Ned Chaillet Radio Plays

Ned Chaillet is American by birth. He was deputy drama critic of The Times, and wrote drama criticism for the Sunday Times and Wall St. Journal in the 1980s before becoming a producer for BBC Radio Drama. He has produced many plays and series for BBC Radio 4, including the new series of Agatha Christie and Maigret adaptations, and distinctive single plays such as MAN IN SNOW and HAUNTED BY MORE CAKE. A list of some of his plays is shown below, followed by quotes from the BBC7 website and a few notes (from other sources) about some of the plays.

.....excerpt from BBC7 newsletter, Aug 04......illustrator and writer Mel Calman tragically died in February this year. Mel wrote several short plays for radio producer Ned Chaillet, who drew my attention to them. As a tribute to Mel, we will be broadcasting 3 of his 30 minute plays, beginning with Sweet Tooth on Sunday at 9.15am, 10.15pm & 4.45am. Set in a cafe, Sweet Tooth is a play about adultery and pastries which follows the daily meetings of Alice (Morag Hood) and George (Denis Lawson). Running commentaries on the lovers' rendezvous are provided by a Rum Baba (Richard Griffiths), a French eclair, an Austrian Strudel, a Scottish macaroon and a Danish Pastry. Delicious! ......(Mary Kalemkerian)

BBC RADIO PLAYS
1989 The bass saxophone (ad. Nigel Baldwin)
1990 Haunted by More Cake*
1990 Betrayal, by Pinter
1991 Diary of a Madman, by Gogol, ad. James Burke
1992 Introducing Fagan
1994 Virtual radio, by Andrew Dallmeyer*
1994 Waiting for Lefty
1996 American Faith, by Mike Walker
1997 Love Story, by Erich Segal, dram. Juliet Ace
1997 As You Like It, Shakespeare, ad. N. Chaillet. Monday play.
1997 Goodbye Kiss, by Ronald Harewood. 30m theatre.
1997 Bell, Book and Candle, by J. Van Druten
1997 Fighting over Beverley, by I. Horovitz
1997 Last man out, by Steve May
1998 Phone tag, by I. Horovitz
1998 Old Times, by H. Pinter
1998 Summer with Monika, by Roger McGough
1998 The Monkey Bin, by Bob Sherman
1998 The Captain's Wife, by Juliet Ace*
1998 Stations of the Cross, by I. Horovitz
1998 Love pray and do the dishes, by Robert Smith
1998 Trust me, I'm a policeman (6 part series), by Robert Smith
1999 The hairy hand of Dartmoor, by Michael McStay
1999 Scare, by Mike Walker
1999 JEHoover-Public Enemy, by Mike Walker*
1999 They Call Him Bobby, by Mike Walker
1999 Private and Confidential, by Mike Walker
1999 The old man and the Sea, by E. Hemingway*
1999 Bent's Business, Talk's Cheap, by Peter Simpkin
1999 An old flame, by Peter Simpkin
1999 On the eve of the millennium, by Barrie Keefe*
1999 Her infinite variety, by Juliet Ace
1999 A shout in the distance, by Maurice Leitch
1999 Alphabox, by Jeff Noon, dram. Mike Walker*
1999 The deep end, by Pete Lawson*
1999 The father, by Strindberg (R3)
2000 Design for Murder, by Marcy Kahan*
2000 Father! Father! Burning Bright, by Alan Bennett, abridgement
2000 Jagged Prayer, by Robert Smith. Four part crime series.
2000 Zero Tolerance, by Lloyd Evans
2000 Small Parts, by Juliet Ace
2000 Tunnel under the world*
2000 The Lost Journals of Marina Tsvetayeva, by Alan Pascoe
2000 Man in snow* by I. Horovitz
2000 Three Chickens* by William Stanton
2000 Dr. Ibsen's Ghosts, by Robert Ferguson (R3)
2000 Father, Father! burning bright: by Alan Bennett. Abridged by NC.
2001 Into the Ether, by Andrew Dallmeyer
2001 Tunnel under the world, by Fred Pohl
2001 The man who came to dinner*, ad. M. Kahan
2001 The Polish soldier*, by Gregory Evans
2001 Feng Shui and Me, by Barrie Keefe
2001 I'll be George, by Snoo Wilson
2001 Dangerous Game, by Shirley Cooklin
2001 Marius, by Marcel Pagnol (from the film) ad. Juliet Ace
2001 Fanny, by Marcel Pagnol, ad. Juliet Ace
2001 Groupie* by Arnold Wesker
2001 Hecuba (R3)
2002 Who goes there?
2002 I have no mouth, and I must scream*
2002 Delta Sly Honey*
2002 The Titanic Inquiry* 2 x 45m by Bob Sherman
2002(?) Evaristo's Epitaph*
2002 Meet Mr.Mulliner,series, by P.G.Wodehouse
2002 Coriolanus
2002 In extremis, by Neil Bartlett
2003 The Piano Player*, by William Bedford
2003 Righteous Brothers, by Neil Brand
2003 The Chicken Woman* by Eryl Maynard; rpt 2004
2003 One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, by A. Solzhenitsyn
2003 Dead-heading the roses* (for Jill Balcon)
2003 Swan song for the nightingale, by Maurice Leitch
2003 The dressmaker's doll (Christie), dram. Mike Walker
2003 Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, (Twain), dram. Marcy Kahan. Classic serial, 3 eps.
2004 A dangerous game, by Shirley Cooklin. Sat. play.
2004 More Mr. Mulliner, series, by P.G.Wodehouse
2004 Stan*, by Neil Brand
2004 Hippomania, by Snoo Wilson
2004 Who came to dinner? (ad. M.Kahan)
2004 Agatha Christie short stories (ad. Mike Walker)
2004 The Coast of Maine,by Sarah Orne Jewett . Woman's hour
2004 Death at the desert Inn, by Marcy Kahan
2004 The two of us, by Sheila Hancock
2004 Free Gift, by Israel Horovitz
2005 The Salamander letter, by Dylan Ritson
2005 Something cool,* by Maurice Leitch
2005 Scenes of seduction*, by T. Wertenbaker
2005 Stories by Saki, 5 x 15m
2005 Grief, by Ellen Dryden*
2005 The five of us, by Barrie Keefe
2009 Hyde Park-on-Hudson, R3

