Radio Plays XII
Radio Plays XII
Harry Rolt is Missing 1.2 by Michael Davies
Harry Rolt is Missing 2.2
******n the small hours, Harry Rolt and his wife awake to the sounds of someone breaking and entering
their house. Harry goes downstairs to confront the burglars, first locking his wife in the bedroom for safety..
but then there is the sound of a struggle, and shortly afterwards, a car drives off, and Harry Rolt is missing.
But is everything quite as it seems, and why has Harry been kidnapped and by whom? And just who sent the
ransom demand for £3 million to the company where Rolt has been working to develop a super-conductor
that will work at room temperature?
Hard Row To Porlock by Eric Pringle
******Based on historical events, 1897, this is the story of the night the Lynmouth lifeboat went to sea - via the
heights of Exmoor.They had to haul the lifeboat several miles over land and knock two houses down in order
to launch and rescue.
Hate Mail by R D Wingfield
****** A sergeant on the verge of retirement tackles a spate of threatening letters and calls.
The Haunting of Frances Child by Richard Cameron
******psychological thriller about a care worker who takes an elderly man under his supervision.
During trips to the park, he regularly spots a woman with Disassociative Identity Disorder, a
condition that causes her to create other personalities in order to cope with childhood traumas.
At first the meetings appear coincidental, but it soon transpires that dark forces are at work
Heart Attack 1.2 by Gil Adams (2 hours)
******A vile murder has been committed.....a repressed young man is arrested on suspicion of murdering
a young woman. His parents, an ordinary couple, suddenly find themselves in the middle of a nightmare.
This part (the first half of the drama) is told from their point of view.
Heart Attack 2.2
******The second part of the murder inquiry, from the point of view of the idiosyncratic female detective
leading the investigation. The story is set against the backdrop of a small town which wants answers and
a quick arrest. Excellent reading of a superb script.
The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
******A famous Moscow professor befriends a stray dog and resolves
to achieve a daring scientific first by transplanting into it the testicles and
pituitary of a dead man. But the experiment goes disastrously wrong and the
professor's hitherto charmed life turns into a nightmare.
Hickey's Collapse by Bruce Stewart
******Comic play set in the Australian outback. 55m. With Peter Gunn as Joe, John Turnbull as Bonzo,
Devilia David as Wide-Awake Lil, Deborah Berlin as Rosie, John Hollis as Mutt; also stars John Baddelly,
Bruce Stewart. Directed by Martin Jenkins.
High Frontier by Roger Stennett (90 minutes)
******about the Space Lab and the toppling of the Berlin Wall while Russian astronauts were up there. Sergei
feels they might have lost everything he has worked all his life for. A very good play.
The Honeybourne Tapes by Michael Butt
******a hypnotherapist sends a young lady into a trance after she's had emotional difficulties, and a figure
from two hundred years ago emerges from her subconscious. She recalls moments from history in startling
and convincing detail. There is a good sub-plot, too, and a terrific twist at the end.
Hotel Europa by John Dryden (1 hour)
******an original thriller, nominated for the 2002 Prix Europa.
Kerry Fox and Roshan Seth star in this psychological thriller set in a London tourist hotel.
The Hotel Europa appears to be staffed by illegal immigrants from Eastern Europe.
Are they innocent refugees – or is something more sinister going on?
Hotshots 1.3 - Taking us up to Lunch by Peter Gibbs
******the first of three plays about cricket broadcast on Radio 3. It's a very funny parody about life
in the commentary box. There's foul language, a punch-up on air, questions in theCommons,
a BBC inquiry and a required resignation. It's hilarious.
The plays were commissioned by BBC Radio head of drama John Tydeman, who approached
11 leading playwrights - including the late Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard,
Simon Gray and Tim Rice - who either didn't reply or declined. However, Sue Townsend, Peter Gibbs
and Peter Tinniswood took up the cricketing challenge...
Hotshots 2.3 - The Ashes by Sue Townsend.
******Sue Townsend's comic fantasy involves an English cricket captain, Geoffrey Rutker-King (Stephen Tomkinson)
who seduces 16-year-old Louise (Robin Weaver) on the eve of a vital Test. Far from protesting, her cricket-mad father
is delighted when he sees a chance to realise his life's ambition to play for England. Full of over-the-top moments,
it contains the sort of lines you'd expect from Adrian Mole's creator.
Hotshots 3.3 - I Always Take Long Walks by by P.Tinniswood
******John Tydeman directed the Tinniswood play himself. It's a monolgue starring Judi Dench as a frustrated
cricket widow who recalls the cricketers she's loved and lost. It contains poignant moments and flashes of
brilliance, such as her nights of passion and her descriptions of the countryside.
