Notices 2016

NIGEL ANTHONY on R4
Alistair has been busy working on the Nigel Anthony radio 4 list. 1967-1976 has now been compiled.

28 Dec 2016

DECEMBER RADIO DRAMA REVIEW
It has been a good three months for radio drama. Click the link to read my highlights since September, plus some remarks about the Imison Award.

28 Dec 2016

UK INTERNATIONAL RADIO DRAMA FESTIVAL, HERNE BAY
I have just received details of this interesting radio drama event from the festival producer, Niger Asije. The UK International Radio Drama Festival is jointly organised by Moving Theatre Trust Ltd and the Herne Bay Town Partners. This year is their third such event. It is free to all broadcasting organisations and independent producers of broadcast audio drama.

Submissions are invited, and details of what is suitable for submission are on the links below:

Press release........ Regulations........ Submission form

12 Dec 2016

AUDIO DRAMA AWARDS SHORTLIST
This has just been released by the BBC. It doesn't include the Imison or Tinniswood, which will be announced later by the Writers' Guild and the Society of Authors. I see Nick Warburton is in there again, and the superb 'trial' episode of 'The Archers'.

4 Dec 2016

NUMBERS, APR-DEC 2016
Visitor totals and most-visited writers' and producers' pages:
Apr 13328 (Don Taylor 377, Jimmy Chinn 112, Wally K Daly 106, David Spenser 65)
May 12999 (Archie Campbell 98, Gary Brown 96, Wally K Daly 92, John Fletcher 91)
Jun 13056 (Gary Brown 113, Liz Morgan 111, Archie Campbell 102, Michael Davies 101)
Jul: 14247 (Michael Davies 220, Gary Brown 201, Archie Campbell 184, John Fletcher 180)
Aug: 17565 (Rodney Wingfield 188, N.Warburton 162, Alan Plater 117, P.Tinniswood 100)
Sep: 15943 (Wally K Daly 195, D Lowe-Watson 131, N. Warburton 130, R. Wingfield 112)
Oct: 16940 (Wally K Daly 186, Rodney Wingfield 167, P.Tinniswood 141, Gary Brown 138)
Nov: 15251 (David Spenser 322, Wally K Daly 181, James Barrie 178, R.Wingfield 142)
Dec: 15374 (Andrew Sachs 166, Dave Sheasby 164, Alex Ferguson 149, R.Wingfield 107)

DOUGLAS LIVINGSTONE
New web page for a set of interesting dramas - the 'road' plays done in conjunction with Jane Morgan, radio producer and cricket fan. Take a look.

29 Nov 2016

THE STROMA SESSIONS
....an interesting drama on R3, 30 Oct; still available on listen-again. THE STROMA SESSIONS is a fictional tale about a group of musicians who want to record some music in the abandoned buildings on the wild and lonely Scottish island of Stroma, which was abandoned by its remaining inhabitants about fifty years ago. They travel there by boat, and plan to stay for a month, but very little goes according to plan.The author of this strange tale is Timothy Atack, also known for his creepy play "Phonophone" and 'The Morpeth Carol' (both 2015, R4).

9 Nov 2016

THREE SCORE AND TEN: RADIO 3 SOUND FRONTIERS
BBC blurb: "BBC Radio 3 and Southbank Centre have joined together to celebrate 70 years since the founding of the Third Programme and look to the future with two weeks of immersive and inspiring live broadcasts, performances and events."

Alistair Wyper has supplied some comments below on this project....(....Thank you, AW)

From the R3 website: "Ian McMillan presents a series celebrating 70 years of Radio 3's recording of poets and poetry since it was launched as the Third Programme in September 1946".

There are some interesting re-broadcasts here among the 50 episodes, each quite brief, only a few minutes long. Radio 3 is also re-broadcasting some other programmes to mark the 70 years since it began; for example, a programme about the film critic Philp French. Unfortunately Radio 3 does not seem to have grouped these coherently under the rubric of "Three Score and Ten", making it necessary to keep one's eye open for such programmes within the Radio 3 schedule.

