Amber Barnfather
Radio Plays & Readings

Amber Barnfather is a radio producer, director, adaptor and abridger. Her 20-year BBC career spans World Service, Radio 4, Radio 3 and School Radio. Prior to this she was a secondary school teacher of English.

As a BBC producer, Amber worked with arts presenters Melvyn Bragg, Tom Sutcliffe and Harriett Gilbert, and represented BBC English (part of the World Service which has been teaching English to global audiences since 1943) in Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Romania and Ukraine. She produced 13 feature series, including The Lyrics, The Art of Writing, Seven Stages: A History of British Theatre and Women Today which won a Women in TEFL Award.

Amber has also abridged for Book of the Week and produced resources for the Commonwealth Foundation on how to write a short story for radio. In 2008, she was a judge for the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association Short Story Competition.

Since 2010, Amber has produced dramas, readings and an international award-winning feature documentary (Archive on 4: The Long, Long Trail) for BBC radio as an independent producer. Her adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s classic novella The Shepherd (for Radio 3’s Between the Ears) won a 2017 New York Festivals International Radio Gold Award. In 2020, she founded Flare Path Productions and her first commission (Camille, for Radio 3) stars Charithra Chandran (Edwina Sharma in Bridgerton) who makes her BBC drama debut.

AMBER BARNFATHER: RADIO DRAMAS, READINGS, FEATURES
2022-06-26, 19-30, Drama on 3: Camille
2020-05-11, 10-45, 15 Minute Drama: Girl with a Pearl Earring, Episode 1
2016-12-24, 21-15, Between the Ears - The Shepherd (R3)
2015-05-24, 15-00, Drama, Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia
2014-01-04, 20-00, Archive on 4, The Long Long Trail
2012-08-27, 11-00, A Bunch of Fives, R4X. Stories by Helen Simpson, read by Tamsin Greig and Clare Corbett
2012-01-25, 14-15, Afternoon Drama - Burns and the Bankers
2011-06-19, 20-30, Drama on 3, Money (R3)
2010-09-11, 14-30, Saturday Drama - Spitfire! By Mike Walker
2008-06-23, 09-45, BOTW, Casanova 1/5. By Ian Kelly. Abridged by Amber Barnfather. Read by Benedict Cumberbatch. Produced by Justine Willett.
2007-12-21, 05-45, Farming Today, With Charlotte Smith, producer Amber Barnfather.
2007-12-17, 09-45, BOTW, No Way Home, a Cuban Dancer's Story
2007-11-19, 15-30, Red Mountain Yellow River, 1/5 Extra. Short stories about life in China.
2007-09-24, 15-30, Walk the Blue Fields, 1/5. A selection of short stories by Claire Keegan.
2007-09-17, 09-45, BOTW, Rudolf Nureyev, 1/5. My Vagabond Soul. By Julie Kavanagh.
2007-08-03, 21-45, Sunday Feature, Seven Types of William Empson (R3)
2007-07-14, 20-15, Proms Interval Talk, Adventures in Film Music, pres. Sukhdev Sandhu
2007-06-18, 09-45, BOTW, Wildwood, a Journey through Trees, 1/5. Roots.
2007-03-26, 09-45, BOTW, Clever Girl, a Sentimental Education, 1/5. By Brian Thompson
2007-02-26, 09-45, BOTW, Theatre Writings, 1/5. Apathy
2007-01-01, 22-45, BAB, The Ghost at the Table, 1/10. A Spray of Bittersweet.
2006-10-30, 09-45, BOTW, Dear Charlie - Letters to a Lost Daughter, 1/5.
2006-10-02, 09-45, BOTW, England's Mistress - the Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton, 1/5.
2006-07-17, 22-45, BAB, For Whom the Bell Tolls, 1/10. Ernest Hemingway
2006-06-05, 09-45, BOTW, Commonwealth of Thieves, 1/5.
2006-01-30, 09-45, BOTW, Tete-a-Tete, 1/5. Simone de Beauvoir
2005-11-07, 22-45, BAB, White Ghost Girls, 1/5. By Alice Greenway.
2004-05-17, 09-45, BOTW, The Bugatti Queen 1/5. Helene Delangle (Helle Nice)
2004-03-23, 12-06, World Book Club, AS Byatt talks to an audience about her novel Possession. Presented by Harriett Gilbert
2003-08-18, 22-45, Book at Bedtime, I’m Not Scared, 1/5. By Niccolò Ammaniti; read by Tom George
2001-01-15, 18-00, The Lyrics, 10-part poetry series (World Service)
1998-01-23, 09-30, The Art of Writing, 10-part feature series (World Service)
1997-02-09, 18-30, Seven Stages: A History of British Theatre (World Service)

