Juliet Ace (1938-2025) on BBC Radio
Juliet Ace (1938-2025)
Well-known radio writer who has done lots of well-known work, including episodes of "The Archers" (1985-1988: 25 episodes). I met Juliet some years ago and didn't realise how much radio work she had done.
Some internet research revealed the following: Juliet Ace, born 27 June 1938, was a dramatist and playwright who wrote for EastEnders and The District Nurse. She has contributed many original scripts and dramatisations to BBC Radio drama. Her screenplay for the Welsh film Cameleon saw the movie win the Golden Spire Award for Best Dramatic Television Feature at the 1998 San Francisco International Film Festival.
Juliet was the third daughter of Charles and Glenys Ace, born and brought up in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire in South Wales. She was educated at Llanelli Girls' Grammar School, City of Coventry Training College, specialising in Drama and Art, and the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama.
She taught for three years in St Mary Cray before joining a children's theatre and then working in The Grand Theatre, Swansea for two seasons, in weekly repertory. In 1964, she began to work in Special Education, working with children with special needs.
She married Richard Alexander in 1966, after which she moved to Dartmouth in Devon where her husband worked as a civilian lecturer in The Britannia Royal Naval College.
Juliet began writing plays in 1976 after taking part in an Arvon Foundation Writing Course.
In 1979 she won a Gulbenkian Foundation/Arts Council of Great Britain Award to work with professional directors and actors on new writing. As a result of this workshop her first play, Speak No Evil was produced first as a stage play in Bristol and then as a radio play, directed by Enyd Williams.
Juliet trained as a teacher and taught in primary schools. Many of her plays were autobiographical and described life growing up in Wales, her communist uncles, and her two experiences of cancer.
As well as writing Juliet appeared on stage and on television (eg The Fox, BBC2, 6th January 1989)
Semi-autobiographical radio plays with the character Mattie Jones:
8 May 1998 The Captain's Wife R4/AP Ned Chaillet Patricia Hodge. [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. BBC blurb: As the years pass, a navy spouse moves from craving conformity to rebellion.]14 May 1999 The New Look: Tailor's Tacks R4 Tanya Nash Stephanie Wookey and Jennifer Hill [It is 1946 and Mattie is often hearing things she should not.]
21 May 1999 The New Look: Beeny's Camiknickers R4/AP Tanya Nash Stephanie Wookey and Jennifer Hill [In the winter of 1947, Mattie spends most of her time with Beeny in the bakery, where she learns to make faggots and discovers the perils of flirting with boys.]
28 May 1999 The New Look: Celluloid Lady Tanya Nash Stephanie Wookey and Jennifer Hill [It is 1948 and Mattie is fascinated by Mona Morgan and her daydreams about Hollywood film stars, as she pulls pints in her father's pub.]
21 August 2000 Small Parts R4/AP Ned Chaillet Patricia Hodge. [Seduced by the theatre, Mattie joins a repertory company in Wales where she finds that the quick-change artistry of bit parts is a kind of preparation for life.]
27 September 2002 Blind R4/AP Gilly Adams Mali Harries and Jennifer Hill. [ Mattie has reached adolescence. She is 15 and frustrated because she has to spend her Saturdays cooking for her grandfather and her blind aunt when what she really wants to do is speculate about sex and boys with her friend Merle or bury her head in yet another book.]
20 February 2004 Mattie and Bluebottle R4/AP Alison Hindell Mali Harries, Mared Swain and Matthew Gravelle. [Mattie Jones is on the brink of leaving home. It's 1955 and she is 17 years old, studying (so she pretends) for her 'A' Levels. Her parents have said she must go to teacher training college but Mattie still dreams of becoming an actress.]
8 March 2004 Skin Ned Chaillet R4/AP Patricia Hodge. [Shedding her clothes on a naturist beach only to be asked for her autograph]
19th March 2020 Moving the Goalposts R4 Tracey Neale. Pam Ferris. [80-year-old Mattie is given 18 months to live which allows Mattie the golden opportunity to plan her future. There's a will to make, a funeral to organise and possessions to give away. It's an empowering experience. But then she doesn't die. Four years later she's left with limited mobility and exhaustion - a condition she shares with many cancer patients who are supposedly cured of the disease. But Mattie is irrepressible and refuses to submit. ]
[Also Upside Down in the Baking Tin, reflecting Mattie's life seen over many Christmases. Not broadcast but released on an "AudioGo" Audiobook, Patricia Hodge.] [AudioGo ceased business in 2013 and their BBC titles were licensed to Random House. "Mattie, A Liberated Woman" is available (2025) on Audible, and includes The Captain's Wife, Small Parts, Skin and Upside down in a Baking Tin]
=====================================
=====================================
Other radio plays:
16 September 1980 (1105) Speak No Evil R4/30MT Enyd Williams Elizabeth Morgan, John Griffiths and Rhys Powis [Runner-up Society of Authors/Pye Awards 1981]
5 February 1983 (1405) Dreams Remembered R4/30MT Shaun MacLaughlin Steve Hodson, Petra Markham, Sean Barrett and Jo Anderson
10 December 1983 (1405) A Time Between Comets R4/AT Enyd Williams Iwan Jones, Rhys Thomas, Simon Williams and Guto Harri [A South Wales village]
7 August 1984 Model Answers or, Tarzan and the Cross-eyed Baby R4/AT Shaun MacLaughlin Elizabeth Proud and Marcus D'Amico. Runner-up Sony Awards
18 February 1986 Embroideries R4/AP Shaun MacLaughlin Stephen Thorne and Elizabeth Proud. [A play about how we mis-hear.]