House of Doctor Dee by Peter Ackroyd (90 minutes)
******This novel centres on the famous 16th-century alchemist and astrologer John Dee.
Reputedly a black magician, he was imprisoned by Queen Mary for allegedly attempting
to kill her through sorcery. When Matthew Palmer inherits an old house in Clerkenwell,
he feels that he has become part of its past.
House of the Seven Flies by Victor Canning (90 minutes)
******The first thing this guy needs to do is figure why anybody
would name this house the house of the seven flies.
Then he needs to find out where it is. Then he needs to figure
why he seems to be the first to ever look for this house.
That's the first hour.
House by Sheila Goff
******Emma buys a replica of a house that she seems to remember. A toy house. Then she puts people in it
and watches as they settle in. The man who builds the toy houses helps her. He fills in background for all the
little people, previous owners, the neighbors, etc.. The girl becomes strangely attracted to the little people
in her little toy house, obsessed with them.
A creepy, atmospheric play.
Hymn by Alan Bennett (45 minutes)
******A series of prose pieces about Bennett's early experiences of music.
His memories have been set to music by the celebrated film composer,
George Fenton, and were premiered in performance
by the Medici String Quartet at the Harrogate Festival in August 2001.
This is delightful. A real pleasure.
Hush little Baby by Esther Wilson.
******a girl has stopped speaking to adults.
The Hunter and the Hill by Tom Wright
******Excellant Biography of R L Stevenson
A Hundred Miles by Marcy Ross
******
Humble Boy by Charlotte Jones
******“The real thing. This is a marvellous play: harsh and forgiving; sad, very sad;
funny, very, very funny; learned and intricate but light on its feet; a poem about people,
bees, and the galaxy.”
—John Peter, The Sunday Times-- Review
Ice Blonde by Nancy Crane
******Eunice Parker's big break comes when `The Writer' chooses her to track down
a tough-guy detective, but there are many obstacles to overcome on the way.
The Invisible Man Part 1.2 by H G Wells (new 2009 version)
The Invisible Man Part 2.2
******Leonard Nimoy & Susan Dey going off the deep end.
Jagged Prayer 1.4 by Robert Smith
Jagged Prayer 2.4
Jagged Prayer 3.4
Jagged Prayer 3.4
******Four comical plays involving Detective Inspector Cromwell and Mother Helen combining
crime, convents, police and perdition. With Cheryl Campbell and Timothy Spall.
How Not to Run a Foreign Policy by John Fletcher.
******A powerful and forceful Chancellor of the Exchequer, Neville Chamberlain, has just succeeded -
without any opposition - to the Premiership. He is determined to revolutionize Britain's position in the
world by shaking off European entanglements and once more trading in a global economy, in which
he believes Britain will again rise to top nation. To do this he must reach a deal with prominent
Europeans who are, he believes, rightly aggrieved by the inequities of the Treaty of Versailles.
Unfortunately, the British Foreign Office, under the good-looking and extremely popular Anthony Eden,
completely opposes this policy and goes out of its way to undermine every move he makes. So do
other political deadbeats and has-beens such as Winston Churchill, Harold Nicholson, and the Labour Party.
He needs a way of privately talking to Hitler and Mussolini without the FO continually leaking his plans.
Into the breach steps his press officer and eminence grise, Sir Joseph Ball - a man who makes
Alistair Campbell and Karl Rove look like pussy cats. As an ex-MI5 officer, he will organize an
underground network to smuggle Chamberlain's private letters to the dictators. He recruits his first agent
by blackmailing him over his homosexuality. The agent's name is Guy Burgess.
This play is based on actual historical events. It is the first part of a planned trilogy on British Foreign Policy,
the second part dealing with Munich, the third with the events leading up to the Norway Debate of May 1940,
when those same deadbeats and incompetents finally managed to organize the overthrow of our beloved
Prime Minister. They will be broadcast on the 70th anniversaries of these events.
Beneath the farce the play is a serious study of how wrong things can go when ideologues - with enormous
parliamentiary majorities - take over from pragmatists in government, especially in foreign policy. Of how difficult
it often is to know - right up til the last moment - who is right and and who is wrong. And what a complex -
and hair- raising - matter democratic politics really is."
Household in Hove by John Spurling
*******Ivy Compton-Burnett's novels of family life were written late in her life, and she said that her
early years in Sussex had been uneventful. John Spurling's wife, Hiliary, is Ivy Compton-Burnett's
biographer; she appears in the play and reveals that the first part of Ivy's life was so traumatic that
she could only come to terms with it by writing.
Jacob Creber and the Felsoe Worm by Gerry McKee
******A rebellious teen runs away from home with a wily old gardener in pursuit of a local legend.
Her squabbling parents are in hot pursuit.