Abbreviations: BOTW=Book of the Week; BAB=Book at Bedtime

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NOTES ON SOME OF THE PROGRAMMES

26 Jun 22: Drama on 3 - Camille
By Pam Gems; new adaptation by Satinder Chohan of the stage play, based on The Lady of the Camellias by Dumas. Camille, a famous courtesan, and Armaan, a young aristocrat, fall in love. The play was first staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1984. For this production, Satinder has relocated the action from France to India. The original Parisian salons and courtesans of 1848 become the thriving courtesan houses of mid-19th-century Calcutta. Camille ….. Charithra Chandran, Armaan …… Ronak Patani, Maharaja ….. Narinder Samra, Premila ….. Shaheen Khan, Sophiya ….. Rameet Rauli, British General ….. David Holt, Dhanik ….. Nitin Ganatra, Ghassan ….. Ronny Jhutti, Yuvita ….. Manjeet Mann, Janpal ….. Robin Cross. Music improvised by Arun Ghosh (clarinet, harmonium, lute), Sarathy Korwar (tabla) and Preetha Narayanan (violin). Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling. Sound Designer: Paul Arnold. Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather. Indie (Flare Path); R3.

‘Fresh from her appearance in Bridgerton, Charithra Chandran takes on a mighty role that has been played by Sarah Bernhardt, Greta Garbo and Maria Callas, albeit in very different interpretations of Dumas’s novel and Verdi’s La traviata. Playwright Pam Gems brought a decidedly feminist slant to the doomed consumptive heroine in her 1984 Camille…and this version by Satinder Chohan transfers the action from the Paris salons to mid-19th-century Calcutta…This is a beautifully wrought production, from the casting to the exquisite music, and Chandran earns her right to stand among Bernhardt, Garbo and Callas.’
(....taken from Jane Anderson's review, Radio Times)

2020-05-15, 10-45 Girl with a Pearl Earring, 5
By Tracy Chevalier; novel about the unknown model in Vermeer's famous painting and what her relationship with the renowned artist might have been. Dram. Ayeesha Menon. Libby Mai, a second year student at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, makes her BBC debut as Griet. Episode 5: Life carries on in the house of Vermeer - his wife Catharina is now six months pregnant and their jealous daughter Cornelia is ever watchful. Meanwhile, in the attic studio behind a closed door, the young servant Griet sits for the painter, wearing his wife's earrings. Recorded on location in Hampstead. In each episode there is harpsichord music by Sweelinck, played by Tim Motz, recorded at Handel's House in London. Griet.. Libby Mai, Vermeer.. Khalid Abdalla, Cornelia.. Mia Wilks, Pieter's Father / Van Leeuwenhoek.. Ben Crowe, Maria Thins.. Eleanor Bron, Tanneke.. Laura Elphinstone, Catharina.. Hattie Morahan , Franciscus.. Liam Howes, Griet's Mother.. Jane Whittenshaw , Adult Cornelia.. Lissie Minnitt, Pawn Broker.. Tom Goodman-Hill, Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling, Sound Designer: David Chilton, Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather. Indie (Goldhawk Essential).