25 February 1986 (1100) The Red Shoes R4/30MT Penny Gold Anna Massey, Martin Jarvis and Natasha Pyne
13 May 1986 Jonathan George Can Walk on the Water R4/AP Shaun MacLauglin Peter Jeffrey and Shirley Dixon
18 May 1986 Embroideries. R4/AP Shaun MacLoughlin Stephen Thorne,Elizabeth Proud
[Have the Goods become a little smug and what do the neighbours think?]
30 October 1988 – 18 December 1988 Crown House R4 Graham Gauld Martin Jarvis, Jane Asher, Margaret Rawlings Adapted by Juliet Ace and Peter Ling from Peter Ling's trilogy of Crown House novels. Serial. Eight 30-minute episodes.
17 November 1988 Digressions R4 Shaun MacLaughlin Jenny Funnell, Petra Markham, Natasha Pyne [On the 125 train from Paddington she reminisces, fantasises and observes]
8 January 1990 The Spur R4/MP Shaun MacLaughlin Christian Rodska, Anthony Jackson, Vincent Brimble and Anne Morrish [Land deals, an ex-farmer and an illegal cock-fighting ring.]
22 November 1990 Lobby Talk R4 Shaun MacLaughlin Andrew Sachs, Stephen Thorne, Steve Hodson, Christian Rodska, Kim Wall, [Written with Vic Aiken] [In the early 1980s in the Hotel Commodore, Beirut, there lived a famous parrot called Coco. He was the favourite of the war correspondents, which was why Walid the barman was intensely jealous of him.]
25 September 1991. Crown Papers. R4. Tracey Neale. Dinah Sheridan, Geoffrey Whitehead. [Six part series written with Peter Ling]
2 November 1991 The Little Walls R4/SP Ned Chaillet Alex Jennings, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Kate Bufferey, Vivian Pickles, Norman Jones, [Adapted from novel by Winston Graham] [Philip has returned to Europe from America after his brother appears to commit suicide in Amsterdam. His search for the truth takes him from England to Holland and Italy.]
10 March 1992 (1400) Jacob's Folly Penny Gold R4/30MT Jennie Linden, Paola Dionisotti and John Church
4 January 1993 Brassic R5 [8 parts]
8 April 1993 Truth Confined R4/AP Shaun McLoughlin David Learner, Charles Simpson, Melinda Walker and Kate Binchy [Sicily during the second world war - Between the time of the court martial and execution of a soldier]
5 January 1994. Kiss Me Quick. R5 Comedy Soap series. (20 episodes, 7 by Juliet Ace)
7 August 1995 Twin Reaction – Part One: Look Again R4 Shaun MacLoughlin Jenny Funnell, Carolyn Backhouse, Eric Allen, Cornelius Garrett [Also listed as Twin Reactions] [Alice and Belinda are identical twins. They have always wanted to be detectives, and because of a computer error, they begin at the same North London police station on the same day.]
14 August 1995 Twin Reaction – Part Two: Come Follow R4 Shaun MacLoughlin
21 August 1995 Twin Reaction – Part Three: Double Trouble R4 Shaun MacLoughlin [ I recall a very unpleasant rape scene in this episode -ND]
9 October 1995 Zinar's Tower R4/MP Shaun MacLoughlin Zia Mohyeddin and Karzan Krekar
[A Kurdish council tenant living on the 23rd floor of a North London tower block is joined by other Kurdish refugees, each with a tale to tell.]
