Philip Palmer Radio Plays

12 Jul 16 Keeping the Wolf Out: The Wolf
New detective drama is set in communist Hungary in 1963. A former member of the despised secret police has been found brutally murdered. Special Investigator Bertalan Lazar tries to find his killer but not all his colleagues cooperate. Part of Radio 4's 'Cold War' series. Bertalan Lazar .....Leo Bill Franciska Lazar ...... Clare Corbett, Tibor Farkas .....Andy Linden , Gizella ..... Nicola Ferguson , Mrs Kovacs ..... Susan Jameson , Bela Fekete .... Sargon Yelda , Mr Papp .... Nick Underwood , Kitchen Porter ... Richard Pepple , Police Officer ....Sam Rix. Produced by Toby Swift.

Ep.2, 13 Jul 16: The Old Days
Archivist Franciska Lazar, the Inspector's wife, finds herself in the sights of Soviet investigators. investigates a murder case.

8 July 16: Defoe: Merchant, Writer, Convict, Spy
Throughout his life Daniel Defoe was never far from trouble and he died hiding from creditors. This biographical drama tells the story of a man trying to survive in an extremely hard world; he wrote his way out of trouble in prison, came to the attention of one of the most powerful men in England, and became a spy for the government in the lead up to the Act of Union. Daniel Defoe ....... Ben Miles, Mary Defoe ....... Niamh Cusack, Robert Harley .....Pip Torrens, Gaoler .....Nick Underwood, Gaoler .......Brian Protheroe, Producer: Sasha Yevtushenko.

13 Aug 15: Red and Blue
Bradley Shoreham returns. By Philip Palmer. This is a new series of three dramas focusing on the work of a fictional wargames expert who now hires himself out to other institutions, inventing scenarios which put their emergency planning procedures under test. In this play (ep. 1 of 3) he sells his services to an international financier. The series continues next week (20 Aug). Bradley: Tim Woodward, Alessandra: Sara Kestelman, Mark: Jonathan Bailey, Waiters: Chris Pavlo, Mark Edel-Hunt. Produced by Philip Palmer.

20 Aug 15: Red and Blue
By Philip Palmer. Ep. 2 of 3. Bradley Shoreham, wargames and future-scenario expert, is hired to stress-test the emergency services. His divide-and-rule tactics provoke hostility. Bradlay: Tim Woodward, Alessandra: Sara Kestelman, Harry: David Houslow, Katie: Jane Slavin, Alan: Stephen Critchlow, Claire: Christine Kavanagh, with Rhiannon Neads, Alex Tregear and Jessica Turner. Producers: Toby Swift and Gemma Jenkins.

27 Aug 15: Red and Blue
By Philip Palmer. Ep. 3 of 3. "Alive". Bradley challenges a flood-defence team's methods, and, faced with the unexpected, has to change his game plan. Bradley: Tim Woodward, Alessandra: Sara Kestelman, Billy: Neil Grainger. Producer: Toby Swift; director Gemma Jenkins.

MR. C ....2014
By Philip Palmer. 4 Feb 14. Mr. C is a person who needs an urgent operation, but he is convinced that it isn't necessary. He won't have his leg amputated. This play is based on interviews from the 1993 court case which changed the relationship between doctors and patients and the way people make decisions about their medical treatments. It is introduced by Deborah Bowman, an academic with knowledge of ethics and law. Her discussion of the case follows the play. Louis Mahoney, David Seddon, Shaheen Khan, Priyanga Burford, Ayesha Antoine, Michael Bertenshaw, Georgie Fuller, John Norton, Sean Murray. Producer Jonquil Panting.

