Olivier. He's always been intrigued by the story Dad often tells over Sunday lunch about the day he was stuck in London because of a train strike, and ended up going to the theatre to see the great Sir Laurence in a Terence Rattigan play. The puzzling thing is - Dad isn't really interested in the theatre. And then one day, without any warning, Dad goes missing. Matthew is upset; he wonders what has happened. Then gradually, bit by bit, he uncovers the story of his dad's secret life. It changes everything for him; it leads to the world he has always wanted to be part of. The producer was Celia de Wolf, for Indie company Pier Productions.

Lin Coghlan's dramatization of THE SHELL SEEKERS (R4, 1500, beginning 14 Apr 24) by Rosamunde Pilcher was good listening on two successive Sundays. The story is set in Gloucestershire, London, Cornwall and Ibiza and shifts back and forth between 1939 and 1985, with Penelope as the central character. Her father was a well-known artist and she has a number of his sketches and a valuable oil painting, The Shell Seekers. Penelope's children have their eyes on the picture, but their mother is smart and has no intention of bowing to their wishes. Narration was by Jessica Turner playing the part of the writer, with Emma Fielding as Penelope. You may notice tthat a key person in the story, Penelope's first love, never speaks. Production was by Tracey Neale.

There were other worthwhile things; we've recently lost Barry Humphries, and there was a welcome celebration of his talent, including Dame Edna and the monstrous Australian diplomat Les Patterson. Then there was was Bat Girls, about female cricket; Song of the Reed by Steve Waters recorded in the Norfolk wetlands, a repeat of Christopher Douglas's Tristram Shandy: In Development, completely hilarious and recorded entirely remotely during Covid. Then there were Mike Walker's Medici plays and Anita Sullivan's 'Silos', where environmental misdemeanors are paid for by being locked away in suspended animation. It was thought-provoking on several levels.

ND / 24 Apr 24

RADIO DRAMA REVIEW SEP 2024

RADIO REVIEW, DEC 2024

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