A.B. adds: "the drama was recorded at Keats House and the harpsichord was recorded afterwards (while the drama was still fresh in my head) at Handel’s House."

Libby Mai (lead) was shortlisted for the 2021 BBC Audio Drama Awards, Best Debut Performance (....ND)

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2020-05-11, 10-45 Girl with a Pearl Earring, 1
Tracy Chevalier's much-loved novel vividly imagines the story behind the gaze of the unknown model in Vermeer's painting and her possible relationship with the artist. Dram. Ayeesha Menon. When Griet, a 16-year-old from a poor family, is forced to become a servant in Vermeer's household, her world is shattered. She crosses Delft to the grand house where the artist is creating his 1660s masterpieces in his attic studio. Tanneke.. Laura Elphinstone, Griet.. Libby Mai , Franciscus.. Liam Howes , Agnes.. Flora Froment , Griet's Mother.. Jane Whittenshaw , Catharina.. Hattie Morahan , Vermeer.. Khalid Abdalla , Griet's Father.. Rufus Wright , Cornelia.. Mia Wilks , Maria Thins.. Eleanor Bron , Pieter.. Tom Glenister, Production Co-ordinator: Sarah Tombling, Sound Designer: David Chilton, Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather, Indie (Goldhawk Essential).

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2016-12-24 21-15 Between the Ears - The Shepherd
Christmas Eve, 1957. A young RAF pilot is alone in the cockpit of his Vampire, flying home from Germany. Over the North Sea, the radio goes dead. This is an adaptation by Amber Barnfather of Frederick Forsyth's Christmas tale, read by Luke Thompson. There is a binaural soundscape, specially-recorded a cappella pieces and other sounds by the Saint Martin Singers, conducted by Charles Talbot. It includes symbolic sound effects using Christmas decorations and Vampire aircraft recordings made at the RAF Museum, London. The Saint Martin Singers is a small amateur choir owing its existence to the St Martin-in-the-Fields fire-watchers, who made music together on quieter nights during WW2.
Sound design: David Chilton. Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather. Indie (Goldhawk Essential). Radio 3.

‘Audio magic’ Kate Chisholm, The Spectator
2017 New York Festivals International Radio Gold Award


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2015-05-30, 21-00 Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia
By Jonathan Holloway. A contemporary take on Samuel Johnson's tale of an African prince in search of happiness. Recorded on location at Dr Johnson's House, 17 Gough Square, in the City of London - the place where over 260 years ago, Johnson compiled his famous dictionary and then in January 1759, wrote his bestseller Rasselas in a week, to pay for his mother's funeral. Jonathan Holloway's drama incorporates a glimpse of Johnson - the lonely, 50-year-old celebrity and writer, in debt, in poor health, and missing his young Jamaican manservant, Francis Barber, who had run away to sea. Born a slave, Barber was freed at Johnson's insistence and treated kindly by him. Samuel Johnson ..... Jeff Rawle, Arthur Murphy ..... Kevin Trainor , Princess Nekayah ..... Cynthia Erivo , Prince Rasselas ..... Ashley Zhangazha , Imlac ..... Lucian Msamati , Aeronaut ..... Richard Cordery , Pekuah ..... Adjoa Andoh , AJ ..... Gabriel Mokake , Ahmed ..... Amir El-Masry , Mohammed ..... Zubin Varla , Intelligence Man ..... Zubin Varla, Sound design: David Chilton. Indie (Goldhawk). Director / Producer ..... Amber Barnfather.