SOUND FRONTIERS: THE PRESENT EXPERIMENT
By Robin Brooks. Drama on 3, Thursday 29 Sep 16: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07wrnb1 as part of http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07xf27z i

I enjoyed this curious, if rather self-referential radio drama which was very amusing although despite being a radio fan, I am sure I did not get all of the Third Programme in-jokes. It charts the run up to the first night of the Third Programme's broadcasting on 29 September 1946.and the first night itself. There was clearly some telescoping of history because the drama being broadcast was very like Louis MacNeice's "The Dark Tower", which was not broadcast until Monday 4 November 1946. The other puzzle for me as that all the real people involved including Guy Burgess who was a staff producer were given their real names yet the author of the drama was given the fictional name Lawrence O'Neill, even though it was, to this listener at least, clearly Louis MacNeice.

Alistair Wyper

1 Nov 2016

NEIL GAIMAN
A short sequel to 'Neverwhere' is being broadcast as an afernoon play on 4 Nov, R4, 1415: "How the Marquis got his coat back". The details are here:

Short story adapted by Dirk Maggs.The Marquis de Carabas has lost his coat, but getting it back brings him face to face with an old enemy and makes him accept help from someone rather close to home. Marquis de C: Paterson Joseph, Peregrine: Adrian Lester, Shepherd: Don Warrington, Drusilla, Chanterelle and jewellery seller: Amelia Lowdell, sheepdog man, tattooist, market barker and patient: Tom Alexander, Elephant: Mitch Benn, Vince: Divian Ladwa, Old Bailey: Bernard Cribbins, Hammersmith, Dunnekin and book hawker: Ben Crowe, Knibbs, woman and clothes hawker: Samantha Beart, Floating dentist man, Pokefinger and sheepdog men: Theo Maggs. Producer: Heather Larmour. BBC Northern Ireland.

............It's time to slip between the cracks in the pavement and enter subterranean London, Neil Gaiman's nightmarish view of the capital in which the three keys for survival are: do not trust anyone, never accept a gift, and always mind the gap. Paterson Joseph plays the Marquis; in Neverwhere it was David Harewood (.....summarised from Jane Anderson's notes in RT).

29 Oct 2016

NEW PAGES
Most of the pages on Nigel Anthony have now been compiled. The longest listing (his r4 appearances; well over a thousand of them) is being compiled by Alistair Wyper; it will be some time (obviously) before this is complete and online.

We also have a listing for Radio 3, 1996, compiled by Stephen Shaw; many thanks, Stephen.

5 Oct 2016

IMISON & TINNISWOOD RADIO DRAMA AWARDS
Call for entries - Jo McCrum is asking for entries, by Sept 29th.

The Imison Award has now been doubled, to £3,000, and the Tinniswood increased from £1500 to £2000.

Details of the Imison (best script by a newcomer) and Tinniswood (best radio script overall) are on the Imison and Tinniswood pages. If you are already familiar with the awards, there's a direct link to the application forms here:

Tinniswood application form ..... Imison application form

10 Sep 2016

NIGEL ANTHONY
Clive Lever writes :
I see from next week’s cast listings, that the judge in the much trailed trial of Helen Titchener is to be called Judge Loomis, and to be played by Nigel Anthony, the first time I’ve heard him in radio drama for a while. Looking on the internet, I discover that information about his contribution to radio drama is, to say the least, scant, and doesn’t do him justice, especially as he’s appeared in radio productions spanning almost sixty years.

The earliest appearance I know about is the original fifties production of Giles Cooper’s Unman Wittering Zygo – he was also in the remake for radio 4 in, I think the seventies. May I suggest he gets a page of his own?

Productions I remember him appearing in would include: Unman, Wittering and Zigo, first time as one of the boys, and the second time in the lead role of the young teacher; The Music Lovers (Fear On Four); Nicholas Nichleby; John Fowles’ The Collector; Waggoners Walk (1972 I believe).

(When time permits I will make a start on this, unless someone else would like to have a go - Ed).

Clive adds.....
I’ve just checked, and the original production of Unman, Wittering, Zygo went out in 1958, when Anthony was just seventeen. This means that with his upcoming appearance as Judge Loomis in the Archers’ Tithchener trial, his radio acting career will have spanned fifty-eight years – more if he featured in any radio productions prior to 1958 which I don’t know about. Is this a record? If so, perhaps it should be celebrated with a three-hour Nigel Anthony special in the R4 Extra Saturday Morning slot.

3 Sep 2016

Update - this is being tackled by Alistair Wyper and Barry Hodge. If any radio actor or producer who has worked with Nigel would like to contribute, please email me using the link at the side of the page.

