Radio Plays, 1995
FIRST BITE: NEW RADIO WRITERS....1995
The 'First Bite' season was an important drama event in the year. It was made up of works by writers new to radio in 1995. Some of the 'first bite' plays went out in the afternoons as 30 minute dramas; some lasted 45 minutes, and one or two were full length, e.g. Drinking the Jake was a Monday Play. A number of the tales were short stories.
A Pig Too Far, by Neil Bromley, 16 Sep 95, 1 hour
Burn Your Phone, by Andrew Wallace, 16 Sep 95, 30m
Quiz Night, by Peter Bowen, 20 Sep 95, 45m
Alaska, by Susan-Jane Harrison, 21 Sep 95, 1 hour
Me and Billie Marker, 21 Sep 95, 30m
The Thrill of the Chaste, by Craig Baxter, 25 Sep 95, 30m
Harry, by Adam Chennery, 25 Sep 95, 30m
Drinking the Jake, by Charlie Howe, 25 Sep 95, 1 hour
The Panacea, 27 Sep 95, 45m
Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree, 28 Sep 95, 30m
The Jinx, 28 Sep 95, 30m
Sex and Subversion, 28 Sep 95, 30m
Super Lily and the City of Strangers, by Mehta Bolstad, 5 Oct 95, 30m
Memories of a Distant Past, by Sade Adihero, 12 Oct 95, 30m
A Sweet Dessert, 19 Oct 95, 30m
A Little Room, by Lance Croft, 26 Oct 95, 30m
CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING
Jenny One, Two, Three....1995
By Sean Walsh.
With Mark Mulholland, Emma McCourt and Jennifer Courtney. 10 Jan 95 - TMT (thirty minute theatre).
Childhood never seems to last very long, but for some parents the moment of letting go can come just a little too soon.
WINNERS....1995
By Ayshe Raif. 4 Mar 95. Saturday Playhouse. Connie, a three million pound Lottery winner employs Rika to stop her making a complete fool of herself. But both women have family problems. Produced by Claire Grove.
Cast:
Diane BULL.................Connie
Rosemary LEACH.............Rika
David YIP..................Joe Alton
Ray WINSTONE...............Neil Marsden
Paul KEATING...............Sam Marsden
Patricia KERRIGAN..........Bella
Oliver SENTON..............Guy
Ian MASTERS................Donald
Garrick HAGON..............Arnold
George ALLONBY.............Eugene
Natasha PYNE...............Mrs Williams
Annabel MULLION............Lucy
Jonathan KEEBLE............Edwardo
CLOVIS..... 1995
Several episodes of the Saki short stories, dramatized for radio, beginning 8 Mar 95; weekly.
1. title not known
2. Clovis's private view
The Detective is Dead ....1995
by Bill James.
Harpur and Iles are losing the battle against crime, so Iles starts to play to his own deadly rules. With Philip Madoc and Malcolm Storry. Produced by Jane Dauncey. 18 Mar 95, R4. SNT. rpt. 21 Oct 95. 75m.
MADOC, Philip...............Iles
STORRY, Malcolm.............Harpur
KENNY, Peter................Vine
HIGGINSON, Julie............Becky
HALLIDAY, Peter.............Lane
GARFIELD, David.............Beyonton
GLEESON, Sean...............Reid
JENKINS, Siriol.............Denise
HUGH, Rhodri................Stanfield
DAUNCEY, Terry..............Couzel QC
WALTERS, Melanie............Amy Harbinger
THOMAS, Ben.................Foster
TRIUMPH OF THE CUNNING MAN....1995
6 May 95, R4. By J.R. Jones. 90m. Philip Madoc/Alun Horan/Albie Woodrington. Producer Jane Dauncey. Tale rooted in pre-Christian occult forces in Wales. The Cunning Man, the Sin Eater, the Dog Priest. A curious coincidence - Gerry Jones's novel (no relation) was called 'The Sin Eater'.
BODY OF GLASS....1995
By Marge Piercy, ad. Michelene Wandor. It is 2059, somewhere in the Northern Hemisphere. Science fiction involving a cyborg; an artificially constructed human, much more sophisticated than a robot. Eleanor Bron, Penny Downie, Ciaran Hinds, John Bennett, Nathaniel Parker, Paola Dionisotti and Susan Sheridan.
