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

The increasing frequency of repeats has now become rather noticeable, but they are chosen carefully and will generally stand a second or third listening. And it's not all negative; we still have a number of very able radio drama writers and producers involved in making quality programmes in spite of rules on equity, diversity, environmentalism and other diktats.

Another radio writer has contacted me this week to say that working for the BBC is not worth the mental 'aggro', and frankly, I can understand why.

Nevertheless we still have worthwhile plays going out, and the highlight for me this time has actually been a comedy drama - the new series THE TRAIN AT PLATFORM 4, by Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis R4, 1415, 29 Apr 24. The action takes place on a train, staffed by a small group of eccentric characters who find ways to help or, if necessary, outwit the passengers. Rosie Cavaliero plays the train manager and Gilbert Collard the steward, assisted by Dev and Tasha (Ali Shahalom and Amyu Gledhill) who find more problems than answers. Guests play the other parts. So far we've had two mini-series of 4 shows, and it's been extremely good. This could run for a long time; it's in the same class as "Cabin Pressure" and is a pleasure to listen to. I hope more episodes are commissioned; there's not a weak spot anywhere. Well done to the producer, James Robinson.

I enjoyed THE MISSED LIVES OF MAX AND JUDY (R4, 1415, 8-9 May 24), by Janina Matthewson. Max and Judy are 18 when they meet during a University lecture; they become friends, and they meet up for 'commiseration chicken' from time to time to discuss their failed relationships. But they never take matters any further; they like being companions. Their guardian-angel wants them to get together, so gives them a chance by causing them to look back on what their lives would have been if they missed the opportunity.

The narrator was Alison Steadman and Judy and Max were played by Danusia Samal and Carl Prekopp. This was a 90m Indie drama from Goldhawk, produced by Emma Hearn.

A few days later we had ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA (R4, 1500, 11 May 24) by Simon Scardifield and Andrew Day; a lighthearted drama exploring interpretations and misinterpretations of Nietzsche's ideas.

His body of philosphical work touched a wide range of topics, including art, philology, history, music, religion, tragedy, culture, and science, and drew inspiration from Greek tragedy as well as figures such as Zoroaster, Schopenhauer, Emerson, Richard Wagner, Dostoevsky, and Goethe. At the age of 44 he suffered mental collapse. I've glanced inside the covers of a few of his books, and closed them again; it looks like very heavy stuff; not for the likes of me, and it didn't seem to end happily for him either.

Anyway, back to the play. Certain books (Thus Spake, Pride & Prejudice, Madame Bovary) appeared as speaking characters; one sometimes forgets that a particular strength of audio drama is that inanimate objects can speak; it's an area where radio can excel. The cast included Zubin Varla, Clare Corbett, Carl Prekopp and Olivia Ross, it was informative and amusing and a great listen, though I doubt that Nietszche would have approved. The producer was Emma Harding.

On the Sunday we heard THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH (R4, 1500, 12 May 24), by Stephen Keyworth, adapted from Walter Tevis's novel. It's a rather sad sci-fi story, based on the film starring David Bowie. An alien arrives in Kentucky with five years to save the handful of survivors of his dying planet, and to save humanity from itself. But it's not as straightforward as he thought; humans are complicated. He finds solace with two fellow outsiders; Betty-Jo, who falls quietly in love with him, and a widowed scientist Nathan. And the government is watching. Disagree with what they say if you dare; there are consequences.

Our reviewer Harry Turnbull had this to say about it: "At its core, this is a timeless story. It’s not solely a science fiction narrative; it delves into the experience of the outsider, with Harry Treadaway portraying a character who literally feels alienated by the society he finds himself in. He becomes subsumed by its excesses, ultimately falling drunkenly into a world he detests."

Harry Treadaway played the alien, Thomas Newton, it also starred Christopher Ecclestone and Laura Aikman. The producer was Simon Barnard, for Bafflegab Productions.

Many people in England wilil remember the chemical explosion which took place in Flixborough, Lincolnshire, fifty years ago. To mark the anniversary, we had a drama-doc, FLIXBOROUGH 74 by Helen Cross (R4, 1415, 28 May 24) about the disaster. At 4.53pm on 1st June 1974, an enormous blast silenced the nearby town of Scunthorpe.

