Notices 2026
See also our Facebook page for recent updates and links to other sites.
Also note that this page is in reverse chronological order. That means newer items are at the TOP of the page.
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RADIO TIMES READERS' DRAMA AWARD
I have just found out about this new award, the winner of which will be announced at the BBC Audio Drama Awards on 1st March. There is a shortlist of thirty plays (same time-frame as the ADAs) chosen by a panel of critics. Votes are cast online and the closing date for voting is Feb 20th. You have to choose just one play from the list. The thirty plays are as follows, and the voting page contains links to each play.
Gatsby in Harlem - Radio 3
Central Intelligence - Radio 4
Moorgate - Radio 4
One Hundred and Fifty Days - Radio 4
The Fever - Radio 4
Buzz: the Man and the Moon - Podcast
Star - Radio 3
Breaking the Rules: O Is for Orson - Radio 4
When Alan Met Ray - Radio 4
Waiting for Waiting for Godot - Radio 4
The Film - Radio 4
An Inspector Calls on Moscow - Radio 4
Secrets and Lies: Mona Best and the Beatles - Radio 4
High Cockalorum - Radio 4
Samhain - Radio 4
Aldrich Kemp and the Rose of Pamir - Radio 4
Exemplar - Radio 4
Murder in Aland - Radio 4
It Can’t Happen Here - Radio 4
Faith Healer - Radio 4
Up in Smoke - Podcast
Chicken Burger N Chips - Radio 4
The Yafa Cherry Orchard - Radio 4
The ABC Murders - Audible
Secrets and Lies: The Final Touch - Radio 4
King Lear - Radio 4
Only One Word for Love - Radio 4
When Maggie Met Larry - Radio 4
A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Radio 4
Hersey’s Hiroshima - Radio 4
Some good plays there that I've not heard. 'Star' by Sarah Wooley (about Judy Garland) looks good. And I liked 'When Alan met Ray' (about Ray Galton and Alan Simpson) and Exemplar - ingenious audio forensics.
Happy listening!
8 Feb 26 .
SCHOOL DRAMA
The trailers about the lack of drama in schools is ironic on a station with half the drama minutes it had ten years ago. (....from a comment sent to me this morning )
6 Feb 26 .
VISITOR NUMBERS, JANUARY
Currently these are somewhat higher than when we last checked some years ago; January was 50,595 visitors, which would put us around 600,000 annually. Top personal-page visits for January were:
191 R.D.Wingfield
162 Peter Whalley
149 Brian Sibley
148 Mary Peate
104 Simenon
89 Bruce Stewart
79 David Spenser
Top two radio pages (over 1000 visitors in the month) were two of the radio 4 whole-year listings:
1402 R4-plays-2004
1067 R4-plays-1985
No idea why those particular years attracted so much attention.
5 Feb 26.
RECENT REPORT ON THE BBC'S OUTPUT
A report commissioned by the Corporation says that the BBC is guilty of shoehorning diversity into shows like Doctor Who, making them feel preachy and inauthentic.The report found that a large fraction of the audience believe it tried too hard to represent diverse groups in its programming.
If anyone wishes to read about the report's contents, there's a detailed summary in the Daily Telegraph, page 5, 30 Jan 2026. It's also discussed on the BBC website's news page: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9312091kpeo
They highlighted an Agatha Christie mystery being laced with anti-colonial struggles, alongside its country-house murder. The authors said that unless it’s very skilfully done, it can appear overly preachy, as if the viewer is being lectured.
It is also affecting radio output. I was looking forward to Last of the Mohicans (R4, 28 Dec & 4 Jan), but on listening it somehow didn't sound quite right; couldn't pinpoint why. A friend pointed out that there'd been some 'politically-correct' tinkering. For example, this is a classic adventure story, but two minutes in, someone has inserted a passage questioning how indigenous people should be addressed.
30 Jan 26.
The previous R4 dramatization of this story was in 1995, dramatized by David Calcutt and produced by Michael Fox. The narrator was Garrick Hagon; Hawkeye was played by Michael Feast and Cora by Helen McCrory. It's available through Amazon, paired with another J.F.Cooper adventure "The Spy". - Ed.
SPORES, SERIES 2
I'm enjoying this 'Limelight' series on Friday afternoons, following on from series 1 in Nov-Dec 2023. It's science fiction; a story set in the mysterious world of mycelium. A social worker is troubled by spreading mould,but no-one will listen to her when she warns of the danger. And only a few people can actually see it. It comes from Indie production company Afonica; storytelling of the highest quality with a good cast and production team. It's written by Marietta Kirkbride (as was series 1) ; the producer was Nicolas Jackson, Production Manager was Eleanor Mein and Jon Nicholls took care of the sound design..