DARK MINDS....2014
By Philip Palmer, Friday Play (not a repeat) 27 Jun 14. 58m. A thriller involving virtual reality. In the near future Harry is obsessed with totally immersive virtual reality gaming. Then one day he wakes up with a dead body lying next to him in bed. All evidence points to the fact that Harry is the killer. Harry even remembers doing it. But why? Did the violence of the games give him his gruesome blood lust? Or is something far more sinister going on? Slowly Harry uncovers a conspiracy which has its roots in the illicit underbelly of the Internet. Harry - Bryan Dick, Cramer - Steve Oram, Claire - Lucy Gaskell, Nurse - Eiry Thomas, Jon Healey - Stephen Hogan, Helen - Sara Lloyd-Gregory, Security Guard - Matthew Gravelle. Producer: James Robinson. BBC Wales.

BRADLEY SHOREHAM....2013
......There have been other memorable plays; I enjoyed Philip Palmer's three 'war-games' stories; his ex-military war games expert Bradley Shoreham setting up emergency scenarios with an 1) expert in pandemics, 2) a young maverick in a financial dealing house and 3) the crew on an oil rig. (.....ND, Diversity website review, Sep 2013)

INVASION....2013
.......the following afternoon we had INVASION (R4, 1415, 18 Jun 13) by Philip Palmer. An astronaut wakes up in quarantine on Earth after being the first person to walk on Mars. It's not clear why he has been isolated; his only company is a computer program which talks to him. It slowly emerges why he is on his own, and how how long he has been there. Kadian was played by Edward Hogg and the virtual woman by Amita Dhiri. The producer was James Robinson. (.....ND, Diversity website review, Sep 2013)

RED AND BLUE....2012
By Philip Palmer. 11,18 and 25 Apr 2012. Red and Blue, Philip Palmer's trilogy of plays, focuses on Bradley Shoreham. After leaving the British Army, Shoreham became a Consultant Subject Matter Expert. He spends his working life creating war games for training purposes. Fictional they may be but the higher the level of authenticity the greater their value to the participants. And when governments are paying for training they expect a high return for their money. Bradley Shoreham ..... Tim Woodward, Emma Macintosh ..... Tracy Wiles, Fergus O'Donnell ..... Lloyd Hutchinson, Cooper ..... Peter Hamilton Dyer, Lt.Col. Mackay ..... Don Gilet, Major General Gibbs ..... James Lailey, Brigadier Harper ..... Gerard McDermott, Sergeant Evans ..... Tom Meredith, Desk Sergeant ..... Harry Livingstone. Produced by Toby Swift.

In 'Hearts and Minds' , Shoreham discovers how quickly the politics of his virtual world can spill out into the real world.

In the second play, 'Behind Enemy Lines', Shoreham has decreed that Troy is at war with Sparta. Special Forces are involved in a field exercise as part of larger simulated war game. A squadron of British soldiers faces a challenge that will test them to the limit. Cast includes Warren Brown, Liz White and Ifan Meredith.

The third play, 'Terror', finds Shoreham having lunch with a Brigadier (Bill Paterson) on secondment to the Ministry of Defence. He has been invited to discuss war game scenarios involving terror attacks on London. But just how hypothetical is this consultation?


THE ART OF DECEPTION....2009
5 part Radio Drama Radio 4 , Broadcast July 2009.

BBC blurb for ep. 1: Detective drama by Philip Palmer. Notorious art forger Daniel Ballantyne; newly released from prison but now dying; agrees to help art critic Jessica Brown to write a book about forgery. So begins a game of cat-and-mouse that will have deadly consequences. Daniel Ballantyne ...... David Schofield Jessica Brown ...... Indira Varma Ben ...... Matt Addis Andrew Jarrold ...... Jonathan Keeble Claire de Vere ...... Belinda Lang DI Grimwood/Art Dealer ...... John Biggins Stavros Persakis ...... Malcolm Tierney Museum Curator ...... Philip Fox DS Ruckley/Taxi Driver ...... Benjamin Askew Directed by Toby Swift. Broadcast Mon 22 Jun 2009 19:45 BBC Radio 4

The Leicestershire composer Ben Burrows wrote a set of six piano pieces inspired by Spenser's "Faerie Queen", which I transcribed from the manuscript held by Leicester University Library about twenty years ago - N.D..

compiled by Nigel Deacon / Diversity website

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