It was one of the UK's worst-ever chemical explosions, and it turned the Nypro chemical plant (producing caprolactam) at Flixborough into a wasteland, burning for ten days and scorching surrounding fields. Two hundred houses were destroyed, over a thousand properties damaged and it sent a toxic gas cloud drifting towards Yorkshire. Twenty-eight men died and thirty-six people were seriously injured.

As the play begins, Pete and Les are trying to restart the reactors at the Nypro chemical works when they notice a rise in pressure. Events take off from there. Les was played by John Godber, Peggy by Jane Thornton and Arlene by Marttha Godber; the producer was Mary Ward-Lowery.

VOODOO MACBETH, by Sharon Oakes (R4, 1415, 6 Jun 24) was a welcome repeat of the play about the first production of Macbeth by black Africans. In 1936, the newly-formed Federal Theatre Project’s Negro Unit decided to stage a production of Macbeth. The production, entitled Voodoo Macbeth, was directed by Orson Welles, and was famously successful.

The play follows the trials and tribulations of mounting a huge production with only a handful of trained actors, an inexperienced but very ambitious director, and a cast of nearly 150 including Haitian voodoo drummers and a witchdoctor.

The play was a significant theatrical event for several reasons: its radical interpretation of the play, its success in promoting African-American theatre, and its role in securing the reputation of its 20-year-old director. Orson Welles was played byTom Bateman, Jack Carter by Ariyon Bakare and Edna Thomas by Clare Perkins. The play was produced by Gaynor Macfarlane.

In June, there was a sequence of plays and readings under the common title "Orwell v Kafka". A highlight for me was a play by Dan Rebellato, RESTLESS DREAMS (R4, 1500, 15 Jun 24). The story is set on a train. Max Brod is one of the passengers; it's 1939 and he's fleeing the Nazis. WW2 is about to break out. In his suitcase are manuscripts, the unpublished works of Franz Kafka – of no contemporary value but inestimable treasures for the future.

In his will, Kafka instructed Brod, his friend and executor, to burn these papers after his death. Brod didn’t, ensuring Kafka’s writings made it out into the world. When guards challenge Brod’s identity, he decides to hide his treasures somewhere on the train before they're taken off him.

This is easier said than done. There's a Philosophers' carriage, a circus-troupe carriage, and other oddities not usually seen on trains. And no-one he meets seems to talk much sense. The writer uses many dramatic devices in this play which can only work on radio. It's a cracking story - and a masterclass in radio writing Max Brod was played by Anton Lesser, and Elsa/Ilse by Tracy-Ann Oberman, supported by Annie Cowan and Henry Goodman. The producer was Polly Thomas, for Indie company Naked Productions.

A day later we had the first episode of THE MAN WHO DISAPPEARED (R4,1500, 16 Jun 24) by Kafka, adapted for radio by Ed Harris. It's set in the early 20th century and is the story of a young Czech who gets a maidservant pregnant and whose family throw him out with a one-way ticket to New York. Karl is soon enveloped in a country which is both a land of endless promise and monstrous brutality.

The story was Franz Kafka’s first attempt at a novel; it remained unfinished at the time of his death and was published posthumously. Kafka had never visited America and the fantastical world of the novel reflects this; it never existed, and Karl seems to tumble into one life-changing piece of misfortune after another. But it's not quite as oppressive as The Trial or The Castle; here, he has a certain amount of freedom of choice.

Karl was played by Divian Ladwa, the narrator was Fenella Woolgar and Jacod was Karl Johnson. The producer was Sasha Yevtushenko.

A few days before this we had FRANZ AND FELICE by Ed Harris (R4, 1415, 11 Jun 24), which was a quirky look at Franz Kafka's most significant romantic relationship. The drama follows the twists and turns of the writer’s relationship with Felice Bauer and how events in their relationship went into Kafka’s stories and imagination. The narrator was Anton Lesser, with Ashley Margolis as Franz and Abigail Weinstock as Felice; production was again by Sasha Yevtushenko.

I intended to listen to Ed's adaptation of THE TRIAL (R4, 1500, 9 Jun 24), but missed the broadcast; I must use BBC Sounds to catch up.