18 Jan 26.
THE BBC AND THE ISRAEL CONNECTION
A short extract from a much longer article by radio drama and Middle-East expert Neville Teller, published in the Jerusalem Post Weekend Magazine, 16 January 2026:
About Neville:
" I have been commenting on the Middle East scene for over thirty years. I am Middle East correspondent for the on-line journal Eurasia Review, and my articles also appear regularly in the Jerusalem Post, the MPC Journal and elsewhere. Born in London, I was educated at Owen's School and am a graduate of St Edmund Hall, Oxford. A veteran radio and audio dramatist and abridger, I am a past chairman of the Society of Authors’ Broadcasting Committee and the Contributors’ Committee of the Audiobook Publishing Association. In the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2006 I was awarded the MBE for services to broadcasting and drama."
Extract from Neville's piece:
>........There is no doubt that, at some point during the 1960s-1970s, something began to go very wrong within the BBC. Not a deliberate policy, perhaps, but reflecting a general shift to the left among the opinion-forming élite, the BBC’s editorial standards came to be dominated by what became known as “political correctness” – an unspoken consensus of ultra left-leaning views.
In 2010 Mark Thompson, one-time Director General of the BBC, admitted: "In the BBC I joined 30 years ago there was, in much of current affairs…a massive bias to the left. The organization did struggle then with impartiality."
This shift to the left permeated the BBC’s output across many types of programming including domestic political comment and even comedy. The philosophy that finally dominated left-wing thinking was termed “intersectionality”. It asserted that victimhood was interrelated, and that all victims in whatever context – ethnic, sexual, economic, political – were to be supported. Opposition to one form of discrimination, the doctrine ran, demanded opposition to all. Palestinians were perceived to be victims of Israeli oppression, so it became de rigueur for left-wing activists to carry the Palestinian flag and chant pro-Palestinian slogans in mass demonstrations on a whole variety of topics, many having no connection with the Middle East.
Reflecting this, the BBC’s editorial stance began to shift significantly into the politically correct pro-Palestinian mode. Eventually it became obvious that the corporation was no longer adhering to its much vaunted high standards of impartiality. <<
To read the article in full, go to BBC and the Israel Connection
17 Jan 26.
UK INTERNATIONAL AUDIO DRAMA FESTIVAL 2026
A reminder that this event is taking place in Canterbury Lodge, in the Cathedral grounds, from 30 Mar - 3 April and online. It will provide provide five days of brilliant listening - entries from 32 countries and in 32 languages. If you are remotely interested in radio plays, or audio storytelling, this is an opportunity not to be missed. Details on the festival page; click the poster below.
14 Jan 26.
RECENT VISITOR NUMBERS
Oct 25 40446
Nov 25 32763
Dec 25 52931
Most popular web pages in December, by number of visitors
Home page ....... 14351
R4 plays 2004 7396
R4 plays 1985 2132
R4 plays 1984 1008
Main radio page 609
Leics Heritage Apples 474
Most popular pages for individuals
Tracey Neale 389
Brian Sibley.. 259
Rodney Wingfield 218
Stanley Baxter 198
Peter Whalley. 123
Mary Peate ..... 93
Enyd Williams . 86
Michael Robson . 79
4 Jan 26.
PLAYS TO LOOK OUT FOR OVER CHRISTMAS 2025
2.15pm, 23 Dec, R4: New play by Dan Rebellato: Plum in Prison - about P.G.Wodehouse and the foolish mistake he made during the war. Produced by Polly Thomas.
2.15pm, Christmas Eve, R4: The truth About Phyllis Twigg - the first person to write a radio drama, a hundred years ago. Richard Hughes was credited with this achievement, but she did it first - a year earlier. This is a light-hearted drama about giving credit where it's due, even if it's 100 years late. By Paul Kerensa. Produced by Andrew Mark Sewell; directed by Helen Quigley.
2.15pm, Christmas Day, R4: Regifted, by Martin Jameson. A lonely 40-year old woman fears that her hopes of finding friendship are fading fast. "Radio only" - one of those rare plays where inanimate objects have speaking parts.
2.15pm, New Year's Eve: Snow White's Radio Drama Romance, by Gordon House. This follows on from his first radio play, Rumpelstiltskin Radio Drama Romance, broadcast on 31 Jan last year. Gordon directs; produced by Lucinda Mason Brown. He tells me this will be his final radio play!
22 Dec 25.