....extract from BBC7 Newsletter.....

Producer's Choice: Ned Chaillet
....Our second producer in our new Producer's choice series comes from Ned Chaillet. Ned's 5 choices are:

The Deep End by Pete Lawson (original TX 27/12/99)
The Polish Soldier by Gregory Evans (original TX 24/01/01)
The Captain's Wife by Juliet Ace (original TX 8/05/98)
The Man in Snow by Israel Horovitz (original TX 19/12/00)
Introducing Fagan by Maurice Leitch (original TX 27/5/92)

Mon 26 Jan, 11:00 - 11:45 45 mins Afternoon Play: The Deep End (27 Dec 1999) By Pete Lawson. A magical underwater world awaits Leni - if her cry from the depths of the public swimming baths can be heard. With Michelle Holmes, Patrick Nielsen and Stephen Hogan. Director: Ned Chaillet.

Tue 27 Jan, 11:00 - 11:45 45 mins The Polish Soldier: Jeremy Northam plays a man haunted by the disturbing image of a figure in an old-fashioned military uniform.

Wed 28 Jan, 11:00 - 11:45 45 mins Afternoon Play: The Captain's Wife (8 May 1998) By Juliet Ace. Every two years, there is a new captain - and a new captain's wife. Mattie, played by Patricia Hodge, is there for them all, moving, over the years, from the centre of the table to the captain's side. She observes the Navy at play and provides exotic relief - until she is ready to change herself. Director Ned Chaillet.

Thu 29 Jan, 11:00 - 11:45 45 mins Afternoon Play: Man in Snow (19 Dec 2000) By Israel Horovitz. Under the Northern Lights, halfway up the highest mountain in Alaska, David Kipling is in charge of 20 honeymoon couples busy trying to conceive. In solitude, he rings his wife and seeks to conjure up the son who died two years previously. With Israel Horovitz, Marcia Warren, Dick Vosburgh and Burt Kwouk. Directed by Ned Chaillet.

