Tim Dee radio plays

TIM DEE

19 Jul 18: Big Time
By Jonathan Holloway. Repeat of the play about the fictitious meeting of Cervantes and Shakespeare.Cervantes: Simon Callow, Shakespeare: Nicky Henson, Regina: Laura Elphinstone. Producer: Tim Dee.

Pink Mist ....2012
A dramatic poem by Owen Sheers commissioned for BBC Radio 4’s More than Words listening festival in Bristol 15th-18th March 2012 and transmitted on Radio 4 in five 15-minute episodes, 19-23 Mar. It is set in and around Bristol and tells the story of three young soldiers and the three women in their lives. The three, Arthur, Hads and Taff all live in Bristol. They were school friends who joined up at the same time to serve in the Infantry. All were deployed to Afghanistan. The poem is mostly narrated by Arthur who first wanted to get away from Bristol by joining the army. He tells his story – where he is from and how and why he came to enlist. His girlfriend talks about their life together. Arthur introduces his two friends: Hads, the son of a Somali refugee and a white Bristolian, and Taff, a Welsh dubstep enthusiast. Both are escaping from the bangs and explosions of Bonfire Night in Bristol when the poem begins. Original soundscore composed by Jon Nicholls. Cast: Arthur – Carl Prekopp, Hads – Osi Okerafor, Geraint (Taff) – Jordan Bernarde, Gwen – Devon Black, Lisa - Alex Tregear, Sarah – Leona Walker. Producer: Tim Dee

Afternoon Drama - Through the Wire....2012
30 Apr 2012. By Helen Macdonald. This documentary tells the story of the British POWs who survived incarceration in German camps in World War II. While some of their fellow prisoners plotted escape and dug tunnels, men like John Buxton, Peter Condor and George Waterston watched the birds which flew overhead on migration and also at those which flew through (and bred in) the camp. With a lot of time to spare, but no binoculars or equipment, the birdmen turned 'watching' into a way of getting through the war. They recorded their observations on scraps of old cigarette packets. After the war some of their studies were published and became texts for the birds they were writing about. Several of the birdmen went on to become well-known figures in ornithology and bird conservation. The music is by Olivier Messiaen, the French composer and bird lover, who was also incarcerated in a prison camp. Cast: Arthur: David Bamber; John Buxton: Lorcan Cranitch; Peter Condor: Jay Villiers. Producer: Tim Dee.

Afternoon Drama - Erebus....2012
12 Jan 2012. A poetic drama by Jo Shapcott about the search for the North-West Passage. The 1845 expedition led by John Franklin was lost in the ice and never returned. The mysteries remain. In the intervening time rescue and, subsequently, archaeological expeditions have gone in search of clues as to what went wrong. Fragments of evidence have been found in the ice and latterly frozen bodies too. Why did the mission fail? Cast: Russell Boulter, David Birrell, Peter Marinker, John Mackay and Jasmine Hyde. Music by Jon Nicholls. Produced by Tim Dee.


27 Mar: Wuthering Heights, dram. Jonathan Holloway....2011

contains strong language - this play was reported all over the national press for its use of four-letter words; it even got a cartoon in the Daily Telegraph ... a guy going out for the evening and telling his kid not to listen to radio 3 .... producer Tim Dee. I thought it more interesting than the original - but then I'm not keen on novels.......

11 Nov: Afternoon Drama - Laurels and Donkeys....2011
Note the date: 11.11.11.........A sequence of dramatic and new poems by Andrew Motion to mark Remembrance Day. The poems draw on soldiers' experiences of war from 1914 until today, beginning with a story about Siegfried Sassoon and moving via World War Two and Korea to the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of the poems are in the voices of combatants. With: Julian Rhind Tutt, Toby Stephens, David Birrell, Russell Boulter, Carl Prekopp. Music: Jon Nicholls. Producer: Tim Dee.

15 Sep: Afternoon Drama - The Falcon and the Hawk....2011
Helen Macdonald is a falconer and poet. She keeps a goshawk called Mabel. As a child she fell in love with a rare book of intense nature writing, J.A. Baker's The Peregrine, which records a winter watching wild peregrines on the Essex coast. Her new play brings her birds and his together. Baker tramps the bleak coastal marshes scanning the skies for fleeting moments of bloody drama as a peregrine stoops at immense speed after a plover or a pigeon. Helen woos her captive-bred goshawk in her spare bedroom - acclimatising it to human noise and human movement. Baker crouches over a half-dead pigeon and finishes it off for the wild falcon; Helen walks the city street with a goshawk on her fist. The stories begin to fly closer to one one another. J. A. Baker: David Birrell; Young Helen: Gemma Lawrence; Helen: herself. Part recorded on location on The Bird of Prey Centre at Newent, Gloucestershire. Producer: Tim Dee.