HUGHIE....1995
By Eugene O'Neill. R3, 6 May 95 (Studio 3). Rpt. 21 Jun 98, R3 Sunday Play. 50m. Experimental drama set in the late 20s. When Hughie, the night clerk in a low-grade Times Square rooming house dies, Erie Smith, a small-time gambler and full-time loser, discovers that he has lost his only friend in New York. With an introduction by Christopher Bigsby. O'Neill wrote Hughie after The Iceman Cometh and during the time he was writing Long Day's Journey Into Night. It was intended as part of a series of obit plays but became the lone survivor when O'Neill destroyed the others.
Cast: Erie....Jason Robards,
Night Clerk.....Jack Dodson.
Director Jose Quintero.
Produced by Erik Bauersfeld for Bay Area Radio Drama
Recorded at Skywalker North Studios in 1993
Sound Design: Randy Thom.
THE YEARS BETWEEN....1995
13 May 95. 90m. By Daphne du Maurier.
THE GHOST RUNNER....1995
True story of a long distance runner (super-
marathon) who was barred from competitive events
because of red tape. This didn't stop him running.
20 May 95.
HERE....1995
29 May 95. Comedy by Michael Frayn. A young couple are moving into a new flat and there are important decisions to be made. Do they want to spend the rest of their lives together? Where will they put the bed? Phil....Sam West, Cath....Lucy Tregear, Pat....Margaret Courtney. Producer Matthew Walters.
BATTLE FOR THE DOME....1995
By Jean Binnie. 5 Jun 95. Loosely based on historical fact, the play explores the venomous atmosphere surrounding the building of Florence cathedral and the rivalry between the architects Ghiberti and Brunelleschi.
BORDER INCIDENT....1995
By Sean Damer. Thirty Minute Theatre, 13 Jun 95, 14:00. A young Scots soldier in command of a squad on the border between Rhodesiaand the Congo writes to his parents in the usual reassuring way of soldiers down the years. But north of the border, the unrest grows. With Kenneth Glenaan, Finlay Welsh and Crawford Logan. Directed by Hamish Wilson.
The Death of Alexander Scriabin....1995
Written & directed by Ken Russell. 18/06/1995. BBC Radio 3. Cast: Oliver Reed ; James Wilby ; Don Warrington ; Ken Russell ; Hetty Baynes ; Brian Murphy ; Kristin Milward Gavin Muir ; Joshua Towb ; Don McCorkindale ; Announcer : Donald MacLeod Producer : Adrian Bean. Ken Russell’s first radio play. It is hard to find out much about this curiosity but according a review in the Independent on Tuesday 20 June 1995, Scriabin and Crowley hold a Black Mass in a cathedral and are nearly eaten by Cambridge educated cannibals. (....notes from Alistair Wyper)
THE INDIAN GENTLEMAN....1995
27 Jun 95. By Terry James. A young Indian materializes at a village railway station.... intervenes, then vanishes.
ONWARDS AND UPWARDS AND JUST CARRYING ON....1995
By David Cregan. 10 Jul 95. 60m. Joanna is a painter, Harry a TV reporter. They love each other but can't live together....
A VITAL FLAW....1995
29 Jul 95. Saturday Night Theatre. A truthful account of the
relationship between Heinrich Himmler and Dr. Felix Kersten.
With Martin Jarvis and John Duttine. 90m.
REAPING THE WHIRLWIND....1995
6 Aug 95 (I think) - several programmes about Hiroshima and the nuclear bomb. At 2.45am on 6 Aug 1945 a Boeing B-29 carrying an untested uranium bomb took off from the US airbase at Tinan. At 8.14am the bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima, killing 70,000 people and injuring 80,000. Editor Alastair Wilson.
News from the East
Memories from eyewitnesses of the explosion.
The birth of the bomb
John Slater explores how for two years Britain led the race to build the Bomb. (A Pier / Black Hill production).
The pilot's tale
Colonel Paul Tibbets recalls events 32,000ft above Hiroshima.
Listening to Incense
Richard Pascoe plays Japanese professor Arata Osada who compiled eyewitness accounts from children who had survived the Bomb. Kerry Crabbe has written a re-creation of the day. Producer Janet Whitaker.
THE SCHOLAR GYPSY....1995
10 Aug 95. By Gerald Vaughan-Hughes. Afternoon play.55m. Steven, an out-of-work actor, is offered a rather unusual job. The wealthy John Jax wants to employ him as an ornamental garden hermit. Steven....Michael Lumsden, Mr. Pink....Dan Strauss, Dorcas Duffy....Kathryn Hunt, John Jax....Matt Zimmerman, Belinda Jax....Lorelei King, The Poet....Kim Wall. Producer Rosemary Watts.
