1988 Radio Plays

THE SINGULAR CASE OF SHERLOCK H AND SIGMUND F....1988
R3, 27 Dec 88. By Cecil Jenkins. With Andrew Sachs as Freud (in one of his best radio roles), Norman Rodway as Dr. Watson, Sheila Mitchell as Mrs Watson and a very acerbic Ronald Pickup as Sherlock Holmes. Directed by John Tydeman. Although the play is obviously a spoof chiefly of Freud and in second degree Holmes its sinister ending shows a much more serious and provocative intention - ML.

London. In the Autumn of 1897, a series of attacks are made upon Sherlock Holmes which recall those previously made by Professor Moriarty.

Ronald Pickup ... Sherlock Holmes, Norman Rodway ... Dr.Watson, Andrew Sachs ... Sigmund Freud, Sheila Mitchell ... Mrs. Watson, Michael Deacon ... Inspector Lestrade. The violinist was Katherine Adams. Directed by John Tydeman.

SWEENEY AGONISTES....1988
02/10/1988 BBC Radio 3. By T S Eliot. Sweeney Agonistes (subtitled by Eliot « An Aristophanic Melodrama »). Produced in Manchester by Clive Brill. Cast: Malcolm Storrey ; Denise Black ; Patsy Rowlands ; John Branwell ; Michael Maloney ; Nigel Carrington. It was broadcast as part of BBC Radio 3’s T S Eliot Centenary Season. Sweeney Agonistes was an unfinished piece written in around 1928. It comprises of settings of poems with music in two parts : Fragment of a Prologue & Fragment of an Argon. The music was specially composed by David Byers and the production includes the poems : Sweeney Erect and Sweeney Among the Nightingales. Somewhat bathetically Patsy Rowlands is best known as an actress in the Carry On films and the television series « Bless this House ». (....notes by Alistair Wyper; many thanks)


APPLE BLOSSOM AFTERNOON....1988
24 Aug 88. By Dave Sheasby. Entertaining play about a guy who bets on the horses. It's his birthday, so he has a special bet - a four-horse accumulator. 45m.

Smallbone, Deceased
Michael Gilbert,R4,20.8.1988/1945,Hywel Bennett/Dominic Guard/John Rye/Jill Simcox.

Whose Body?
Dorothy L. Sayers,R4,6.8.1988/1945,Gary Bond/John Cater. Whodunnit... 90m.

Farewell My Lovely
Raymond Chandler,R4,23.7.1988/1945,Edward Bishop/Clive Mantle. Philip Marlowe story. 90m, Saturday Night Theatre.

NEWS OF THE WORLD....1988
Afternoon Play. With Daphne Oxenford. 29 Jun 88.

HANCOCK'S LAST HALF-HOUR....1988
By Heathcote Williams. R3, 21 Jun 88.

June 1968. Tony Hancock's last half hour is a solitary affair. Barricaded in his Sydney hotel bedroom, his audience has dwindled to a telephone, some clippings and a bottle of vodka. The lad from East Cheam casts a bleary eye over his wrecked career and marriages before swallowing the last handful of sleeping pills.

The first performance of "Hancock's Last Half Hour" by Heathcote Williams was at The Ambiance Lunch-Hour Theatre Club at The Almost Free Theatre.

With Richard Briers [Tony Hancock]. Other parts played by Steve Hodson and Zelah Clarke. Directed by Ned Chaillet.

comments by 's-j' of 'radiofans' -many thanks.

Fatima
William Keenan,R4,14.5.1988/1945,Mary Wimbush/Deborah Makepeace. 90m.

The Lonely Margins
Ted Allebury,R4,7.5.1988/1945,Christian Rodska/Kim Thomson. Thriller. 90m. Saturday Night Theatre.

Keep The Aspidistra Flying....1988
by George Orwell, dramatised by Sam McBratney. With Jonathan Tafler and Victoria Carling. Produced by Jeremy Mortimer. 60m.

In 1930's London, would-be poet George Comstock struggles against the conformist need to make something respectable of himself. But is he strong enough to resist the call of the aspidistra?

5 May 1988.
TAFLER, Jonathan ............Gordon Comstock
CARLING, Victoria ...........Rosemary Waterlow
DEACON, Michael .............Mr Clew / Clerk
PELKA, Valentine ............Philip Ravelston
JAMES, Polly ................Julia Comstock
RICHARD, Emily ..............Hermione Slater
SIMONS, William .............Bookseller / Waiter / Tramp

Just Remember Two Things...It's Not Fair & Don't Be Late
Terence Frisby,R4,16.4.1988/1945,Ray Smith/Petra Davies. Reminiscence of childhood through a wartime evacuee's eyes.


APPLES OF PARADISE....1988
By Stan Barstow, 24 Mar 88, 90m. The story of two lifelong male friends and their wives, set during and after WW2. With Russell Dixon, Stephanie Turner, Joanne Zorian, Derek Gilbert. Producer Alfred Bradley. Recording from Stan Barstow ...many thanks.


PSNUFF....1988
By Dorothy Osborne, afternoon play. 22 Feb 88, 45m. A young couple thinking of getting married find themselves caught in a web of government deceit and sinister plots to eradicate sneezing. Cast: Ian Targett .......Len, Clare Travers-Deacon ....Josey, Carolyn Pickles .....Sue, Richard Tate ......The Frogman, Michael Graham Cox .......Ray, Ken Cumberlidge ......Brian, Stephen Thorne ......George, Harriet Cass .......Newsreader. Produced by Richard Wortley.


DAISY PULLS IT OFF....1988
R4, 2 Jan 88. Set in the 1920's at an upper class boarding school, the simplistic plot revolves around Daisy Meredith, the first ever elementary school girl to gain a scholarship to the exclusive Grangewood School belonging to the impoverished Beaumont family. Daisy excels both at her studies and in sport.

Some of the other pupils are dismayed to have a working class girl in their midst presuming her to be a second class citizen unable to appreciate and live up to the high moral standards associated with girls of good breeding. To prove the point horrid Sybil Burlington does all in her power to show that common girls do not belong at Grangewood.

The intrigue continues as Daisy struggles to prove that she is not a sneak, a liar, a cheat or a thief. Can she find the hidden treasure and save the Beaumont family from ruin?

Adapted for radio by Elizabeth Lindsay. Directed by Gordon House, WS and R4.

BBC info: Plucky ambitious state school girl, Daisy Meredith, wins a scholarship to Grangewood Girls' Boarding School, where she excels, saves the school and wins over snobs and rivals. An absolutely ripping view of life in a girls boarding school in 1927, capturing the uncomplicated innocence of Angela Brazil's schoolgirl novels.

Daisy Meridith - Alexandra Mathew
Trixie Martin - Helana Little
Miss Gibson - Charlotte West Oram
Ms & Mam Julie Bury
Claire - Julia Hills
Alice - Marcella Reardon
Diana - Elizabeth Lindley
Monica - Nina Edwards
Sybil - Zela Clark
Belinda - Caroline Gruber
Winnie Susie Brown
Dora - Victoria Carling
Mr Scoblowski - Roger Heathcote
Sir David - Anthony Jackson
Piano - Jack Thompson

Nigel Deacon / Diversity website

Most of the above plays known to exist in VRPCC collections

Back to top