R4 Drama and Readings 2012
RADIO DRAMA FORUMS AND MESSAGEBOARDS
ex-R4 forum/
'beebotron' /
R3 drama forum /
All of these are non-BBC sites.
After 2000, BBC policy was to archive all "performance programmes" on CD. This includes radio plays, so the plays below should exist in the BBC archive. The majority of them (probably 90%+) exist in known private collections.
At present I am continuing to type out authors and titles .....cs denotes classic serial (sunday), fp denotes friday play, which still appears from time to time, though it finished officially on 1st April last year, along with the BBC messageboards.
Date, Title, Author
01 Jan The Mumbai Chuzzlewits, Goldhawk Productions, cs ep. 1 of 3, based on dickens. For oldies ... 'Mumbai' means Bombay.
02 Jan Hoffnung drawn to music, rpt, by Alan Stafford
03 Jan Birkett and the blind soldier by caroline and david stafford. legal drama ep 1 of 4 based on the notebooks of the advocate norman birkett
04 Jan Dolly would, by alison carr. romantic comedy.
05 Jan Lamia, by keats, rpt,, narrated by paterson joseph
06 Jan Coalition, by sarah wooley. lib dem mp is unexpectedly in office. she worries about people digging up her past.
07 Jan The quest of donal q, by david ashton, comedy drama starring brian cox and billy connolly in his first radio play role
08 Jan The mumbai chuzzlewits, by ayeesha menon, cs ep 2 of 3
09 Jan Network, by tony mchale; darren finds a stash of mobile phones belonging to his daughter...what is going on?
10 Jan Birkett and the green bicycle, by caroline and david stafford, ep. 2 of 4, another true birkett case
11 Jan Blurred, by frazer flintham; old university friends meet up years later and one makes a shocking revelation
12 Jan Erebus, by jo shapcott; about franklin's failed attempt to find the north-west passage
13 Jan You drive me crazy, by paul dodgson; nostalgic play about paul's childhood, his early love of motoring and his new-found fear of driving
13 Jan fp Deep down and dirty rock 'n' roll, by Mark Davies Markham, rpt. 55m.
14 Jan Tom and viv, by michael hastings, t.s.eliot's disastrous first marriage
15 Jan The mumbai chuzzlewits, by ayeesha menon, 3 of 3 cs
16 Jan What to do if your husband may leave and how to cope if he doesn't, by mel hudson; excellent comedy about a woman whose husband has an affair... she attempts to find the other woman ... and is abducted by aliens
17 Jan Birkett case 3/4: red stains on the carpet, by caroline and david stafford
18 Jan Edith's story, by robin glendenning; true story of a german girl forced to flee berlin just before ww2
19 Jan Twelve years, by alexandra wood; love story compressed into two electricity blackouts in new york twelve years apart
20 Jan Scummow: things washed up by the sea, rpt, by annaMaria murphy, producer claire grove
21 Jan The jinx element, stephen wakelam; edith wharton's affair with a journalist, as seen by her friend henry james
22 Jan The spy, dave britton, cs, ep 1 of 2, j.f.cooper; set during the american civil war. he also wrote 'last of the mohicans'.
23 Jan The great swim, gavin mortimer, gertrude ederle, cross channel swimmer in 1926, rpt.
24 Jan Birkett and the naked toreador, birkett case 4/4, caroline and david stafford
25 Jan Burns and the bankers, helen simpson, dram, liz lochhead, burns night dinner with a female lawyer
26 Jan Pilgrim, new series, 1/4 crowsfall wood, sebastian baczkiewicz; return of a favourite fantasy series, with paul hilton
27 Jan Nyama, david pownall, rpt; an entrepreneur takes a dead whale around the african deserts and cities as a travelling roadshow...