1 Feb Afternoon Drama - In Memoriam....2011
An adaptation of Tennyson's long sequence of poems of grief and hope written after the death of his close friend Arthur Hallam. Performed by David Bamber. Music by Jon Nicholls. Hallam was born 200 years ago and died in 1833 in Vienna. He and Tennyson had met at university and had become friends; Hallam became engaged to marry Tennyson's sister. His sudden and unexpected death prompted some of the most personal poetry Tennyson ever wrote and some of the most moving and powerful poetry of loss and grief in the language. The sequence includes several poems that have given phrases to the common language - In Memoriam is where we hear 'nature, red in tooth and claw' for the first time and also 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.' For this production the sequence has been adapted and cut to half its length by Tim Dee.

23 Aug 10 Miss Balcombe's Orchard
A drama-documentary by Jonathan Davidson set and recorded in an apple orchard. Miss Balcombe is getting on but she is determined to keep her apple trees. Her workers don't much care but there is a trespasser among her russets. With Susan Engel as Miss Balcombe, Richard Bremmer as Claud, Sonia Ritter as Barbara, and Hayley Doherty as Sophie; and featuring Barrie Juniper, author of The Story of the Apple. Recorded on location in Oxfordshire. Producer: Tim Dee.

11 Oc: The Researches of Herodotus, by Tom Holland. ...2009
R3. 90m, producer Tim Dee, starring Anton Lesser. The early Greek historian's account of events in the eastern mediterranean, heavily condensed. Cast includes Richard Bremmer, Stephen Noonan, Owen Teale, Adam Levy and Pippa Heywood. Music composed by Jon Nicholls.

17 8 2009 Monday BBC Radio 4 14:15 Afternoon Play: Rep
By Jonathan Holloway. Actor George Friendly has just started work in one of Britain's last surviving seaside repertory theatres. His first part is in Clubfoot the Avenger; and he thinks he knows how the rest of the summer is going to go. George ...... Jay Villiers Florence ...... Lucy Liemann Vivian/Derek ...... Michael Fenton Stevens Rupert/Cafe owner ...... Mark Meadows Raymond/Earl ...... Paul Mundell . Produced by Tim Dee.

21 5 2009 Thursday BBC Radio 4 14:15 Afternoon Play: University of Lies
By Peter Kesterton. Rpt.

26 Apr: Babel's Tower,by Mike Walker ....2009
R3, music composed by Jon Nicholls, producer Tim Dee. An adaptation by Mike Walker of the short stories of Isaac Babel, who was murdered by Stalin. Cast includes Antony Sher (Isaac Babel), Robert Glenister and Stephen Noonan.

5 1 2009 Monday BBC Radio 4 14:15 Afternoon Play: Icarus Falling :
By Jonathan Davidson. Artist Peter Lord; living and working in Cornwall; is no longer interested in his previous successes and seeks to expand his horizons. To the astonishment of his wife and his gallery owner; he takes up gliding. Peter ...... Jay Villiers, Susan ...... Eleanor Tremain, Painting ...... Eve Matheson, Gerry ...... Bill Wallis, Gliding instructor ...... Cameron Stewart. Produced by Tim Dee. Broadcasts: 25 Jul 2007 14:15 BBC Radio 4; 5 Jan 2009 14:15 BBC Radio4.

ICARUS FALLING (R4, 1415, 5 Jan 09) is the only play I know where a man learns to pilot a glider. Repeated from a year or two ago, and written by Jonathan Davidson, it's about a painter who has gone stale and who needs a new way of looking at the world.

8 9 2008 Monday 14:15 Books
By Tessa Hadley. The novelist Paul Sand died 20 years ago and now his wife has died too. At their seaside home; her daughter and a university researcher meet. She needs to sell up and clear out while he wants to see what papers the great man has left behind. Mr Lascelles ...... David Collins Paul Sand ...... Philip Madoc Chris Elliott ...... Adam Levy Terry Untermeyer ...... Niamh Cusack Music composed by Geoff Nichols. Imogen Triner (oboe) John Welch (piano) . Produced by Tim Dee.

20 6 2008 Friday 14:15 Addressee Unknown
Tim Dee's adaptation of Kressmann Taylor's novel; published in 1938. Two old friends; former business associates in San Francisco; exchange letters. One is an American German Jew; the other an American German who; excited and energised by the new Germany of the 1930s; has gone home. Attitudes harden with the seemingly inexorable rise of Hitler; the Jew horrified by the change in his friend and his wholesale adoption of the rhetoric and ideology of Nazism. With Henry Goodman; Patrick Malahide. Rpt. 18 Feb 10.

......From Diversity Website review, Sep 08.....
......a chilling story of the rise of Nazism in the 1930s, was told as a series of letters between two friends: an American-German Jew and an American-German living in Germany. It was introduced by Anne Karpf, who told us that it was originally a novel published in America in 1938, not much more than a short story, but having an enormous impact, shocking people with the way Nazism was transforming and corrupting ordinary people. It was republished in 1995 to mark the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, and again became a bestseller. 'Kressman Taylor' was a pseudonym to protect her identity as a woman; her real name was Kathrine Kressman.