CASTING SHADOWS (R4, 1415, 27 Jun 24), by Jonathan Holloway shone a light on the early film industry. Few people are aware of the importance of the pioneer film-makers in Brighton and Hove, 1985-1905; their work transformed film-making and invented a number of the techniques used today in cinema. This happened a decade before Hollywood was launched. The main characters in this light-hearted drama-documentary are: the showman-filmmaker George Albert Smith; his actor-comedienne wife, Laura Bayley, Smith’s (unsung) co-director; his colleague James Williamson, and Charles Urban from America, the world’s first 'movie mogul'.

Smith was multi-talented; he was actually a stage hypnotist, psychic, magic lantern lecturer and Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. He was a key member of the group of early film-makers known as the Brighton School. His short films pioneered film-editing and close-ups and he developed the first successful colour-film process, Kinemacolour. Smith was played by Karl Davies, Laura by Jenny Funnell and Williamson by Tom Kotcher; the play was narrated by the film historian Frank Gray and produced by Andy Jordan for Pier Productions.

A short lesson on totalitarianism, another drama-doc, was broadcast as the Saturday Play in mid-July: THIS WEEK IS FAMILY WEEK, by Avin Shah (R4, 1500, 13 Jul 24). It was set in Xinjiang Province, China, in the present day. In that province, the Uyghur (Turkish) student, Nur, looks almost Chinese, and she exploits her appearance as much as possible in a society where her countrymen live under constant surveillance. Nur and her mother, Meryem, want to avoid being sent to one of the "re-education" prison camps, where people are told what to think. But they are assigned a live-in Chinese 'relative', actually a communist spy, who comes to live with them for a week to ensure lifestyle conformity. The story is fictional but is based on statements from people who have lived through this experience.

The cast included Aruhan Galieva, Camilla Anvar, and Daniel York Loh; other members of the cast chose to remain anonymous. The producer was Emma Harding, for BBC Wales.

One of the most absorbing plays I've heard this year was by Stephen Wyatt; an extraordinary drama about a moneylender and a property developer. A HOUSE CALLED INSANITY (R4, 1500, 27 Jul 24) told us the true story of Elsy Borders, a lady who became a national figure in the late 1930s. No play celebrating her achievements has been written until now.

Elsy was working-class and had little education, but in spite of that, she was prepared and determined to expose the poor quality of house-building on the estate where she lived. She took the unprecedented step of refusing to pay her mortgage because of the the dire state of their new, shoddily-built house on the Coney Hall estate in Kent.

It turned out that there was a deal between the developer and the building society, summed up as 'you build the houses as cheaply as possible; we'll make the customers an offer they can't refuse'. Eventually the building society sued for repossession, at which point Elsy counter-claimied for damages, conducting her own defence as far as the High Court. The play includes contributions from Stella Etheridge, Jeremy Tagg and Phillipa Tagg; current residents of the estate where Elsy lived. Elsy was played by Anne-Marie Duff, her husband Jim by Karl Davies, Roxburgh by Sam Dale and the librarian by Jenny Funnell. Nigel Anthony was the Judge, and the producer was Martin Jenkins, for indie company Pier Productions.

Melanie Spender's play, CONTENDER (R4, 1415, 7 Aug 24) was about an aspiring Olympian swimmer. Hannah is excited by the prospect of working with Ben, her new coach. But his methods are not the usual ones; he has ruthless ambition, and says he will only work with her if certain important things are deleted from her life. There is a fine line between enabling her with the mental tools to win and mental abuse. Hannah was played by Hannah Tauntion and Ben was Elliot Cowan; production was by Ciaran Bermingham.

The Friday afternoon slot of 5-part 'escapist' thrillers and other dramas in the 'Limelight' slot delivers a few surprises. I don't enjoy all of them, but I liked '11 MINUTES DEAD' (R4, 1415, beginning 9 Aug 24) by Lucy Catherine, involving near-death-experience, a very odd phenomenon which has been experienced by two individuals close to me.

After losing consciousness for a prolonged period in a surfing accident, Beth returns to normal life having changed profoundly. Her memories have been erased and replaced by another set, and she now seems to have a new identity. Even her sister is no longer close. Beth also starts to see things which other people cannot, with occasional glimpses into the future; it's not all good. There are some very creepy moments in this production, and I recommend it.

