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INTRODUCTION

Don Haworth has won three Giles Cooper Awards for his radio plays. Most people have never heard of Don Haworth. Radio writers, unless they are already established in other branches of the entertainment industry, tend to be the unsung heroes of the air waves.

Writing a radio drama requires special skills. Don Haworth says that the secret lies in the rhythm of the words. Listeners' attention can be attracted by the flow and the tempi of the dialogue, irrespective of its content. The radio writer needs to know how to be concise without his audience losing the thread of the sory. When things start getting complicated the listener can't flick back a few pages to refresh his memory of the plot.

Then there's the question of sound effects. How often, and how much; always a controversial point.

Don Haworth himself is no stranger to awards. As a documentary TV producer he has won a British Academy Award, and with his first attempt at autobiography covering the years 0 to 7, which he called 'Figures in a Bygone Landscape - a Lancashire Childhood' he won the Portico Prize.

His delightful sense of humour pervades his work, and this interview explores the many aspects of radio writing and uses excerpts from his plays as illustrations.

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