Fri 30 Jan, 11:00 - 11:45 45 mins Introducing Fagin: TP McKenna and Anita Dobson star in this dark, claustrophobic play.

NOTES

HAUNTED BY MORE CAKE ....1990
By Steve Walker. We are in the territory of the very very odd... I am going to a concert, and I can a tea-party going on in my stomach...why is the attractive young lady (also down there) playing tennis with Mario, and has she heard his conversation before? And why are there thousands of old balls in no-man's land behind the tennis court? Stars Graham Crowden as Uncle Ginger, Joan Mattheson as Aunt Maud, and Stephen Tompkinson as their nephew Lionel. Also stars Victoria Carling, John Bull, Richard Pearce, Philip Sully, John Warner, Joan Walker, Nicholas Courtney, Jo Kendall. SMs Peter Novis, Jane Napier, Keith Graham; directed by Ned Chaillet.

The Bass Saxophone
By Josef Skvorecky, adapted by Nigel Baldwin. Sony Award - Best Drama Production 1990. Recording date 29/09/1989. Dramatised by Nigel Baldwin. Music by Graham Collier. With John Woodvine and Jonathan Cullen. Featured Saxophonist: Art Themen. Directed by Ned Chaillet. Old Joseph - John Woodvine, Young Joseph - Jonathan Cullen, Saxophone player - Joe Dunlop, The Swan - Elizabeth Mansfield, Lothar Kunze - Danny Schiller, Horst Hermann Kuhl - Michael Kilgarriff, Old Man - Michael Graham Cox, Soldier - Ken Cumberlidge, Officer - David King, Clown Woman - Jo Kendall, Cut-down Caesar - John Bull. Musicians: Mike Page, Mike Mower, Howard Turner, Ian Wood, Graham Clark, Kim Burton, Trevor Tompkins and Gary Howe. Musical direction by Graham Collier. (details from N.C.)

BETRAYAL....1990
09/10/1990 BBC Radio 3. By Harold Pinter. Dir : Ned Chaillet. Re-broadcast on Wednesday 5th October 2005 (also on BBC Radio 3) in a season of plays marking Pinter’s 75th birthday. Cast: Patricia Hodge ; Michael Gambon ; Harold Pinter ; Christopher Good ; Elizabeth Mansfield. The play is usually cited as being the anatomy of an adulterous affair. Pinter is supposed to have drawn on his own affair with Joan Bakewell as inspiration. Patricia Hodge had played the same rτle (Emma) in the 1983 film of Betrayal. (....notes from Alistair Wyper - thank you.)

DIARY OF A MADMAN....1991
TX: R4: Sunday 3 February 1991 2000-2040hrs
Repeat: Tuesday 30 April 1991 1920 - 2000hrs

The late Kenneth Williams, directed by the animator Richard Williams, performs triumphantly in the 1963 soundtrack of an uncompleted film of Nikolai Gogol's demented masterpiece. Dramatised by James Burke.

In 1963 Kenneth WILLIAMS recorded Nikolai Gogol's story for an animated film by Richard Williams which was never completed. This is the first broadcast. Dramatised by James Burke, re-mixed for radio by John Whitehall. Music: Peter Shade. Producer: Ned Chaillet. Sound Mix: John Whitehall.

Waiting For Lefty....1994
By Clifford Odets. 11/03/1994. BBC R3 Sunday Play. A broadcast in Radio 3’s Thirties Season. Dir: Ned Chaillet. Adapted for radio from the 1935 stage play by Bill Morrison and recorded before an audience at the BBC Paris Studios. Bill Morrison adapted the Chandler novels for the BBC in which Ed Bishop starred. Cast: Ed Bishop ; William Hootkins ; Bob Sherman ; Bradley Lavell ;Theresa Gallagher ; Malcolm Ward ; Paul Panting ; Melanie Hudson ; Jonathan Tafler ; Michael Fitzpatrick. A series of six connected pieces set against the background of a planned New York cab drivers’ strike. There are also notes on this play on the Diversity BBC WS page. (...notes from Alistair Wyper.)