‘Directed by Amber Barnfather, this arresting adaptation proves multi-dimensional, showing us the author writing the work…but also dramatising the story itself with passages reworked to take place in the present day as an Abyssian prince escapes his gilded cage and encounters Arab Spring revolutionaries.’ (Stephanie Billen, The Observer)

‘Samuel Johnson’s only novel, a bestseller in its time, is cunningly adapted by Jonathan Holloway. His 21st-century Rasselas (Ashley Zhangazha) goes on a trip to Cairo, hoping to find happiness. Meanwhile, back in the 18th century, Dr Johnson (Jeff Rawle) is scribbling away in his Gough Square House. Producer Amber Barnfather recorded this there, too.’ (Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph)


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2014-01-04, 20-00 Archive on 4 - The Long, Long Trail
Roy Hudd explores Charles Chilton's forgotten 1961 radio masterpiece which inspired the musical Oh What a Lovely War, broadcast on the BBC Home Service. The Long, Long Trail told the story of the First World War in a unique way - through the songs sung by soldiers. It was the result of Charles Chilton's personal quest to learn about his father who was killed at Arras in March 1918, aged 19, and whom he had never met. In 1962, Chilton, already a well-known BBC radio producer, adapted the programme with director Joan Littlewood and the cast of Theatre Workshop into the landmark stage musical Oh What a Lovely War. But the programme disappeared and was never repeated. However, shortly before he died in January 2013, Chilton gave a copy to the British Library, so we can now rediscover it. For this programme, Roy Hudd, a close friend, and satirist Ian Hislop, radio historian and Chairman of the UK Radio Archives Advisory Committee Professor Hugh Chignell, archivist Helen O'Neill, singer Pat Whitmore, Charles's widow Penny, and their children Mary and David Chilton tell the story behind their father's musical documentary. Producer: Amber Barnfather. Sound design: David Chilton. Indie (Goldhawk).

‘Excellent’ (....The Diary: AN Wilson, www.ft.com)

‘The Great War’s centenary year starts memorably with Archive on 4: The Long, Long Trail’ (5 stars) (....Martin Hoyle, Financial Times)

2014 New York Festivals International Radio Silver Award


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2012-01-25, 14-15 Afternoon Drama - Burns and the Bankers
Helen Simpson's short story, dramatised for radio by Liz Lochhead. When Nicola Beaumont (English, partner in a law firm, mother of four) sits down to a corporate Burns Supper, she gives her account of the evening's events. At first impatient with the pomposity around her, Nicola is moved as the traditional Burns Night unfolds. What she learns about Robert Burns brings self-knowledge which will help her through the night's events. London taxi driver ..... Maynard Eziashi, Nicola Beaumont ..... Sophie Thompson, Torquil Cameron ..... John Sessions, Charlie Beaumont ..... Greg Wise, Donald Forfar ..... Peter Forbes, Iain Buchanan ..... David McKay, Susan Buchanan ..... Angela Darcy, Professor Sydney Campbell-Douglas ..... Siobhan Redmond, Gemma Goodman ..... Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Recorded at the Caledonian Club, London, with violinist Sam McGregor. Sound Design: David Chilton. Director / Producer: Amber Barnfather. Indie (Goldhawk).

‘For Burns Night here’s a grand cast…A good comedy to listen to as you peel those hard neeps for your Burns Night supper’......... Gillian Reynolds, Daily Telegraph

‘Back on Radio 4 I discovered, with relief, that Liz Lochhead, the Scots makar, whose ear for dialogue and sense of the absurd gives the lie to the notion of the Scots as dour and humourless, had dramatised a play for Burns Night for Radio 4. Burns and the Bankers, a comedy drama by Helen Simpson (produced and directed by Amber Barnfather), also had a starry cast in John Sessions, Greg Wise and the brilliantly adept Sophie Thompson.’ ........Kate Chisholm, The Spectator