Beth was played by Scarlett Brookes, Roz by Claire Lams, and others join the cast as the plot develops. The producer was Sasha Yevtushenko.

A SPARK OF DARKNESS (R4, 1415, 3-4 Sep 24) by David Barnes was an interesting 90-minute thriller, split in half and broadcast on successive days. John Derrick is a naval dockyard electrician with nearly three decades' experience of working on ships. He has taken a while to train up a very bright apprentice, so is devastated when he receives a message that the young man is dead, and furthermore, died in an accident at work.

He refuses to believe it, and tries to find out more, but the Navy will not tell him what happened; nor will the police and nor will his boss. To him, it smells of a cover-up. With his reputation on the line, John becomes determined to find out the truth.

John was played by Joplin Sibtain, Tony by Rob Jarvis and Joy by Nina Yndis. The producer was Emma Hearn; another excellent production from John Dryden's Goldhawk Productions.

I enjoyed EDITH SITWELL IN SCARBOROUGH by Mary Cooper (R4, 1415, 12 Sep 24), based on an idea by Lavinia Murray. The drama play is a delightful mixture of fact and fantasy; it explores the life of the poet, writer and critic in a most unusual way. Edith returns to Scarborough where she was born, and meets her younger self to take revenge on her parents. They were eccentric and unloving towards her and she lived much of her early life with her governess. She never married but became passionately attached to Pavel Tchelitchew, a Russian painter, and her home was always open to London's poetic circle, to whom she was generous and helpful. Dame Edith was played by Glenda Jackson, the younger Edith by Bella Ramsey, with Julia Davis and Jonathan Keeble. The producer was Pauline Harris.

In recent weeks the Monday afternoon slot has been devoted to comedy repeats, which is certainly a better than a second hearing of 'This Cultural Life'; 7/10 to the BBC for doing making the change. Recently we've had Fags Mags and Bags, Ed Reardon and now Plum House. These comedies are drama, so it's a valid use of the slot as long as it's not overdone.

As for other dramas since April, I noted Grossman's 4-part epic 'Stalingrad' adapted by Jonathan Myerson; a play about the CIA "Central Intelligence" by Gred Haddick, more episodes of "Mahabharata Now" by Ayeesha Menon, translated into the story of a modern business struggle, and a play about a blind marathon runner, 'Tether'; these all sounded worthwhile. There was also another chance to hear Richard Monks' "Belgrano" and a repeat of Yuri Rasovsky's little masterpiece "Perfidy and Perfection", a beautifully constructed comic duet told entirely via a couple’s letters to each other.

ND / 29 Sep 2024

RADIO DRAMA REVIEW, Dec 2024

This month's bombshell is that BBC management has decided to axe the 25 dramas per year on Radio 3. This is a disastrous sequel to the 50% drama cuts on radio 4. But this latest cut is a much bigger loss than the 30-odd hours it represents, because it's the slot where more unusual and experimental dramas are aired; therefore it marks a significant reduction in the scope and breadth of what BBC Radio Drama can offer. It also means that there are 25 fewer opportunities for new writers to shine.

A large number of leading lights in radio drama have written to the Director-General Tim Davie about the Radio 3 reduction. His reply did not satisfy their concerns. Difficult decisions had to be made, apparently. Well, yes, but culture is important, and the BBC should be fighting to uphold it.

Sir Richard Eyre, theatre and film director, an ex-BBC Governor, shared his concern with Roger Bolton on Roger's 'Beeb Watch' podcast; a quick Google search will find it and you should have a listen. Roger and Sir Richard talk about the cuts to radio drama programming, the broader challenges facing the BBC's cultural remit, the tensions between the BBC's public service mission and commercial pressures, and the role of the BBC in nurturing and sustaining the UK's cultural landscape. To quote Sir Richard:

"I would say the BBC is the most important cultural organisation in the world, and the Director-General of the BBC should be standing up, saying that, and putting his heart and soul and practical application into making sure that the BBC lived up to that proclamation. Well, they don’t, and they’ve pitifully ignored the arts. They've cut the arts department in television, and now they're cutting drama on radio."

If you're a radio drama lover, I suggest you write to Tim Davie to complain about his decision: c/o BBC Broadcasting House, London W1A 1AA.