In the words of Kate Chisholm (Spectator, 21 Jun 08): "What she lets unfold is the insidious unmasking of two individuals who at the beginning appear just like anyone else, full of affection and goodwill for each other........ In the last few minutes, those voices, underpinned by the subtlest use of music, worm their way into your mind, until you suddenly realise, with sickening dread, what the characters are really thinking, what they are really trying to do".

The letters were read by Henry Goodman and Patrick Malahide; the music was Schnittke's piano quintet, and the producer was Tim Dee.

(11-06-2006; 19:30) Gilgamesh
(trans Stephen Mitchell, adap Jeremy Howe) A radio drama version of Gilgamesh, adapted by Jeremy Howe, from the English version by Stephen Mitchell. Music by Paul Dodgson. The epic of Gilgamesh was written in ancient Mesopotamia over 4000 years ago. Many people think it was the first story to be written down. It tells of the prowess of King Gilgamesh and his acquisition of a friend, Enkidu, and their adventures in the wilderness, battling monsters, in search of immortality. Gilgamesh - Joe Dixon, Enkidu - Adam Levy, Narrator - Kenneth Cranham, Shamhat, Ishtar - Kananu Kirimi, Lady Ninsun, Scorpion woman - Eve Matheson, Prologue, Anu - Robert Gwilym, Soldier, Utnapishtim - Bill Wallis, Humbaba, Ninurta - David Collins, Scorpion man; Ea - Chris Donnelly, Urshanabi; Enlil - Paul Nicholson. Producer Tim Dee. (120m)

11 May 06: Connecting - 4/4. Network Failure
By Sarah Woods. Ian is on his first trip to Africa, his work in IT is sending him as a trainer to a media-centre in a village outside Maputo in Mozambique. He is keen to help, but not really prepared for what he finds. Ian ...... David Birrell, Martha ...... Sonia Pateguana Pinto Romao, Orlando ...... Jorge Clemente, Matilde ...... Denise de Castro, Sebastio ...... Higino Octavio, Sara ...... Su-Lin Looi, Ndindazi ...... Nathemba Sambo, Young man ...... Fred Ezekiel Dias. Producer Tim Dee.

5 Apr: The Accident....2006
Drama set in a railway signal box at night in the west of England in the early 1960s, involving a signalman and his daughter. With Richard Bremmer, Eleanor Tremain, Frances Barber, Kerry Shale and David Bradley. Producer Tim Dee.

(09-10-2005; 19:30) The Radetzky March.
(Joseph Roth, trans Michael Hofmann, adap Mike Walker) R3. The story of the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, told through three generations of loyal servants to the Emperor - the men of the Trotta family. From the second half of the 19th Century when a Trotta saves the life of Franz Joseph on the battlefield, to the beginning of the 20th Century when world war and old age wipe the Trottas and their Empire from the map of Europe. Joseph Roth - Bill Wallis, Emperor Franz Joseph - John Woodvine, Joseph Trotta/Chojnicki/postman - Brian Pettifer, Franz Trotta - Richard Bremmer, Carl Joseph Trotta - Elliot Levey, Moser/Wagner - Nicky Henson, Jacques/Dr Skvoronnek - Clive Swift, Frau Slama/Valli von Taussig - Eleanor Tremain. With Paul Nicolson, Paul Dodgson, David Collins and Chris Garner. Music arranged and performed by Alexander Balanescu. Produced by Tim Dee. (120m)

(15-05-2001) CV5 - A Dance In A Suburban Ballroom (Jonathan Davidson)
In a school hall on a Spring evening in an English suburb, three couples and their dance teacher rehearse the waltz, foxtrot, paso doble and tango. As they learn the magic of the ballroom, their lives - past, present and future - step up to them. With Edward York, David Bradley, John Baddeley and Jane Downs. Directed by Tim Dee.

3 Apr The Voyage of Discovery....2000
By Fraser Harrison, adapted from the journals of Captain Meriweather Lewis and Captain William Clark, who in 1805 led an expedition to find a navigable route across America from east to west. The diaries record their encounters with a bruising Arcadia - the wild rivers and marauding bears - as well as with the friendly natives. With Kerry Shale and John Guerrasio. Producer: Tim Dee.

(1999-12-03) Henry & William (Mike Walker)
Adapted from the correspondence of Henry and William James. Throughout their lives, often as not separated by the Atlantic, the brothers James - one, a great novelist, the other, a great philosopher - wrote almost daily, intimate letters to one another. With Bill Hootkins and Bob Sherman. Director: Tim Dee.

(1999-05-23) The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, dir Tim Dee) w/John Nettles, Ken Smith and Philip Madoc - Coleridge's poem, here dramatised for radio, was composed and first published 200 years ago. It has remained a quotable favourite ever since, while arguments abound over what it all means. Why does the mariner shoot the albatross?




Compiled by Nigel Deacon, Diversity website.

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