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2011-06-19, 20-30, Drama on 3, Money (R3) Samuel West makes his radio directorial debut with a new adaptation by Kate Clanchy of Edward Bulwer-Lytton's vibrant and good-hearted satirical comedy. The play was recorded on location at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, the stately home of Edward Bulwer-Lytton, which he inherited in 1843 shortly after writing 'Money'. The music, specially recorded for the play, is performed by the Endellion String Quartet. Kate Clanchy's adaptation re-fashions the action around one grand house, modernises the heroine, Clara, and sets the action just before the 1832 Reform Act to accentuate the political plot. 'Money' was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, in 1840. It was an instant success and the play's social commentary, genteel comedy and high romance still resonate and charm today. Alfred Evelyn ..... Blake Ritson, Clara Douglas ..... Laura Rees, Sir John Vesey ..... Ian McDiarmid, Lady Franklin ..... Celia Imrie, Henry Graves ..... Roger Allam, Georgina Vesey ..... Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Sir Frederick Blount ..... Bertie Carvel, Benjamin Stout ..... Richard Cordery, Captain Dudley Smooth ..... Tom Goodman-Hill, Flash ..... Nicholas Boulton. Sound Design: David Chilton. Director: Samuel West. Producer: Amber Barnfather. Indie (Goldhawk).

‘Faultlessly stylish’ (....Martin Hoyle, Financial Times)

‘Reeked of class and talent…There was the top-notch director (Samuel West), the expertly judged music (courtesy of the Endellion String Quartet) and the setting, which was very special indeed…the whole production had been parachuted in to Knebworth House…Finally, there was the play itself, expertly reworked for radio by Clanchy and chiming neatly with our time with its obsession with material wealth and social status. "If you have no merit or money of your own you must trade on the merits and money of other people," said an ambitious father to his daughter, anticipating a windfall from a dead relative. Certainly, there was a horrible familiarity to the play's broader observation that, for the ruling classes, wealth equals virtue and poverty is nothing short of a crime.’ (....Fiona Sturges, The Independent)


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2010-09-11, 14-30 Saturday Drama - Spitfire!
By Mike Walker; drama about the most famous fighter aircraft in history, first broadcast in September 2010 to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Framed by recollections from veteran Geoffrey Wellum, the drama features specially made recordings of RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfires, including the only Spitfire still flying today to have fought in the Battle. The drama traces RJ Mitchell's design from creation to legend and the fortunes of two young pilots who join a frontline Spitfire squadron just as the Battle of Britain begins. Many factors were important in the Battle, but it was the excellence of the Spitfire which most famously evened the odds in the fight against the Luftwaffe. Mike Walker's drama takes us close to this magnificent aircraft and gives us a feeling of what it was like to fly the legendary plane which became, in test pilot Jeffrey Quill's words,a symbol of defiance and victory. . Pirate ........ Rory Kinnear, Ted ........ Joel Coen, RJ Mitchell ........ Samuel West, Tony ........ Samuel Barnett, Stanley Baldwin ........ David Horovitch, Air Marshal Dowding ........ David Troughton, Squadron commander ........ Stephen Critchlow, Newsreel announcer ........ Ben Crowe, Sammy ........ Lucas Motion, Alice ........ Abigail Thaw, Daphne ........ Ruth Wilson, Director / Producer ........ Amber Barnfather. Technical Adviser: Patrick Bishop. Original music and sound design: David Chilton. Indie (Goldhawk).

‘Truly excellent and immediately arresting’. (....Radio Times)

For those interested in the wartime RAF there are several related plays: Bomber, by Len Deighton (1999), Barnes and Molly, by Ray Brown (2000), The Navigator's Log, by Don Haworth (1989), and Talk of Love and War, by Don Haworth (1981).


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2007-12-17, 09-45 Book of the Week:No Way Home: a Cuban Dancer's Story
1/5. In a poor suburb of Havana, a timid boy begins his journey to become one of the greatest ballet dancers of his generation. Jot Davies reads Carlos Acostas' memoir. Abridged by Miranda Davies. Producer Amber Barnfather.


