Notices 2026

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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INTERNATIONAL AUDIO DRAMA FESTIVAL: AUDIENCE AWARD 2026
This year's Audience Award goes to THE PATROLMAN, by Glen Dixon, UK. An excellent short piece; well done, Glen.

That concludes Festival matters for this year. We look forward to seeing you all again in Canterbury next year!

9 Jun 26

JAMES FRITZ
I have just updated James's web page, in the light of his three series of plpays set in UK prisons. These are good dramas in their own right, and shed a light on the situation in the English prison service.

8 Jun 26 .

CLASSIC PLAYS RE-BROADCAST
I am pleased to report that five plays:

A Shred of Evidence (ad. of Journey's End, by R.C.Sherriff), 1970
The Fatal Flaw, by Chris Allen, 1982
Landfall, by Neville Shute, ad, 1964
A Morbid Taste for Bones, by Ellis Peters, ad. Alick Rowe, 1980
Reg, by Emyr Humphreys, 1964

have recently been re-broadcast on R4X. The plays were obtained from private collections, recorded by amateurs on reel or on cassette, when the programmes originally went out. There are a number of groups interested in collecting vintage programmes for their own listening, and they are generally willing to share them items with the BBC. As you may be aware, the BBC was unable to keep most of its dramas before 2000 because of the cumbersome technology and the cost of storage. Many thanks to Richard, Steve and Keith (the Radio Circle) for making these programmes available and for cleaning up the recordings to a broadcastable standard. The dramas are now available on BBC Sounds; not sure for how long, so make sure you listen soon.

6 Jun 26 .

TRUTH OR LIE?
Letter published in Radio Times, 23-29 May 26

In your article "What's it like to fight misinformation" (RT 9-15 May) I recalled Friedrich Nietzsche who said "I'm not upset that you lied to me; I'm upset that from now I can't believe you". Where does that leave BBC Verify after the disgraceful episode surrounding the slicing of Donald Trump speeches in order to deceive viewers?

The pathetic attempt at justification and wholly disingenuous apology is made even worse by the actual perpetrators still being employed. I am old enough the remember when the BBC was a paragon of factual reporting. No longer!

Gary M, Bristol

29 May 26 .

RADIO LISTINGS UPDATE
Stephen Shaw has now completed a detailed listing of all radio drama broadcast in 1974. He has also done additions to 1997 and 1998, which were incomplete. Many thanks, Stephen. Meanwhile I am updating Lucinder Mason Brown's 'Producer' page.

MISSING PRESUMED DROWNED
Nicholas McInerny's new play "Missing, Presumed Drowned" is scheduled for 2 July, 1415, Radio 4. It's a non-fiction historical account of the 1940 internment of Italians living in Britain during WWII, detailing their arrest, detention, and what happened to the Arandora Star. It is inspired by the book by Stefano Paolini.

14 May 26 .

THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III
from Radio Times Feedback .... "The play was ... the best thing I have heard on radio for a very long time. The editing of the script was so well-suited to the medium; brought to life by excellent actors: first intimate, then declamatory, and the musical punctuations were perfect. This should be put forward for some kind of award..." comment by CM, Halesowen, West Midlands.

Note from ND ... adapted and produced by Emma Harding for BBC Wales. When a leader loses the plot, how should those around him respond? This is Alan Bennett’s sparkling tragi-comedy about George III's mental incapacitation and the Regency crisis of 1788-9. King George was played by Elliot Levey and his wife by Emma Fielding. 90m.


...and a related snippet from producer Richard Wortley, from 2004: ".....Another studio 6A moment was recording a commissioned monologue (1984) by the budding playwright (long since budded) Nick Dear.

Prior to Alan Bennett he wrote a study "In the Ruins" of King George III's lunacy and the splendid stalwart Nigel Stock sweated so profusely in his 'madness' that he had to change his shirt three times.

9 May 26 .

SEAN GRUNDY, KATHERINE JAKEWAYS
I have just updated these drama listings. If there are other writers and producers who would like their entries updating - or have no page and would like one compiling - please let me know.

5 May 26 .

DRAMA REVIEWS AND THE FESTIVAL'S AUDIENCE AWARD
I've just finished my three-monthly radio drama review (30 Apr) and Harry has sent reviews of Flight, 400 Strangers, Celia's Secret and The Archers Podcast. You'll find the links on the main radio page. And a reminder - the Audience Award for the UK International Audio Drama Festival is still open - please listen and cast your vote. The award is substantial. Note also that the archive of 500 plays from previous festivals is now online on the 'radiodramafestival.org.uk" website.

1 May 26 .

NUMBER OF VISITORS
My website monitor, 'Plesk', appears to be on the blink again. No stats available since January.

12 Apr 26 .

CELIA'S SECRET
Just listened to Celia's Secret, afternoon play 7-8 April. It's a gem. You must hear it!