SHORT SATURDAY PLAYS
The last two Saturday Plays have been 45m, not 60. I hope this is not the beginning of a trend.

13 Aug 2016

Update - BH tells me that he has looked at the current commissioning guidelines. The three Clinton plays were indeed 45 minutes but future Saturday Plays are still planned to be 60m or 90m.

2 Sep 2016

KATIE HIMS
Excellent radio play "Poetry in Motion", about five people on a train. Do not miss.

6 Aug 2016

LIFE LINES
Outstanding drama on R4 Extra about a young woman on the sharp end of the '999' phone line. Can't remember the writer... available on listen-again as an Omnibus edition - it was 5 x 15 drama I think. Thanks Jerry for alerting me to this.

3 Aug 2016

PRIMO LEVY - THE PERIODIC TABLE
Primo Levy's book "The Periodic Table" consists of a series of short tales, reminiscences and other episodes. He was a chemist and many of these 'chips' from his workbench are autobiographical or have a chemical twist; each one is given the title of one of the elements. For part of WW2 Primo was incarcerated in Auschwitz and was one of the minority which survived. 11 dramatizations of varying lengths are being broadcast, adapted for radio by Graham White, July 18-24, and are available as downloads on listen-again.

20 Jul 2016

PHILIP PALMER: COLD WAR SEASON
Philip Palmer: 12-13 July 2016, "Keeping the wolf out". Summary of Gillian Reynolds' remarks in RT: Part of R4's Cold War season; this is a detective drama set in Communist Hungary in 1963. A former member of the secret police has been found brutally murdered. Special investigator Bertalan Lazar tries to find the killer. Not all his colleagues share his dedication to the task. Available on listen-again.

THE THIRD PROGRAMME
Alistair Wyper has now researched the page for 1954; radio drama as it was sixty-two years ago. It is well worth a look; lots of famous names on there: Martyn C Webster, Raymond Raikes, Douglas Cleverdon, Terence Tiller, Fred Bradnum, E.J. King Bull, Henry Reed, Donald McWhinnie ... Many thanks, Alistair.

14 Jul 2016

STEPHEN WAKELAM
9 Jul 16: I note a broadcast of THE JINX ELEMENT, a Stephen Wakelam play of which I was unaware, on R4 Extra. I think it is probably a repeat - here's a summary of the RT listing: ...the story of Edith Wharton's affair with journalist Morton Fullerton, seen through the eyes of her friend Henry James. The play looks at how the affair changed her attitude to her marriage and her work. Sorry about the late notice, but it will be on listen-again.

10 Jul 2016

PODCASTS, BBC DRAMA
Each week, BBC Radio broadcasts about eight and a half hours of radio drama. The podcast 'drama of the week' chooses one of these as a highlight and makes it available as an mp3 download. The DT also gives the symbols bbc.in/29dluCp which is presumably the search term for the download.

GUY MEREDITH & ROALD DAHL
From Gillian Reynolds' column in DT: 'Way Out East' is a new comedy by Guy Meredith, about a group of ex-pats sharing a flat in Hong Kong. R4, 11 Jul, R4, 11.30 am. The cast includes John Gordon Sinclair, Samantha Bond and Nicky Henson; producer Cherry Cookson. This is a series of six.

The centenary of Raold Dahl is marked by a lot of Dahl-related material including five newly-aired stories read by Charles Dance: R4 Extra, 2.30pm, 11-15 Jul 16. The abridgements are by Stephen Sheridan.

There's also a two-episode serial 'Robinson Crusoe' by Defoe, on R4X, Thurday and Friday afternoon at 3pm, and Moll Flanders coming up soon on R4, adapted by Nick Perry.

10 Jul 2016

Update - episode 1 of Moll Flanders contained the best one-liner I have heard in a radio play - made me "lol" - Ed.

NUMBERS, APR-SEP 2016
Visitor totals and most-visited writers' and producers' pages:
Apr 13328 (Don Taylor 377, Jimmy Chinn 112, Wally K Daly 106, David Spenser 65)
May 12999 (Archie Campbell 98, Gary Brown 96, Wally K Daly 92, John Fletcher 91)
Jun 13056 (Gary Brown 113, Liz Morgan 111, Archie Campbell 102, Michael Davies 101)
Jul: 14247 (Michael Davies 220, Gary Brown 201, Archie Campbell 184, John Fletcher 180)
Aug: 17565 (Rodney Wingfield 188, N.Warburton 162, Alan Plater 117, P.Tinniswood 100)
Sep: 15943 (Wally K Daly 195, D Lowe-Watson 131, N. Warburton 130, R. Wingfield 112)

GRAHAM GAULD
I am sorry to report the sad news that Graham Gauld died on Sunday, aged 87.