ANIMAL FUN PARK....1995
27 Aug 95, R3 Sunday Play, by David Caute. 120m. A vision of the progress of the animals and humans of "Animal Farm' through revolution and counter-revolution, mirroring the past 50 years of the rise and fall of communism. Sean Barrett, Ian Masters, David Ryall, Marcia Warren, Richard Kane, Susan Sheridan, David Collings, John Hartley, Bob Sherman, Geoffrey Whitehead, David Timson, Jilly Bond, Anton Phillips, Andrew Branch, Natasha Pyne, Roger May, Jonathan Keeble, Ross Livingstone. Music composed by Colin Sell and played by him, Gonzalo Acosta and Andy Astle. Producer David Hitchinson.
WHO WAS EMILY DAVIDSON?....1995
27 Aug 95. By Rose Tremain. Drama set at the beginning of the 20th century when British women were struggling for the right to vote. Emily Davison was a suffragette whose bid to please the leader of the movement, Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst, gradually drew her towards a tragic fate. Emily is known as the woman who threw herself in front of the King's horse during the 1913 Epsom Derby in order to strike a blow for the cause of Womens' Suffrage. The play attempts to explain why she behaved as she did.
With Janet Maw [Emily Davison], Nigel Anthony [King George V], Miriam Margolyes [Queen Mary], Elizabeth Proud [Mrs. Emmeline Pankhurst], Melonie Hudson [Miss Sylvia Pankhurst], Tessa Worsley [Mrs. Margaret Davison], Doreen Hepburn [Lily Maxwell], John Turner [Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith], and Stephen Critchlow [The Speaker]. Other parts played by members of the cast. Directed by Gordon House.
HOW TO MURDER YOUR HUSBAND....1995
31 Aug 95, comedy, afternoon play by J.Alexander.
*Road to Lisdoonvarna....1995
by Douglas Livingstone .
Starring Frances Barber and James Fleet.
Producer: Jane Morgan. R4, 2 Sep 95, SNT.
'Most people who go to the match-making fair in County Clare protest that they're just there for a good time. But things happen there...'
Cast:
John Hollis ,
Frances Barber,
James Fleet,
Dominic Letts ,
Conleth Hill,
James Hayes ,
John Rogan.
PRISONER OF FAITH....1995
13 Sep 95. By (?)Robert Kee, in the series 'Great Escapes'. Robert, who escaped twice from German prisoner-of-war camps during WW2, presents four dramatic reconstructions of extraordinary escapes in war and peace. This one is about Father John Gerard, who preached the faith and provided support for Catholics until his arrest and imprisonment in the Tower of London in 1594. Nevertheless he escaped. Owen Teale, Lyndham Gregory, David Roper, Joe Dunlop.
A PIG TOO FAR....1995
By Neil Bromley. 16 Sep 95. A comic road movie. A first radio play by this writer. Dr. Julian bred his pig for pork, but it grew to love Presley. Dr. Julian....Forbes Masson, Elvis, the pig .... Toby Jones, Anna ....Helen Baxendale, with David Timson,, Stephen Critchlow, Jane Whittenshaw. Brian Perkins and Liz MacKean play themselves. Producer Roanna Benn. 60m.
BURN YOUR PHONE....1995
By Andrew Wallace. 16 Sep 95. A phone operator's working day becomes a living nightmare. Andy....Alan Cumming, Killer.... Jonathan Keeble, with George Allonby, Stephen Critchlow, Zulema Dene, Becky Hindley, Sandra James-Young, Geoffrey Whitehead. Producer Main Russell. 30m.
*ALASKA....1995
by Susan-Jane Harrison. Against the backdrop of Alaska,
boy meets girl across a bar. It might be the start of a romance,
but this is a parallel universe. R4, 21 Sep 95.
ME AND BILLIE MARKER....1995
By Joyoti Grech. 21 Sep 95, 2300 hrs. Prt. 9 May 96. Chandra is struck and inspired by the experimental music of Billie Marker, but when she finally meets him, she discovers that his idea of `making music' is very different from her own.
With Nisha K Nayar and Monica Patel.
THE THRILL OF THE CHASTE....1995
By Craig Baxter. With Jeremy Colton and Elizabeth Morrell.
Directed by Brian Lighthill.
BBC Pebble Mill. 25 Sep 95, Afternoon Play.
("First Bite Young Playwrights Festival").
repeat 25 April 1996.
The story of a contemporary virgin birth.