AMERICAN FAITH....1996
30 Sep 96. American Faith: Richard Milhous Nixon's Road To Watergate, by Mike Walker. Monday Play, Sep 30, 1996, 2 hours. An epic and intimate study of the ambition, triumph & resounding fall of Richard Nixon, America's most enigmatic President. The son of a poor Quaker grocer, he rose against the odds to the highest office in the country and then left in ignominy. Mike Walker said 'More than any other President, Richard Nixon reflects the history of America since the War. There was great nobility and tenderness; ruthless ambition and paranoia in one nation and one man leading to Watergate. America's tragedy was Richard Nixon's tragedy too ...' ........Cast: Richard Nixon ... Colin Stinton, Young Richard Nixon ... Alan Marriot, Julie Nixon /Reporter 2 ... Laura Brook, Frank Nixon / Senator Baker ... William Roberts, Alexander Butterfield / Alger Hiss ... William Dufris, Harold Nixon / John Dean ... John Sharian, Hannah Nixon ... Kate Harper, Barry Goldwater / Herman Perry ... Ed Bishop, Al Haig / Businessman ... Garrick Hagon, Tom Dewey ... Bob Sherman, Pat Nixon ... Tara Hugo, Gordon Liddy / Murray Chotiner ... Morgan Deare, Henry Peterson / Coach Newman / TV Director ... Steven Crossley, Henry Kissinger / Whittaker Chambers ... Norman Chancer, H R (Bob) Haldeman ... William Hootkins, Newscaster 1 (1940s & 50s) ... Nicolas Colicos, Newscaster 2 (1960s & 70s) ... Don Fellows, Reporter / Tom Swigart ... Nathan Osgood. Music by Neil Brand. Producer Ned Chaillet.

THE CAPTAIN'S WIFE....1998
At its best, the single voice in radio communicates wonderfully and directly with what is so often the listener on his or her own. Juliet Ace has written three plays for the voice of the actress Patricia Hodge and they explore the life of a woman called Mattie. Like Juliet herself, Mattie has been a teacher, worked in the theatre, married, become a writer . Juliet was one of the original writers for Eastenders. There are events in Juliet's life that mirror the experiences Mattie shares with us. But Mattie is a person in her own right. In the first of these plays, "The Captain's Wife", we can embrace Mattie's perspective on life at a naval college; as the captains and their wives come and go, Mattie and her husband move up the captain's table. In the funny, beautifully observed performance by Patricia Hodge, we come to know Mattie, as she shares her hard-earned understanding of her life, in all its intimacy. It was first broadcast in May 1998. .....(taken from Ned Chaillet's intro. to the BBC7 repeat)

THE FATHER....1999
By August Strindberg, translated and adapted by Eivor Martinus. One hundred and fifty years since his birth, August Strindberg's drama still finds resonances today. A mother knows her child, but doubt about paternity can poison a father's mind. With Ronald Pickup, Cheryl Campbell and Eleanor Moriarty. Director Ned Chaillet.

THE DEEP END....1999
Radio always has the potential of making magic, and Pete Lawson's second play for radio did just that. In an ordinary city street, in a municipal swimming baths, he finds a secret world and invites the listener to share it. Leni is a woman with powerful yearnings, swimming relentlessly to submerge the memories of a lost child. Her yearnings echo, underwater, and reach the world of merman and mermaids, summoning a magical relationship that might spare her more worldly pain. Michelle Holmes is Leni, exchanging the "soap" world of Emmerdale for the cleansing depths of the deep end, recorded in the swimming baths of Kentish Town, in London, Autumn 1999.....(taken from Ned Chaillet's intro. to the BBC7 repeat)