My friend Carol McShane, a former studio manager at the BBC, writes: "He was a very dear friend of some thirty years and I worked on many of his productions, all of which were meticulously planned and great fun".

Graham was for a period of about twenty years an amazingly prolific producer of radio plays. BBC Genome lists about 1400 items, and this listing is by no means complete; he probably had a hand in around 2000 broadcasts.

In 2007 we were discussing his production of 'A Dance to the Music of Time' by Anthony Powell - a mammoth production lasting 28 weeks with an enormous cast, and it occured to me that he might like to write a piece for us about his career and the people he had met. He agreed, and some weeks later, a bulky typewritten manuscript arrived in the post.

The content is shown on the following link:

Graham Gauld: Radio productions

24 Jun 2016

KEITH WILLIAMS
I have just learned of the death in Warminster of Keith Williams , in May 2015, after several years of illness. His wife Julie has kindly contacted me with enough information to compile a page about Keith's life. He created a considerable body of work in radio, was for several years a regular radio producer for the BBC, and became well-known for his work in TV and film. To read the page, please click the link. Many thanks for contacting us, Julie.

22 Jun 2016

DAVE SHEASBY
22 Jun: R4 Extra is broadcasting 'The Amazing Ratman Story', 45m:

R4 23 Aug 2000; An old man has a tale to tell about a piper and a town plagued with rats, but unless it makes good television, no-one wants to hear it. Stars Bernard Cribbins, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Colin Salmon; dir. Pam Fraser Solomon.

VAL GIELGUD
On 18 June, R4 Extra is broadcasting Sue Rodwell's adaptation of Val Gielgud's "Death at Broadcasting House" in which a radio actor is heard being strangled on-air. With John Moffatt, Peter Sallis, Graham Crowden, Roger May, Bill Nighy, Diana Quick, Julian Glover, Nicky Henson. From 1996.

PETER WHALLEY
A new Peter Whalley play is being broadcast on Fri 17 Jun.

GORDON HOUSE & RADIO DRAMA
New article: Mike Lloyd of Radiocircle (aka VRPCC) talks to radio producer Gordon House about his long career in radio drama. You must read the 'boat' anecdote!

14 Jun 2016

OLDER PLAYS ON RADIO4 EXTRA
Some interesting archive items coming up:

11 Jun 4pm Night of the Wolf, by (and with) Victor Pemberton. From 1975. A werewolf stalks the fens, and a judge fears the worst as he searches for his missing son. With Vincent Price, Coral Brown, Peter Whitman, Sheila Grant. I seem to remember Ed Bishop in the cast, too.

12 Jun, 4pm. Power of Attorney, by David Wade. An elderly aunt with pots of money is lucid one day and confused the next... this is a comedy about a financially-strapped young couple trying to get their hands on her money. Originally broadcast 1990.

12 Jun, 6pm. The Dark House, by Mike Walker. Interactive drama from 2003. Here's what I compiled at the time:

An interactive ghostly drama. Three people are trapped in a haunted building. ("Listeners can vote to decide whose perspective will be heard"-RT)

..extract from Radio Times from 1990:

"No-one can alter the fate of the three characters in a haunted house in this interactive drama, but listeners can change how they hear events unfold. "The drama will keep jumping from one character's point of view to another in response to the audience" says co-producer Izzy Mant. "Listeners can 'phone or text in at any point in the drama, and as many times as they like, to say which perspective they want to hear next."

In effect, the drama has been recorded in three different versions, each one from the point of view of a different character. With some newly created technology to collate all of the votes and switch the action every few minutes, the audience will shape its own chilling tale...... its impact is heightened for listeners in stereo by a binaural recording techniqu which produces a three-dimensional effect. The entire recording will be available to listeners to produce their individual versions after the broadcast."

...with Claudie Blakley, Alan Ford and Connie Gurie; producers Izzy Many and Nick Ryan. There was another "interactive" drama a few years ago written by Nick Fisher; details on his page. Readers might also like to read on Alan Ayckbourn's page how he has written plays with alternative endings and plays which run in parallel.