Cast:
Elizabeth Morrell..........Ruth
Jeremy Colton..............Richard
Shirin Taylor..............Ruth's Mother
Geoffrey Leesley...........Doctor / Charles
Kim Durham.................Jack
Tamsin Heatley.............Cherry
HARRY....1995
By Adam Chenery.
With Greg Chisolm as Harry.
Directed by Brian Lighthill,
BBC Pebble Mill.
25 Sep 95, 14:30
(First Bite Young Playwrights Festival).
On his 16th birthday, Harry discovers that he has got his family all wrong.
THE SINKING OF THE 'CITY OF CAIRO'....1995
By Vincent McInnerney. 11 Oct 95.
THE RACE OF THE DUGOUT CANOES....1995
By Richard Edmunds; sound effects recorded on location. Directed by Andy Jordan. Saturday Playhouse, 21 Oct 95 and 1 June 96, 90 min.
Set in a village in Papua New Guinea. In one canoe sits the logging company, in the other a group called Rainforest Rescue. The canoes have been racing abreast, up until now.
Cast:
Adjoah ANDOH .............. Sarah
Raad RAWI ................. Seth
Earl CAMERON .............. Nakafu
Mary WIMBUSH .............. Boiyor
With Jonathan Keeble, Junix Inocian, Kulvinder Ghir, Don Gilet, Madhav Sharma, Aaron Pemberton, Jessie Andoh, Nina Wadia, Sandra James-Young, Geoffrey Whitehead, Tessa Worsley.
*THE BOOK OF SHADOWS....1995
by Scott Cherry. R4, 1430, 28 Oct 95. Possibly the best tale of the supernatural
I have heard on the radio [the other contender is The Stones of
Muncaster Cathedral, by Robert Westall (q.v)]. It is stunning; frightening, terrific.
Journalist Ellie Rogers is sent to Norfolk to investigate
rumours of witchcraft. She witnesses some terrifying events.
BILL AND KOO....1995
8 Nov 95; comedy by Janet Paisley and Graham McKenzie.
CLOVIS....1995, continued
More stories by Saki, dramatised. 2330 hrs.
Clovis's Last Night, 11 Nov 95. 30m.
THE COLOUR NORMAN....1995
15.11.95. Science student Norman invents a new colour, and is
besieged by all and sundry, anxious to get their hands
on it. A superb comedy by Stephen Dinsdale and Jerome Vincent.
WHEN WE ARE MARRIED....1995
18 Nov 95; rpt, by J.B.Priestley; starring Alan Bennett. About 90m.
GO FOR THE GRAIL .... 1995
R4 2.02pm. 27.11.95. Hypnotherapy cures Kath of the smoking habit but introduces Griselda, a non-too-fragrant peasant woman from the fourteenth century. With Rachel Atkins, Caroline Strong.
SHANE....1995
4 Dec 95. Adaptation by Nick McCarty. 75m. The best radio version of a Western you are ever likely to hear. It is stunning, atmospheric, brilliant......... you can even feel the heat and hear the beating of the gunman's heart.
- ...... Fletcher, a ruthless cattleman, is trying to scare away a bunch of farmers who have put up fences around land he wants. He looks like winning, until Shane turns up.
He'd stopped for a drink at one of the farms. Then Fletcher's men had arrived, looking threatening. He'd intervened, and sent them away.
The story takes off from there.
Cast: Stacey Keetch, Howard Keel (narrator), David Jukes, Laurie Means, Marty York, Michael Keenan, Tuc Milligan, Greg Almquist, David Graff, James HarperChristopher Curry, David Lee Smith, Matt Nolan. Programme made at Third Street Sound, Los Angeles. Production assistant Rosemary Garrison. Technical Director Cecilia Pernod. Produced for the Unique Broadcasting Company by Anthony Cornish.
In the famous film version, Shane was played by Alan Ladd
NIGHT CALL, COLLECT....1995
By Ray Bradbury; new BBC production. 7 Dec 95, 11pm, 30m.. Engineer Barton is marooned on Mars, quite alone. Then he receives a 'phone call..... this is a remarkable tale about what one man might achieve (and become) if left completely alone for fifty years with enough wires, cables and electronic equipment to keep him busy.
Kerry Shale as Barton. Producer Hamish Wilson. This was part of a Bradbury series; see his page for more information.
MAY AND THE SNOWMAN....1995
By J. Buckler. 13 Dec 95.
THACKERAY....1995
14 Dec 95. R4. By Olwen Wymarck and B. Clegg. A detective story with gardening and Shakespeare connections.
Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
Asterisked plays known to exist in VRPCC collections