J.EDGAR HOOVER....1999
These plays were written by Mike Walker and starred William Hootkins. I think all four were directed by Ned Chaillet. Their titles:
26.03.99 J.Edgar Hoover-Red Scare*
02.04.99 J.Edgar Hoover-Public Enemy*
09.04.99 J.Edgar Hoover-They call him Bobby
16.04.99 J.Edgar Hoover-Private & Confidential*

MAN IN SNOW....2000
Israel Horovitz is primarily a writer of stage plays on and off Broadway, with some key screenplays to his credit. The actor Al Pacino first made an impact in one of Israel's earliest plays, and Israel has for many years spent the summers running his own theatre in Gloucester, Massachussetts. He became attracted to the imaginative world of radio through his friendship with a studio manager at the BBC, Anne Bunting, and has since thrown people off the Empire State Building, and placed himself as an actor on the highest mountain in North America under the glow of the Northern Lights. That last play is "Man in Snow". For the actress Marcia Warren, one of radio's most gifted contributors, the story is a love story, for her husband on the mountain. For the man in snow himself, it is a spiritual crisis. The play went out in December 2000 and was awarded a Sony prize in the following year. .....(taken from Ned Chaillet's intro. to the BBC7 repeat)

Dr. IBSEN'S GHOSTS ....
26 Nov 00; Sunday play. R3. By Robert Ferguson. The story of the illegitimate son and the forgotten mother of the great Norwegian poet and playwright Henrik Ibsen. Directed by Ned Chaillet, with Paul Scofield (Henrik Ibsen), Morag Hood (Suzannah Ibsen), Edna Dore (Else Sofie Jensen) and Michael N Harbour (Henrik Jaeger). Music composed by Julie Cooper and performed by Sophie Langdon (violin), Gordon Hunt (oboe) and Julie Cooper (piano).

THREE CHICKENS....2000
By William Stanton, Oct 2000. Dir. N. Chaillet.

THE POLISH SOLDIER....2001
The Polish Soldier , by Gregory Evans (R4, 1415, 24 Jan 01) was based on a man's childhood memory of a man in uniform; he starts looking for the truth about his childhood, and finds more than he bargained for. James was played by Jeremy Northam; Ned Chaillet directed.(ND, VRPCC newsletter)

GROUPIE....2001
Barbara Windsor and Timothy West starred in a new play by Arnold Wesker, Groupie (R4, 2102, 23 Nov 01). Matty reads the memoirs of a well-known artist from the East End, and she writes to him. He is down on his luck, living as a recluse, and has no work. Eventually they meet, a few illusions are shattered and things develop in a way they had not foreseen. Ned Chaillet directed this entertaining production. (ND, VRPCC newsletter)

Hecuba ....2001
Euripides' tragedy translated and adapted by Timberlake Wertenbaker, with Olympia Dukakis, Timothy West, Emma Fielding, Greg Hicks and Nicholas Woodeson. Directed by Ned Chaillet

MEET MR MULLINER....2002
BY PG WODEHOUSE
DRAMATISED BY ROGER DAVENPORT
From 29 April 02, 11.30-12.00, Radio 4, weekly.
Episode 1: Honeysuckle Cottage.
Episode 2: A Slice of Life
Episode 3: The Smile That Wins
Episode 4: Open House.
Episode 5: Came The Dawn.
Episode 6: Mulliner's Buck U-Uppo.

THE TITANIC INQUIRY....2002
The Titanic Inquiry (R4, 1415, 11-12 Apr 02) commemorated the 90th anniversary of the famous most famous sinking in history. When the Titanic sank, the owners of the White Star Line tried to return immediately to England, but an inquiry set up by the US senate held the surviving witnesses in New York to be questioned in detail and in public. From the archives, Bob Sherman has reconstructed the inquiry. This was a gripping courtroon drama, directed by Ned Chaillet. (ND, VRPCC newsletter)

Coriolanus....2002
Samuel West stars in Shakespeare's powerful Roman play The Tragedy of Coriolanus directed by Ned Chaillet, with a cast including Adrian Dunbar, Susannah York and Kenneth Haigh