12 Jun 6.45pm. The Bognor Regis Vampire; 15m tale by James Brook, originally broadcast in the 'Just Before Midnight' series, 1979. A couple's diabolical guest gets more than he bargained for. Cast: Margot Boyd, Philip Voss, Cordon Dulieu and Tammy Ustinov.

7 Jun 2016

ANTI-BREXIT PROPAGANDA
Interested to see a mention of radio drama in the DT, 17 May 2016, in a piece by Toby Young. I am putting a precis of the 'radio' part of it below.

As a 'vote leave' campaigner, I've been pleasantly surprised by how even-handedly the BBC has covered the Brexit debate. It's a big improvement on the corporation's reporting on the EU in recent years.

My new respect for the BBC received a blow, however, when it devoted a whole day of programming to migration.

If you were looking for impartiality, you'd come to the wrong place. The entire day was like a broadcast for the Remain campaign.

I turned to the radio play hoping for some light relief; I'm a fan of "This House", James Graham's drama set in the House of Commons during the 1974-79 Labour government, but he just added a Corbynite twist to the pro-immigration propaganda.

His take on the subject was to write about internal economic migration within the UK, presumably in the hope of persuading narrow-minded Brexiteers that pulling up the drawbridge won't protect them from the global crisis of capitalism.

The two central characters, a couple called Alfie and Leah, were teachers in a secondary school, and because at comprehensives are so scandalously underpaid, they'd been forced to move in with Alfie's mother.

Leah explained to the listeners that, like Syrian refugees, they'd decided to uproot themselves from their community to escape poverty,and move to Scotland.

The subtext of the day was that anyone thinking of voting 'leave' is a barbarian, and that those who would like to control migration are mean-spirited.

(Please note that this is a precis of just part of Toby's article - if you wish to make comments, make sure you read the unedited original: in DT, 17 May 2016 - ND)

18 May 2016

JOHN FIELD and GOLDHAWK
An interesting addition to the schedules: a play by Alistair McGowan about John Field, the well-known Irish composer and father of the 'nocturne', on Tues 17 May at 2.15. There is a follow-up programme about John Field, presented by Alistair, on R4, 21 May.

There's also a four-part drama from Goldhawk beginning on 18 May, called 'School Drama'. This promises to be good.

15 May 2016

RENNY KRUPINSKY
Pleased to see that Renny Krupinsky's excellent comedy from 1988 "The Bright Red One" is to be broadcast on R4 Extra on Fri 29 April at 1pm and 8pm. If you've ever had trouble with the garage after buying a new car, you'll enjoy it. Stars John Baddely, Renny Krupinski, Camille Cadury, Caroline Gruber, Paul Gregory. Producer Janet Whitaker.

DIANA GRIFFITHS
I am sorry to report that our friend Diana Griffiths, radio playwright, has died.

Diana was a keen supporter of VRPCC (aka Radio Circle). She supplied us with recordings of her plays, those of her partner Stan Barstow, and the monologue "After Agincourt" by her ex-husband the late Peter Mottley.

Diana was well-known for her Classic Serial adaptations, especially the Zola novels. She also wrote our web page about Eric Ewens , whom she had known personally.

Requiescat in pace.

ALAN AYCKBOURN
Sir Alan Ayckbourn has said that playwrights are feeling the pressure to make their works shorter. He said that modern television is thriving on short scenes changing quickly.

This is not new to radio listeners; the main strength of radio drama is that scene changes are extremely easy.

He made the remarks at the Oxford Literary Festival. He said that he was making his plays shorter, his experience making it easier to edit down and make a script more focused. He added that it was a key part of a playwright's job to hold the audience's attention.

From a letter in the Daily Telegraph, 14 Apr 16:
Butlins anticipated the modern trend for shorter plays years ago. All the camps had a repertory theatre, presenting a different play each night of the week. I directed and appeared in a summer season at the relatively new camp in Bognor Regis.

The plays were reduced to one hour (the length of time it was decreed audiences could be relied upon to pay attention) and there were no intervals.

LR, Warminster.

ERIC EWENS
I have just been an interesting email from Ireland, which reads as follows: ' I maintain a database of all Methodist preachers/ministers who have served in Ireland, giving details where known of a generation up and down for each entry. I am attaching my listing for J. Baird Ewens, father of Eric Ewens, for your interest.