30 August 1997 Love Story R4/SP Ned Chaillet Ingri Damon, Mark Leake, Patrick Allen, Sheila Allen [What do you say about a twenty-five year old girl who died? That she was brilliant? That she loved Mozart and Bach. And the Beatles. And me.],
6-10 December 1999 Her Infinite Variety R4 Woman's Hour. Serial. Five 15 minute plays
1. Writing to Veronica Ned Chaillet Eleanor Moriarty [Faced with parental disapproval of the boy of her choice, at least a young Juliet of today has the internet and an agony aunt.]
2. Talking to my Shrink Sarah Brown Gavin Muir and Gemma Saunders [Confronted by the increasingly maddening behaviour of her boyfriend, a Nineties Ophelia discusses the nature of insanity with her psychotherapist. ]
3. Diary of a Dutiful Daughter Ned Chaillet Anna Massey [Faced with a doddering dad and a nursing home she runs as a business, what can a modern Goneril do but offer him the box room? ]
4. And All That Jazz Ned Chaillet Bette Bourne [Count Orso offers a modern Viola a spectacular twelfth night, with a wardrobe beyond most cross- dressers' dreams. ]
5. Dirty Linen Ned Chaillet Elizabeth Bell and Oliver Cotton.[Everyone thought Rocky would tame the shrewish Cat, but 20 years on, their tempestuous marriage is played out in a national newspaper.].
24 January 2000 Private Papers R4 Woman's Hour. Tanya Nash Angela Pleasence, Nichola McAuliffe, Simon Armstrong [A family history: BBC blurb: Rosemary finds some papers, written by her mother, hidden at the back of a drawer. They contain her mother's version of their family history. Rosemary secretly adds her views].[10 parts] [Adapted from Margaret Forster]
22 January 2001 Young Victoria R4/Woman's Hour Serial Cherry Cookson Imogen Stubbs, Anna Massey, (In ten parts)
3 December 2001 Money for Old Rope R4/AP Gilly Adams Di Botcher, Aled Pugh and Jennifer Vaughan [Taking a few pills in the interests of scientific research and extra cash should not be a problem, but Jason finds there are unexpected consequences. ]
1 September 2001 The Marseilles Trilogy: Marius R4/SP Ned Chaillet Richard Johnson, Simon Scardifield, Monica Dolan and Andrew Sachs [Adapted from Marcel Pagnol translated by Margaret Jarman] [Marius feels the pull of the sea, and is prepared to sacrifice his family and his love for beautiful Fanny to fulfil his dreams.]
8 September 2001 The Marseilles Trilogy: Fanny R4/SP Ned Chaillet Monica Dolan, Richard Johnson, Andrew Sachs and Simon Scardifield. [Adapted from Marcel Pagnol translated by Margaret Jarman] [The story of a lovely young woman abandoned by Marius, who is unaware she is pregnant.]
15 September 2001 The Marseilles Trilogy: César R4/SP Ned Chaillet Richard Johnson, Simon Scardifield, Monica Dolan, Andrew Sachs. [Adapted from Marcel Pagnol translated by Margaret Jarman] [Twenty years after the events of the first play, the sad comedy of lost love is touched by a rich comedy of death and disclosure. A mother's secrets send her son off in search of a father he never knew.]
12 December 2003 Dead-Heading the Roses R4/AP Ned Chaillet Jill Balcon, Daniel Day-Lewis, Cheryl Campbell, Graham Crowden and William Hootkin/ [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.]
23 February 2004 – 5 March 2004 The L-Shaped Room R4 Woman's Hour Serial Alison Hindell Lynne Seymour, Trevor Laird, John McAndrew, Bill Wallis and John Rowe [In ten parts, adapted from Lynne Reid Banks] [Jane, pregnant and unmarried in her L-shaped bedsit]
16 May 2005 The Backward Shadow R4/Woman's Hour SerialAlison Hindell Siriol Jenkins, Rachel Atkins, Simon Ludders [Ten-part sequel to The L-Shaped Room, adapted from Lynne Reid Banks.] [Single mum Jane living with her baby in an inherited property.]
13 December 2006 Chocolate Frigates R4/AP Tracey Neale Todd Carty, Lindsey Coulson, Jamie Kenna and Nick Sayce. [Jack prepares a leaving dinner for his captain whilst his own son is in action in Iraq. He thinks 'stiff upper lip', but his family don't see how things can be normal.]
2 June 2008 Shredder R4/AP Jane Morgan Gwen Taylor, Stephen Thorne, Avril Elgar, Helen Longworth. [Bella wants to go to her grave confident that her children will never know what a wicked woman she once was. But not even a shredder can wholly destroy the past.]
30MT=30-Minute Theatre
AT=Afternoon Theatre AP=Afternoon Play AD=Afternoon Drama
SP=Saturday Play
Nigel Deacon, Diversity website, 2020; updated by Stephen Shaw in 2025.