Coming back to current radio drama output, there have been some good offerings since the last review in September. 'This Cultural Life' has disappeared from the Monday afternoon slot, which is a welcome change; it was not helpful to have a non-drama repeat in the drama slot. It's been replaced by regular 30-minute comedy repeats; not ideal but certainly an improvement. Of these, for me, the highlight has been a very amusing series, PLUM HOUSE, by Ben Cottam and Paul McKenna. "Every year, thousands of tourists flock to the Lake District. But one place they never go to is Plum House - the former country home of terrible poet George Pudding (1779-1848). Now a crumbling museum, losing money hand over fist, it struggles to stay open under its eccentric curator Peter Knight (Simon Callow) and his equally eccentric staff" (BBC blurb, slightly edited).

We've also had episodes of JACK AND MILLIE by Jeremy Front, and HENNIKAY by David Spicer. These programmes brightened the recent gloom of Monday afternoons as we approached the shortest day.

Hattie Naylor's latest play, THE ENGLISH ARE COMING (R4, 1500, 12 Oct 24), highlighted the housing crisis in Cornwall, where houses to buy or rent are often too expensive for local people so are bought by outsiders as second homes or to be let as 'Air B & B. Acts of protest land residents in trouble when the fight between locals and the English escalate. There are flashbacks to the distant past, where struggles between rich and poor were similarly common for different reasons. Sofia Oxenham played Sadie and Morwenna, Susan Penhaligon played Rowena and Lina and Tristan Sturrock was Richard and Peter. Sound design was by Adam Woodhams and the producer was Nicolas Jackson; an indie production by Afonica.

At the end of October we had a two-part special by Sebastian Baczkiewicz: PILGRIM - BELLE MEADOW FAYRE, (R4, 1415, beginning 30 Oct 24). Each year at Belle Meadow Fayre, the Greyfolk meet to celebrate the burial of John Barleycorn, a ritual to mark autumn's end. But this year there’s a problem: Old Johnny John John has gone missing. Autumn shows no sign of abating and without the sacred ceremony at Belle Meadow, winter will not come. William Palmer must sort it out. Pilgrim was played by Paul Hilton, with Toby Jones as Vass and Holli Dempsey as Kara. Sound was by Peter Ringrose and the producer was Sasha Yevtushenko. Episodes of 'Pilgrim' are invariably absorbing and impossible to switch off; I hope more will be written from time to time.

One play which wasn't an easy listen was IF IT KILLS ME (R4, 1415, 13 Nov 24), by Eve Steele. The story: Charlotte was a dancer who led an active life until a bout of Covid 19 transformed into Long Covid. Now her life is on hold. She can no longer do the job she loves or participate fully in ordinary day-to-day activity. But then she becomes involved in something which finally brings her back to life. The play is inspired by the writer's real-life experience of the illness.

Risk factors for Long Covid are higher age, being female, having asthma, and having had a more severe initial infection of the virus, which seems to have leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. There are no validated effective treatments. Over 400 million people globally have experienced Long Covid. Reparations from China (and the description "China Virus") would be appropriate; I have personal knowledge of two friends whose mobility has been severely compromised by the virus; one of them managed to climb the stairs for the first time in September 2024, four years after she was infected. The second, a walking partner of mine, can still only manage a couple of hundred yards before running out of breath.

...And returning to the play ... Charlotte was played by the writer, Remi by Tachia Newall and Jasmine by Sade Malone. Sound Design was by Sharon Hughes; production was by Gary Brown.

The Saturday Play THE MARKOV FILE (R4, 1500, 16 Nov 24) looked at the life of Georgi Markov, a man posthumously famous for the way in which he was assassinated in 1978. He was a writer and novelist who hated the communist system in his native country, Bulgaria, and was not afraid the speak truth to powerful people. This is not always a goodstrategy, and he eventually decamped to England where he worked for the BBC on their Bulgarian network. Excerpts from 'The Guardian' newspaper ran as follows:

9 Sep 78 - "Ivanov Markov, aged 49, died yesterday in a London hospital of septicaemia, a form of blood poisoning. Before he died he claimed that he had been stabbed with an umbrella by a stranger who bumped into him last Thursday evening in the Strand. Mr Markov was on his way from work with the BBC Bulgarian service at Bush House. Mr Peter Frankel, the head of the BBC East European Services, described Mr Markov as an “outstanding broadcaster and writer. A puncture mark was found on Mr Markov’s thigh, but the fact that his death did not lead to a post-mortem examination immediately may mean that the police are sceptical about Mr Markov’s known fears of the Bulgarian secret agents."