THE PIANO PLAYER....2003
..... a first radio play by William Bedford (R4 28 Jan 03 1415) was set in the 1950's ; a pianist's marathon performance in a seaside town provides entertainment for those who have nothing better to do...but there are romantic undercurrents; the glamorous pianist has a past, and so does Mr. Universe, the fish-and-chip man. The young Daniel and his ill-suited girlfriend Alison watch events and each other with bewilderment...Karl Johnson was Daniel, Philip Jackson was Mr. Universe, and Kate Dudley played Alison; the director was Ned Chaillet. (ND, VRPCC newsletter)

...........BBC website: A pianist's marathon performance in a seaside town provides the evocative soundtrack for a tale of young love and first heartache. The music that conjures up a week in the 1950s still has the potency to bring back pain in a first play for radio by the novelist William Bedford. With Karl Johnson, Christopher Kelham, Kate Dudley, Philip Jackson, Paul Downing, Stephen Critchlow, Carolyn Backhouse, Martin Hyder. Piano played by Mia Soteriou.

One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich....2003
12 Apr 2003. Classic Serial. When Solzhenitsyn's shattering picture of Stalin's prison camps became an international bestseller in 1962, it seemed to signal a thaw in the Cold War. But Solzhenitsyn was a prophet about to be dishonoured in his own land, and the uncensored version of the novel did not appear until 1991 - the year after Solzhenitsyn's citizenship was restored in Russia. Following the routine of a single day in the camps, the story is a dynamic demonstration of human resilience, performed by a powerful ensemble of British actors.

Ivan Denisovich ...... Neil Dudgeon
Tiurin ...... Philip Jackson
Alyoshka ...... Paul Chan
Fetuikov ...... Jonathan Tafler
Pavlo ...... Ben Onwukwe
The Captain ...... Bruce Purchase
Tsezar ...... Matthew Morgan
Kolya ...... Marty Rea
The Tartar ...... Stephen Critchlow
Dovchenko ...... Ben Crowe
Guard 1 ...... Seun Shote
Zec ...... Peter Darney

Directed by Ned Chaillet.

RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS....2003
by Neil Brand. R4, 24 Feb.03. Harmony is the joyful noise that Brother Caradoc wishes to offer to the Lord. He dreams of taking his fellow monks to a higher musical plane with him. With John Woodvine, Clive Swift, Tom George, Ioan Meredith, David Timson, Peter Luke Kenny, Carolyn Jones. Music by Neil Brand and sung by members of the cast. Director Ned Chaillet. .........BBC R4 website

THE CHICKEN WOMAN....2003
By Eryl Maynard. R4, 14 Oct. Chickens first come into a woman's life while she and her husband strive for children. She defends her "girls" against the fox, nurses them into health, and comforts them in her bed, but she is adamantly not obsessed, although her neighbours have another view. With Eryl Maynard, Jean Heywood, Fine Time Fontayne, and Matilda Ziegler. Director Ned Chaillet..........BBC R4 website

DEAD-HEADING THE ROSES....2003
By Juliet Ace...celebrating Jill Balcon's 60th year performing in radio drama. Balcon is joined by her son, Daniel Day Lewis. Ariadne, a naval officer's wife, has become the benign queen of death, arranging tasteful memorial services - which will include her husband's. But before his departure he has plotted a final fling. With Jill Balcon, Daniel Day Lewis, Cheryl Campbell, Graham Crowden, William Hootkins. Director/Producer Ned Chaillet..........BBC R4 website

MORE MR MULLINER....2004
BY PG WODEHOUSE
DRAMATISED BY ROGER DAVENPORT
From 06/02/04, 11.30-12.00, R4, weekly.
1.The Bishop's Move.
2.Osbert and Mabel
3.The Knightly Quest of Mervyn.
4.The Truth About George.

"Richard Griffiths stars in another light-hearted but charming story, this time about Mr Mulliner's second cousin, Osbert, who foolishly falls in love with Mabel."
- The Mail on Sunday, 08.02.04, commenting on episode 2.

THE TWO OF US ....2004
Autobiography of Sheila Hancock, and her life with the late John Thaw. Read by Sheila Hancock; directed by Ned Chaillet.