28 Jan The believers, f.k.boyce, liverpool 1963, rpt, music from the mersey is about to take off
29 Jan The spy, j.f.cooper, 2 of 2, cs
30 Jan Lost property 1/3, katie hims, rpt, sad story broadcast last year about evacuees and what can go wrong when no-one keeps proper records of who is sent where
31 Jan Lost property, 2, rpt
1 Feb Lost propertry, 3, rpt
2 Feb Pilgrim 2/4, sebastian baczkiewicz, sookey hill
3 Feb The pearl, john steinbeck, dram. donna franceschild. discovery of a pearl in a mexican village and its impact on a family
4 Feb Private Peaceful, michael morpurgo, dram. simon reade; 90-minute play about life in the trenches of WW1.
5 Feb Gulliver's travels, cs, jonathan swift dram. matthew broughton, ep. 1; the famous political satire
6 Feb Blue flu, peter bleksley; a day of strikes in the police force in response to government spending cuts. a co-ordinated action of policemen phoning in sick.
7 Feb Referee, nick perry, rpt, a referee near the end of his career is dropped from the Cup Final. then an offer is put his way ....
8 Feb Gerontius, stephen wyatt, rpt; play about cardinal newman, friar ambrose st. john, and the relationship between them. this play won the trinniswood award for 2011.
9 Feb Pilgrim, 3/4, sebastian baczkiewicz, aisley bridge. The lanes and the immortal children who live there.
10 Feb Highlites, steve chambers and phil nodding, farce set in a hairdressing salon. (the Woman's Hour serial continued 'highlites' in the following week)
11 Feb Freud-the case histories ep.1 dora, trans. shaun whiteside. dream analysis.
12 Feb Swift- gulliver's travels, ep.2: brobdignab, ad. matthew broughton. cs.
13 Feb The interrogation,1, roy williams, footballer accused of rape. kenneth cranham, alex lanipekun. excellent drama. prod. j. dromgoole.
14 Feb The interrogation,2, roy williams, a gang member who is a bit too willing to admit to his crimes.
15 Feb The interrogation,3, roy williams, a woman who married into a racist family.
16 Feb Pilgrim, 4, lindle island; pilgrim is asked to sacrifice a man he's kept safe for centuries
17 Feb Occupied, glen neath and john jordan, a protest at fortnum & mason's. a mixture of drama and recordings made during the sit-in.
13-18 Feb 'Highlites' by steve chambers and phil nodding about britain's worst hairdressing salon. follows on from afternoon play on 10 Feb. woman's hour drama, 5 x 12m.
18 Feb Freud-the case histories ep.2 the wolf man. dram. deborah levy; case study involving childhood dreams of the son of a depressed russian landowner. robert glenister, andrew sachs. sp.
19 Feb Swift, gulliver's travels, ghosts and mad scientists on the flying island of laputa followed by talking horses. famous political satire. ep. 3 of 3. cs.
20 Feb Number ten,1, series five, by jonathan myerson. see glasgow and die. damian lewis, gina mckee.
21 Feb Number ten,2, democracy in traction. an eviction turns into a riot.
22 Feb Number ten,3, the emperor's new speech.
23 Feb Number ten,4, closure. assisted dying.
24 Feb Those hard-to-reach places, daniel thurman. a devoted cleaner may lose her job... geoffrey whitehead,anne reid, Janet dibley.
20-24 Feb 'The resistance of mrs. brown' by ed harris; fantasy wartime thriller, woman's hour drama, 5 x 12m.
25 Feb Noughts and crosses, malorie blackman dram Janice oko. a segregated society; the plebs and the elite
26 Feb The cruel sea, monserrat, ep 1 of 2, cs; dram john fletcher. inexperienced seamen on a warship escorting convoys across the atlantic during ww2.
27 Feb Stone, sleep tight, by cath staincliffe, based on characters by danny brocklehurst. police drama.
28 Feb The great squanderland roof, julian gough, satirical play about the way certain people waste other people's money. not necessarily related to english politics or current events....