Robin P Roddie, 'Register of Irish Methodist Ministers', Methodist Historical Society of Ireland.

11 Apr 2016

NEW RADIO DRAMA SERIES
A new radio drama series is coming to Irish national radio and podcast, starting on Sat 16 Apr.

“The Wall in the Mind” looks at the difficulty of maintaining friendships and identity in a world where someone is always watching - the Stasi state of East Germany.

Today we are constantly observed, our emails read, our tweets collected, our photos analysed. From the end of the second world war to the late nineteen eighties, East Germans had to suffer their families and neighbours reporting their actions to the paranoid political police of their communist state. It was truly a surveillance state.

“The Wall in the Mind” follows the experiences of Claire O’Hanlon, an Irish immigrant, who has crossed the Wall to communist East Germany to follow Emil, her young lover, into the punk politics of Berlin in the late eighties.

This radio drama, by Dead Medium Productions, written and directed by Gareth Stack, explores how the sense of self is put under pressure within a surveillance culture. It was recorded on location with a cast of German and Irish actors.

“The Wall in the Mind” will play on Newstalk in Ireland each Saturday on the 16th, 23rd, and 30th of April at 7am, repeating at 10pm each day, with podcasts released the same day. The podcasts will be available on the GarethStack.com website, where you will find other notes and pictures related to the production. It is in six episodes of approximately 25 minutes.

...I have listened to a pre-release recording of the first of the episodes, and it has me gripped. The script and the production values are excellent. Do not miss it! (.......ND)

Note added later .... an outline of the plot:
Claire, an Irish woman who lived in East Germany when she was a teenager, was locked up in 1989 in solitary confinement and abused, for her part in some political protests against the Communist regime. The experience scarred her for life. 25 years later, she visits the site of her experiences; she is trying to find out if her former boyfriend, who was imprisoned with her, is still alive, or if not, what happened to him. When she arrives, she finds that much has changed, but there is still disquiet among the public. She also finds that the man who abused her, one of her former captors, is a successful businessman without, it seems, a stain on his character. She is determined to find him and to see what can be done to get rid of her demons.

WGGB RADIO DRAMA EVENT: MEET THE PRODUCERS
What are radio producers looking for in a writer? How do the two work together? What are the joys and challenges of writing for radio? These are just some of the subjects to be debated at a special Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) event by speakers radio drama producers Sally Avens, Marc Beeby and Nick Briggs.

The event is open to anyone with an interest in writing for radio drama. It is free to WGGB members. Tickets for non-members are £10 / £5 concessions, plus a small tickethandling fee paid to Eventbrite.

Venue and date: Thursday 21 April 2016; St Alban’s Centre, Leigh Place, Baldwins Gardens, London EC1N 7AB, 7-10pm. Entry includes a free drink afterwards. More details on the attached press release sent by Sarah Woodley of the WGGB.

23 Mar 2016

HEATHER LARMOUR
I have begun a page for Heather Larmour , radio producer.

20 Mar 2016

DRAMA 1996 and 1999
The afternoon drama listing for 1996 is now finished, and 1999 has been made easier to navigate.

20 Mar 2016

DRAMA 1997
I've made Barry Hodge's excellent page on R4 1997 drama easier to navigate.

19 Mar 2016

NUMBERS, JAN-MAR 2016
Visitor totals and most-visited writers' and producers' pages:
Jan 14935 (S. Baczkiewicz 109, Scott Cherry 108, Charlotte Jones 107, John Fletcher 102)
Feb 14193 (S. Baczkiewicz 576, Wally K Daly 248, Don Taylor 95, Eric Pringle 57)
Mar 14480 (S. Baczkiewicz 671, David Spenser 430, Wally K Daly 235, Don Taylor 224)

5 Apr 2016

NEW SERIES: BOSWELL'S LIVES
What looks like an interesting new comedy series begins on 21 Mar at 11.30am. In the first episode (of 4), James Boswell, Samuel Johnson's biographer, meets Muhammad Ali, who has been stripped of his heavyweight boxing title for refusing to fight in the Vietnam War. Boswell attempts to show Ali that being Scottish makes him as much of an outsider as a black Muslim man in 1960s America. Ali is not convinced. This is a comic treat by one of our best comedy writers. Lenny Henry plays the boxer and Miles Jupp is Johnson.