Death at the Desert Inn ....2004
By Marcy Kahan. 11 Dec 04. Saturday play.

Three hundred thousand dollars are left in a satchel in Noλl Coward's Las Vegas suite, and Coward sets off again on his unexpected posthumous career as a detective.

The Desert Inn, scene of one of his greatest cabaret triumphs, is the setting for 'a highly probable Noλl Coward Murder Mystery' complete with Judy Garland, a showgirl, a Broadway agent, an unlikely croupier, a U.S. Congressman and Coward's act, with half of Hollywood in the audience.

Noel Coward ...... Malcolm Sinclair
Lorn Loraine ...... Eleanor Bron
Cole Lesley ...... Tam Williams
Judy Garland ...... Belinda Lang
Joe Glaser ...... Jake Broder
Mercedes De Caruso ...... Meredith MacNeil
Nicholas Faulkner ...... Peter Swander
Floyd Hicks ...... Nathan Osgood
Babyface Puccine ...... William Hootkins

Directed by Ned Chaillet.

A Dangerous Game ....2004
By Shirley Cooklin. When a paroled murderer kills after his release, justice is put on hold. A prisoner caught in a Home Office freeze on new paroles challenges the ruling and demands a psychological profile from a hardline psychiatrist. Their meetings prove explosive. With Suzanna Hamilton, Ray Lonnen, Roger May and Terence Edmond. Directed

STAN....2004
Stan (R4, 30 Jul 04, 1415) was Neil Brand's tribute to a great comic duo. Tom Courtenay played Stan Laurel in a play described in RT as "a poignant and powerful farewell to Oliver Hardy". Hardy is in bed; he's suffered a stroke, can't speak, and is about 4 stone less than he was in the films. Stan is called to the bedside to make his goodbyes, and after he comes out with platitudes about his friend soon getting better, he realises that Hardy wants him to be honest and to tell the truth. This was a powerful play, and a number of listeners on the Radio 4 messageboard said that it moved them to tears. Courtenay was excellent as Stan, and the cast had Ewan Bailey as Ollie, plus Barbara Baines and Ed Bishop. Ned Chaillet was the director.(ND, VRPCC newsletter)

HIPPOMANIA....2004
26 Sep 04, R3, by Snoo Wilson.

With Laurence Olivier preparing to film the patriotic epic Henry V in neutral Ireland during the Second World War, and the poet John Betjeman attracting the suspicious attention of the IRA, it is a heady time in Dublin.

Snoo Wilson's fantasia, which springs from real events in Betjemans life, conjures up Nazis, assassins and fairies as the poet wanders through seats of power, pubs and a cemetery.

John Betjemen ...... Anthony Calf
Penelope ...... Anastasia Hille
Edna ...... Patricia Leventon
Sir Oswald Mosely ...... Andrew Woodall
Diana Mosley ...... Victoria Woodward
Betterton/Lord Powerscourt ...... Ian Masters
Officer, MI6/Sweney ...... Owen Sharpe
Susan Hilton ...... Katherine Igoe
James Blair/Declan ...... Stephen Hogan
Dannan ...... Renee Weldon
Bridy ...... Aoife McMahon
Titannicus ...... Gerard Murphy
Eammon de Valera/MacNamara ...... John Rogan
Laurence Olivier ...... Nicholas Boulton
Olawalu ...... Jimmy Akingbola
Princess Sobietska ...... Ndidi del Fatti
Conor ...... Andrew Scott
Guy Burgess ...... Tam Williams
Evelyn Waugh ...... Snoo Wilson

Other parts played by Alex Tregear, Emily Wachter, Jason Chan, Robert Hastie and Stuart McLoughlin.

Music direction by Jay Owen.

Directed by Ned Chaillet.