29 Feb On Mardle fen, nick warburton, ep 1 of 4, if you build it, a music festival on the fen
1 Mar Rumpole 1 of 2, the man of god; excellent drama by john mortimer ad. richard stoneman; pity about the irritating musical jingle
2 Mar Rumpole 2 of 2, conclusion of yesterday's story
3 Mar An american rose, charlotte jones, about the kennedys.
4 Mar The cruel sea, monserrat, well known story about ww2 and life on board a warship, escorting convoys across the atlantic. ep 2 of 2, cs.
5 Mar Stone, demons, danny brocklehurst dram Martin jameson, police drama 2 of 4
6 Mar the tobacco merchant's lawyer, iain heggie, set in glasgow 1780
7 Mar On Mardle fen, nick warburton, 2 of 4, wives, family roots
8 Mar Love virtually, daniel glattauer, an online romance which enables two people to escape the boredom of their daily routines
9 Mar Not just for christmas, roddy doyle; two argumentative brothers in ireland meet up after a long gap but show they still haven't forgotten how to argue
10 Mar Rebus: strip jack, pt. 1, ian rankin
11 Mar Out of the hitler time, judith kerr/ baety rubens, experiences of a jewish girl during WW2, ep 1 of 3, cs
12 Mar Stone, daniel brocklehurst / richard monks, ep. 3 of 4; a polish man is attacked just before a local election
13 Mar Apple jelly, adrian middleton, the impact of the government's austerity measures on ordinary people
14 Mar On Mardle fen, 3, nick warburton, goose feathers
15 Mar Interiors, johnny vegas, stewart lee, rob thirtle, producer dirk maggs. how not to sell a house: try to dazzle your prospective buyers with pseudo-intellectual stuff about interior decoration. an excellent play.
16 Mar Waiting for the boatman, stephem wakelam. partly concerned with the life of the painter caravaggio.
17 Mar Rebus:strip jack, pt. 2, by ian rankin
18 Mar Out of the hitler time:bombs on aunt dainty, part 2, cs, by judith kerr, dram. beaty rubens
19 Mar Stone, one of our own, danny brocklehurst dram Martin jameson, detective drama, episode 4 of 4.
20 Mar Noise, alex bulmer, memory loss
21 Mar On Mardle fen, 4 of 4, nick warburton, the old lost road
22 Mar Jailbird lover, craig hawes, amusing play about a man who unexpectedly receives a visit from one of the female long-term prison inmates with whom he's been corresponding
23 Mar The british club, ben musgrave, bangladeshi detective 'mondol'
24 Mar Otherwise engaged, simon gray, a man who wants to have a peaceful musical afternoon is interrupted, repeatedly...
25 Mar Out of the hitler time, part 3 of 3, cs, judith kerr
26 Mar Pandemic, john dryden, excellent three-part trilogy set before, at the beginning of, and after a pandemic: ep. 1 - the present, goldhawk productions
27 Mar Pandemic, episode 2, the future
28 Mar Pandemic, episode 3, the past. script editor mike walker, goldhawk productions, director john dryden
29 Mar The man with wings, rachel joyce, another production from goldhawk, producer gordon house. a fighter pilot returning to his village after ww2 becomes friendly with a boy in the village, who is waiting for his father to return.
30 Mar The waste land, read by jeremy irons and eileen atkins, producer susan roberts, introduced by rowan williams, jackie kay, matthew hollis and sean o'brien.
31 Mar The Jubilee Singers, Adrian Mitchell
1 Apr Plantagenet, Mike Walker, new series. Henry V. cs.
2 Apr The People's Passion, Nick Warburton, 1, Coming to Jerusalem
3 Apr The People's Passion, Nick Warburton, 2, Betrayal
4 Apr The People's Passion, Nick Warburton, 3, Last Supper
5 Apr The People's Passion, Nick Warburton, 4, Trial
6 Apr The People's Passion, Nick Warburton, 5, The Road to Emmaus
Nigel Deacon / Diversity website