12 Sep 78 - "A post-mortem examination is to be held today to determine what killed him".

The examination revealed that a minutely-engineered metallic sphere impregated with ricin had been administered from the tip of an umbrella; this had led to septicaemia and death. It was also revealed that another man had been similarly attacked some time before, but the poison had been removed in time to save his life.

Markov was played by Simon McBurney, with Christopher Ecclestone as President Zhivkov and Lucy Phelps as Zlatka. The producer was Hunter Charlton; an Indie production by Ember Productions.

In 2023, the late radio writer Oliver Emanuel was part-way through writing a new play for radio when something happened to him and he found he could no longer read. This is his story: part audio play and part autobiography: ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DAYS (R4, 1415, 21 Nov 24). A man and a woman are caught in a rip tide, the life they might have had together flashing in front of their eyes. Another man and woman are caught in an impossible situation, the life they have together flashing in front of their eyes. The broadcast is drawn from The Great Wave: Oliver's unfinished radio play and from 'All My Reading': his creative response to the experience of brain cancer. The two pieces of writing were edited together by Vicky Beesley, Oliver's partner, and Kirsty Williams. It was performed by Robin Laing, Shauna Macdonald and Robert Jack. Sound Design was by Fraser Jackson and the producer was Kirsty Williams.

ONE EIGHTY, FAN (R4, 1415,26 Nov 24 ) by Ali Taylor began as a comedy but progressed into a rather touching love story. Two middle-aged neighbours, both down on their luck, are brought together when they reluctantly decide to reduce their energy costs by sharing an oven. The man was played by Grant O'Rourke and the woman by Sally Reid. Sound design was by Kris McKonnachie and the producer was Kirsty Williams.

Ali Taylor has written other plays for radio; there was a family drama in 2020 which was well-received, and in 2008 we had "Eight feet high and Rising", where an excessively tall recluse lives with his mother who's too fat to leave the house.

Simon Wu's murder mystery THE CURSE OF THE FIVE ELEMENTS - FIRE (R4, 1415, 27 Nov 24) was set in the Sung Dynasty, nearly a thousand years ago. The protagonist, Judge Bao (999 - 1062) was a real person, the illegitimate child of an African father and Chinese mother. He became the most famous judge in Chinese history. As for the story: On the wedding night of a well-to-do couple, the groom is murdered and his bride vanishes, linked to a five-element curse (fire, metal, water, wood, earth). By chance, Judge Bao is in town and begins investigating the mystery. Judge Bao was played by John MacMillan, Tiger by Jon Chew, with Emma Fischer and Liz Sutherland-Lim. The producer was Shan Ng, for Indie company Naked Productions. This was a repeat from 2020 which I missed first time around.

We were treated to a three-part thriller by Philip Palmer on three successive days in early December; PRECIOUS BLOOD (R4, 1415, beginning 3 Dec 24). It is set in a small community where everyone knows everybody. In the recent past, a much-loved choirmaster has died; his disgraced son attends the funeral. Why is the son disgraced? Because he was found guilty of torching the local school, and some children died as a result.

But in this thriller, nothing is quite what it seems. The beginning of the plot is plot is initially difficult to follow (intentionally, I think), but with each twist of the story, a little bit more is revealed and it becomes clearer. A pillar of the community is found to be involved in a 'cold case' shelved many years ago by the police, and a lot of old wounds are opened, including the discovery of a murder. Then when everything seems to be resolved and the play's almost over, there's a terrific twist at the end; Rodney Wingfield would have been proud of it. Ifor was played by Owen Teale, Michael by Oliver Ryan and Eddie by Richard Corgan. The producer was Gemma Jenkins.

It's a hundred years since the death of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin. Since then his body has been on almost constant display in his own mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow. Orlando Wells' comedy, LENIN FOREVER (R4, 1415, 11 Dec 24) tells the story of the two scientistsgiven the task of preserving the body of the founder of the Soviet Union - forever. It's set in 1924; Lenin is dead and Stalin has seized power and his shadow falls over the lives of millions of Russians. A group of senior Bolsheviks want to build a shrine to their deceased leader. The Communist regime is still in its infancy and a personality cult based on Lenin might help legitimise Russia's new leaders. The scientists take on the task and are under no illusions about the consequences of failure. Probably a labour camp - if they are lucky.