Who came to dinner?....2004
By Moss Hart & George S. Kaufman
Adapted for radio by Marcy Kahan
Simon Callow stars as the great Broadway creation Sheridan Whiteside in the classic comedy of the 1930s. A broken leg turns a visiting celebrity into a tyrannical house guest mercilessly abusing the hospitality of the Stanley family. An entomologist, Hollywood and West End friends converge on Ohio, bringing stardom, chaos and cockroaches to small town America.
CAST
Sheridan Whiteside……………………..Simon Callow
Maggie Cutler………………………………….Elizabeth McGovern
Bert Jefferson…………………………………Conleth Hill
Lorraine Sheldon……………………………Cheryl Campbell
Banjo/Professor Metz………………….John Sessions
Mr Ernest Stanley………………………….Colin Stinton
Mrs Daisy Stanley………………………….Pat Starr
Harriet Stanley………………………………Bonnie Sue Arp
Richard Stanley………………………………Adam Sims
Beverley Carlton…………………………….Malcolm Sinclair
John……………………………………………………Bob Sherman
Dr Bradley…………………………………………Don Fellows
Nurse Preen………………………………………Barbara Barnes
Mr Westcott…………………………………….David Thorpe
Radio Man…. …………………………………….Alex Trinder
Other parts were played by members of the cast.
Director Ned Chaillet, who sent the production details.

The Five of Us....2005

By Barrie Keeffe

Sex and drugs and rock and roll are the illusory dreams of Bruce in his mid-life crisis. But he forgets that he is also the older man, and finds that a menage ΰ trois can easily become an extended family.

Phil Davis, who first rose to fame in Barrie Keeffe's Gotcha in the 1970s, takes with gusto the role of Bruce in Keeffe's comedy of modern sexual manners.

Bruce ...... Phil Davis
Manfred ...... Nicholas Deal
Yvie ...... Claire Rushbrook
Willie ...... Steven Diggory
Frankie ...... Annabelle Apsion
Seamus Cornelius ...... Tony Rohr
Old Man ...... Michael N Harbour

Director: Ned Chaillet

SOMETHING COOL....2005
By Maurice Leitch. 23 Feb 05. Setting- a Spanish bar, during the off season. Rose and her daughter sit and wait for something to happen. Two strangers appear.... with Linda Marlowe, Jim Norton, Alyson Coote, Bruno Lastra, Claudio Rojas. Director Ned Chaillet.


Claw Marks on the Curtain....2005
By Saki. Dramatised by Roger Davenport.
5/5. The Open Window

Packed off around Britain in a search for a cure for his nerves, Framton Nuttel arrives at the Sappletons' house with a letter of introduction from his sister. It little prepares him for the tale of terror he is about to hear.

Framton Nuttel ...... Paul Brooke
Vera ...... Emily Chenery
Mrs Sappleton ...... Joanna McCallum
Caroline Nuttel ...... Susan Jameson
Mr Sappleton/Trap Driver ...... Michael Kilgarriff

Directed by Ned Chaillet

Hyde Park-on-Hudson....2009
A play by Richard Nelson, blending history and conjecture. R3, 7 Jul 09, 8pm.

No reigning British monarch had ever been to the United States before George VI's visit in 1939, just on the cusp of a new world war. History was in the making when the King and Queen arrived at President Roosevelt's upstate New York home, with a promise of politics, a picnic and hot dogs. But the private life of the President provided a whole new dimension to an epochal moment, at least in the memory of his lover.

Older Daisy, a woman in her 90s ...... Barbara Jefford
Daisy, her younger self ...... Emma Fielding
Franklin Delano Roosevelt ...... Tim Pigott-Smith
Missy, his secretary ...... Nancy Crane
Eleanor, his wife ...... Julia Swift
Mother, his mother ...... Sylvia Syms
Tommy Qualters, his bodyguard ...... John Chancer
Bertie ...... Corin Redgrave
Elizabeth ...... Kika Markham
Cameron ...... Jamie Newall
Directed by Ned Chaillet.

Some of the above information taken from "The complete guide to science fiction on BBC radio 1927-2004" by Penny Fabb. (Email me if you would like details on getting a copy). Some information from Ned Chaillet.

Asterisked plays in VRPCC collections.

Nigel Deacon, Diversity website

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