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2006-10-30, 09-45 - Book of the Week: Dear Charlie - Letters to a Lost Daughter
1/5. Following the tragic death of his 13-year-old daughter Charlie in a rail accident on 3 December 2005 Reg Thompson began writing to her, to bring her closer and make sense of her wasted bright young life. Jeff Rawle reads from these poignant epistles. Abridged by Joanne Reardon. Producer: Amber Barnfather.


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2006-07-24, 22-45 Book at Bedtime: For Whom the Bell Tolls
6/10. I Love Thee Enough for Both. Robert Jordan has joined a band of guerrillas in the mountains. Now a patrol of cavalry approaches their hiding-place. Ernest Hemingway's novel based on his own experiences during the Spanish Civil War. Abridged by Miranda Davies and read by Martin T Sherman. Producer Amber Barnfather.


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2006-10-02, Book of the Week: England's Mistress - the Infamous Life of Emma Hamilton
1/5. Kate Williams' new biography of the prostitute and later consort of the most famous man in England. Born in a bleak coal-mining village on the Wirral, Emma Hamilton climbed the social ladder as a teenager from maid-of-all-work to mistress of the aristocracy. Read by Polly Walker. Producer: Amber Barnfather.


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2006-06-05, 09-45 Book of the Week: Commonwealth of Thieves
1/5. In May 1787, a great convict flotilla set sail for Botany Bay on the coast of New South Wales in Australia. It was a gruelling eight-month voyage. Jonathan Hyde reads a new account by Tom Keneally. Abridged by Doreen Estall. Producer Amber Barnfather. Organist: Avril Harding.


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2006-01-30, 09-45 Book of the Week: Tete-a-Tete
1/5. Notorious for their open relationship, Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre produced some influential writing on modern thought. Eleanor Bron reads their story, beginning with their first encounters as students at the Sorbonne. Written by Hazel Rowley and abridged by Doreen Estall. With Dr. Bert Tosh. Producer Amber Barnfather.


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2005-11-07, 22-45 Book at Bedtime - White Ghost Girls
1/5. By Alice Greenway. A tale of two sisters and the summer that ends their childhood. Read by Vicki Simon; first novel, set in 1960s Hong Kong and told through the eyes of a 12-year-old. Abridged by Jules Wilkinson. Producer .......... Amber Barnfather.


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2004-05-17, 09-45 Book of the Week: The Bugatti Queen
1/5. Helene Delangle , better known as Helle Nice, was the nude dancer-turned-racing driver who took to the race tracks of 1930s France. Harriet Walter reads this account of her life, written by Miranda Seymour and abridged by Kati Nicholl. Producer: Amber Barnfather. Presented by Andrew Graystone. Music: David Poulter.


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2001-01-15, 18-00 The Lyrics, 10-part poetry series (World Service)
Presented by poet Kate Clanchy, and including specially commissioned poems by Jackie Kay, Don Paterson, Alice Oswald and Paul Muldoon, with readings by Juliet Stevenson, Meera Syal and Simon Russell Beale


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1998-01-23, 09-30 The Art of Writing, 10-part feature series (World Service)
Tracked students and tutors on Britain’s most famous writing course, the MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Presented by Chris Faram

‘Deeply interesting and hugely enjoyable…drawing on the experiences of both established writers and students, made you want to try there and then to write’ Gerald Haigh, Times Educational Supplement


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1997-02-09, 18-30 Seven Stages: A History of British Theatre
7-part feature series (World Service), launched at The Royal National Theatre by Richard Eyre. Interviewees included Tom Stoppard, Brenda Blethyn, Ben Kingsley, Fiona Shaw, David Hare and Josie Lawrence.

‘A model of intelligent concision....what Seven Stages also does with panache is exploit radio’s ability to move from the general to the particular…Amber Barnfather has also had conspicuous success in getting exactly the right people to talk…The list of contributors to Seven Stages reads like a Who’s Who of British Theatre…The BBC at its best’. (....Charles Spencer, Daily Telegraph)





compiled by Nigel Deacon, with help from Norman Milburn / Diversity website

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