Some historical background: Pathologist Alexei Ivanovich Abrikosov embalmed Lenin's body shortly after his death to prevent its rapid decomposition. Then in early March 1924, when preparations for permanent preservation were being formulated, two well-known chemists, Vladimir Vorobyov and Boris Zbarsky, suggested embalming him with a chemical mixture to prevent the corpse from decomposing, dehydrating, and changing colour and shape. After a series of government meetings and inspections, they got the go-ahead to give it a try. For several months, a team of scientists set about whitening his skin and formulating the correct chemical mixture. Under considerable pressure from Soviet officials, they worked day and night.

It was fairly successful, but it's a fact of life that dead bodies need constant attention to remain intact, and in 1925, Boris and Vladimir persuaded the Soviet government to replace the wooden structure with stone after mould was found in the walls and also on the body. Regular re-embalming was then decided upon - and from that day to this, scientists have visited the mausoleum every few days to check on the corpse, where it is preserved under carefully monitored conditions of temperature and lighting. Every 18 months the body is taken to a lab beneath the dimly-lit viewing room to be re-embalmed and washed.

This is Orlando's first radio play; an excellent script and production made it a most enjoyable listen. Vladimir was played by Matthew Steer, Boris by Ashley Margolis and Faina by Rhiannon Neads. Sound was by Peter Ringrose and the producer was Sasha Yevtushenko.

BARTHOLOMEW ABOMINATIONS (R4, 1500, 15 Dec 24) was a re-working by Paul Sirett of a classic play by Ben Johnson. In the original, Bartholomew Fair, the writer takes a swipe at the narrow-minded puritanism of the early 1600s, as well as poking fun at all of its characters. Bartholomew Fair was a popular summer fair taking place in Aldersgate, London, once a year from 1133 until 1855 and lasting a fortnight and is the setting of the original play.

Paul's version is a reinvention for the present day and focuses on the perils of politicians basing their policies on group identity. It reflects on narrow-minded disability discrimination and English nationalism. The story is set in 2032, at an annual event where suitors must find the perfect partner (non-disabled and English) to avoid deportation.

The play is the result of a collaboration between Indie companies Naked Productions and Graeae Theatre. Mrs. Purecraft was played by Liz Carr, John by Jack Hunter and Ursula by Chloe Ewart. The producers were Jenny Sealey and Polly Thomas.

There have been other programmes which I've missed; the autumn is a particularly busy time for apple breeders and my listening time is limited. However I've recorded a few items for later listening. Firstly there's been a further series of 'Trust', the comedy drama set in a school, which won an award last year. There's been a 3-part adaptation of 'Little Dorrit' by Mike Walker and a 3-part adaptation of Our Mutual Friend by Dan Rebellato; both of these are bound to be highly listenable. There has also been a 10-part series by Goldhawk about the CIA, and I caught half an episode of one of the Frank Bascombe dramatizations which seemed extremely good.

Finally, another word about radio drama in general. The amount of commissioning by BBC Radio 4, as mentioned earlier, has been reduced from 600 to 300 hours, and on top of that, radio 3 drama is to be abandoned. It does not take a genius to work out that fewer writers, producers and production staff will be needed, and I imagine that voluntary and compulsory redundancies have been taking place, and discussions about closures of BBC departments and studios.

For an organization which is supposed to support culture and the Arts, and which has repeatedly stated how much it values radio drama, this is a sorry state of affairs.

If you feel strongly about it, please write to the BBC to express your views; it may help limit the damage. My experience of dealing with administrators is that they generally take more notice of letters than emails; they're not so easy to ignore, so I suggest you use the post, and send a copy of the letter to your local newspaper - and why not copy it to one of the nationals. Also, a hand-written letter will probably get more attention than one produced on a computer; it's impossible to fake it or produce it by cutting and pasting. But however you do it - please do write! - to Tim Davie, Director-General, BBC, Broadcasting House, London W1A 1AA.

ND / 22 Dec 2024

Back to top