18 Mar 2016

JUNE TOBIN
I have recently received a request for information about the late June Tobin (thanks JT) so have produced a page about her radio work, 1956-1996. If anyone would like to contribute further information, please send me an email.

4 Mar 2016

BETTY DAVIES
Today, 24 Feb, Betty Davies celebrates her 99th birthday. Some of our younger readers may think 'who is Betty Davies?' Older radio listeners will remember the vast amount of radio drama which she adapted and produced in almost every genre, from pre-war (1943) to 1980. It would be good for Radio 4 Extra to celebrate this by repeating some of her plays.

The Betty Davies page is currently being expanded. As for some examples of her work: she produced and adapted Mrs. Dale's Diary, Maigret, the epic 16-part 'Les Mis' in the mid 70s, novels by Nevil Shute, plays by the West Indian writer Sam Selvon, Antonia Fraser, thrillers by Michael Kittermaster and Michael Davies; The Lost World, Jane Eyre, Little Dorritt, Heart of Midlothian, some Kingsley Amis, Giles Cooper...

24 Feb 2016

VINCENT PRICE
I was interested recently to listen on Shaun MacLoughlan's site to a clip of Vincent Price talking about radio drama in 1971. He mentioned an early radio play - perhaps the most frightening he had appeared in - called 'Three Skeleton Quay', about three men trapped in a lighthouse. Not suitable for murophobics! To my surprise this play has turned up, on an ancient 7-inch reel. I am in the process of digitizing it. It was broadcast in the series "Escape!" which dates from about 60 years ago. There is a version starring Vincent Price and another earlier version which does not.

5 Feb 2016

AUDIO DRAMA AWARDS
This year, Alison and I attended the audio drama awards at Broadcasting House. Our digest of the evening, with a list of award winners, is shown on this summary page.

2 Feb 2016

THIRD PROGRAMME - DRAMA
Alistair Wyper has added another page to our index of drama on the old 'Third Programme' - 1953 . Writers and producers on the listing include Henry Reed, Raymond Raikes, Douglas Cleverdon, E.J.King-Bull and Eric Ewens. Very few recordings from 1953 survive, but some are known to exist.

21 Jan 2016

QUILL
Tony Jones has won 'Best Radio Drama' for his radio play "Quill" at the Writers' Guild Awards. For the other winners, see the Writers' Guild (WGGB) page for work done in 2015.

19 Jan 2016

STRADELLA and STOPPARD
As a baroque music enthusiast I note the Saturday Play about Alessandro Stradella on 9 Jan, by F.C.Boyce. This should be an interesting listen. Do not miss it!

There is also a new production of "Artist Descending A Staircase" being broadcast on R3, 10 Jan, at 9pm. The play was first broadcast in 1972, repeated in 1990; this is the first re-make. There is some information about it on the "notes 2016" page.

8 Jan 2016

THE WIRE
I had been wondering what had happened to the radio3 drama series "The Wire". A person on our Facebook page tells me that it was discontinued in 2014 when the number of dramas on radio 3 per year was reduced from 35 to 25.

3 Jan 2016

NUMBERS, SEP-DEC 2015
Visitor totals and most-visited writers' and producers' pages:
Sep 16304 (S. Baczkiewicz 174, Gary Brown 130, Michael Davies 114, Charlotte Jones 110)
Oct 19801 (Don Taylor 446, Charlotte Jones 94, Gary Brown 92, Sebastian Baczkiewicz 88)
Nov 15670 (Wally K Daly 222, Don Taylor 198, Andrew Rissik 175, Archie Campbell 121)
Dec 12860 (Michael Davies 262, Gary Brown 220, Archie Campbell 192, John Fletcher 192)

During November, 1794 people has a visit exceeding 60 min. Vistor total for the year: 195,057.

31 Dec 2015

REMINDER: T.D.WEBSTER
You may remember the many Saturday Night Theatre and other plays written by T.D.Webster about twenty years ago. Tom has now published his first novel, SEND IN THE CLOWN. It is available on Amazon. He describes it as a romantic thriller set mainly in Whitby. Please spread the word. Clicking the link will take you to the Amazon page where you can order a copy. Paperback is a tenner; Kindle version is about £3.

26 Dec 2015 .

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