9 Apr 26 .

CHANGE IN BBC CHARTER ARRANGEMENTS
The BBC is currently lobbying to secure its future before its current charter period expires at the end of 2027. At the moment, the charter expires after ten years and has to be renewed each time. The Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said that the 10-year temporary arrangement will be replaced by a permanent charter. Tim Davie, the outgoing director-general, has said that the renewal cycle leaves the BBC open to becoming a political football.

The proposals were welcomed by the BBC, though the negotiations in making this change are at an early stage. There are difficult decisions to be made about how the BBC should be funded in the future. The broadcaster has been losing viewers, and fewer households are now paying the licence fee. The BBC's income from the levy has dropped by about 25% since 2016.

20 Mar 26 .

A MATTER OF HONOUR
I was pleased to notice that the VRPCC copy of the Jeffrey Archer serial, dramatized by Brian Sibley, which I sent to R4X in early October 2024 (title above) is featured on the BBC Sounds page. It's not actually available at the moment, but at least the BBC now has it. It was first broadcast in 1986 and the repeat was in February 2026 on R4X.

18 Mar 26 .

BBC BIAS DISPUTE WITH DONALD TRUMP CONTINUES
Donald Trump has criticised the BBC for its coverage of the war with Iran's fascist regime, calling their coverage unbelievable, corrupt and fraudulent. Amid criticism of the BBC's Iran coverage, John Simpson, the BBC World Affairs editor, described Iran's security chief Ali Larijani, as 'reasonable'. Larijani was complicit in the murder of 30,000 people in Iran during January of this year.

Mr. Trump is currently in a legal battle with the BBC after the doctoring of his Jan 6 2021 speech to his supporters in a Panorama documentary. The programme made it appear that he had encouraged the Capitol Hill riot.

18 Mar 26 .

RADIO 4 EXTRA REQUESTS
Andrew at R4X has asked whether we (VRPCC) have some serials from many years ago. Two of his three requests are in our collection - both by Colin Shaw: The Gold of the Conqueror (1985 - there's a missing episode they don't have) and A Story with Pictures (1983 - six episodes). I will be checking the quality and completeness of our recordings and if they're ok will be supplying them for broadcast.

17 Mar 26 .

...later edit ... the items are fine and have been sent to R4X

ANOTHER RADIO 3 LISTING
Our friend Alistair Wyper has completed another listing for us; the Third Programme (now Radio 3) for 1963. Many thanks, Alistair.

5 Mar 26 .

AUDIO DRAMA AWARDS 2026
My description of the event plus list of winners is now online. See main radio page - Audio Drama Awards 2026 link.

2 Mar 26 .

ANOTHER RADIO 4 LISTING
Pleased to report that Stephen Shaw has completed the radio 4 listing for 1975. Many thanks for your continued efforts on behalf of our readers, Stephen - and as always, meticulously done. We now have whole-year listings going back every day from Feb 2026 to 1 Jan 1975. That's over fifty years. We also have most of radio 3 completed from 1946 to 2025, and radio 2 from 1949 (when it was the Home Service) to 1967, when it ceased broadcasting drama.

22 Feb 26 .

AUDIO DRAMA FESTIVAL UPDATE
The shortlisted plays for the UK International Audio Drama Festival are now online; see the Festival 2026 page. The detailed daily schedule will be published soon.

18 Feb 26 .

NOON GHOSTS, R4X
Three years ago I received a big box of 90 cassettes from Catherine Czerkawska - her life's work in radio (see 2022 Newsdesk page; 10 Aug). I digitised them, including a particular highlight: 'Noon Ghosts'. The story is based on Catherine's extraordinary family history, and her novel of the same name explores the lifelong passionate friendship between Polish aristocrat Maryanna Diduska and Piotro, her Ukrainian estate manager. The play is notable for fine performances by Henry Stamper and Callum Mill. This was Callum's final performance. The recording was not kept by the BBC, so my digitisation and the original tape were passed to Radio 4 Extra in late April 2022. I'm pleased to see that it's been broadcast today. Well done R4X and the Radio Circle cleanup team.

Review by Matt Glasby in Radio Times, edited, 7-13 Feb 2026:
One of five lost dramas rediscovered and returned to the BBC archive, Catherine Czerkawska's tale of an old man haunted by his memories - the eponymous 'noon ghosts'. First broadcast in 1981, it introduces Andrzej (Callum Mill), an immigrant living in Scotland who looks back on his life in Poland before the Second World War. Though it's a rather stately affair, there's wisdom here; "We should never try to go back".

10 Feb 26 .

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!

LATER EDIT - the winner of this award was "When Maggie Met Larry", by Tim Walker and Catherine Bailey productions - see Audio Drama Award page for 2026.

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.

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