The Jacobean Box by Don Taylor
******... A hilarious romp with newly discovered Shakespearean manuscripts, academic reputations
on the line, and Stephen Moore as the dozy intellectual.
James Johnson's Story by Jolyon Maugham
******Old West, Union City
The Jangle Of The Keys by Margaret Buckley
******Margaret Buckley (nee Goulding) (1879 — 24 July 1962) was an Irish republican and president of Sinn Féin
from 1937 to 1950. In 1938, her book about the experiences of Irish Republican women prisoners interned by the
Irish Free State forces was published, called The Jangle of the Keys. In 1956,
her Short History of Sinn Féin was published.
The Jaunt by Roderick Graham
******
Juba FM by John Tuckey
******fictionalised dramatisation of events during the months leading up to the signing
of the peace treaty in Southern Sudan in 2005.
The Judas Kiss by David Hare
******The relationship between Oscar Wilde and Bosie whose true subject is not Wilde,
but love; not Bosie, but betrayal
Jude the Obscure 1.6 by Thomas Hardy
******Hardy called "Jude the Obscure" "a deadly war waged between flesh and spirit".
It is a tale of doomed love and unfulfilled promise that revolves around Jude Fawley,
an ambitious and intelligent young man, his cousin Sue Bridehead and his academic
mentor Phillotson.
Jude the Obscure 2.6 So Near, So Far
Jude the Obscure 3.6 The Curse of Consciousnes
Jude the Obscure 4.6 The Unusual Tragedy of Love
Jude the Obscure 5.6 We Wronged No Man
Jude the Obscure 6.6 The Letter Killeth
Justine 1.2 by Lawrence Durrell.
Justine 2.2
*******Set amid the corrupt glamour and multiplying intrigues
of Alexandria in the 1930s and 1940s, the novels of Durrell's
"Alexandria Quartet" (of which this is the first) follow the
shifting alliances - sexual, cultural and political - of a group
of quite varied characters.
Karl Marx Meets Sherlock Holmes by Richard Wortley
******a rather unusual comic play. Marx has written "Das Kapital", but in spite of its size,
has lost the manuscript - can Holmes find it?
Hadji Murad 1-2 by Leo Tolstoy
Hadji Murad 2-2
******In 1851 Leo Tolstoy enlisted in the Russian army and was sent to the
Caucasus to help defeat the Chechens. During this war a great Avar chieftain,
Hadji Murad, broke with the Chechen leader Shamil and fled to the Russians
for safety. Months later, while attempting to rescue his family from Shamil's prison,
Hadji Murad was pursued by those he had betrayed and, after fighting the most
heroic battle of his life, was killed.
Tolstoy, witness to many of the events leading to Hadji Murad's death, set down
this story with painstaking accuracy to preserve for future generations the horror,
nobility, and destruction inherent in war.
Kill The Cameraman First by Don Taylor
******When a man ends up in a strange war-torn city, he embarks on a quest for The Truth.
King Solomon's Mines 1.2 by Sir H. Rider Haggard
King Solomon's Mines 2.2
******Following a map drawn 300 years ago by a dying man,
three adventurers set out in search of the legendary riches of
King Solomon's diamond mines. On their journey they have to
cross deserts, mountains and inhabitants that kill strangers.
Will they make the journey and become the richest men on Earth?
The King of the Rainy Country by Nicolas Freeling
******Inspector Van der Valk's search for a missing millionaire
leads him to a remo village in the Austrian Alps.
The King and I 1.2 by Rodgers & Hammerstein
The King and I 2.2
Killing Maestros by Christopher William Hill
******Conductor Sergei Bodanov feels jinxed by the evil curse of a Wagner opera.
Killing Katerina by Marcy Kahan
******A comedy of unpleasant manners
The Reef 01.10 by Edith Wharton
The Reef 02.10
The Reef 03.10
The Reef 04.10
The Reef 05.10
The Reef 06.10
The Reef 07.10
The Reef 08.10
The Reef 09.10
The Reef 10.10
******A novel, first published in 1912, which offers a variation on the theme
of the eternal triangle involving a rich American widow living in France, her
daughter's governess, and the American woman's first love, who re-enters her life.
A Death in the Family by James Agee
******A Death in the Family remains an enduring classic of American literature.
Jay Follet is healthy, robust, and in the prime of life when he sets out from home
one hot summer night to tend to his sick father. He leaves behind a wife and two
small children, promising to return the next evening if at all possible. From this
simple situation, Agee weaves an enthralling story of the complex ways that
people deal with life, love, and loss.
Scam by John Arden
*******Cressida Owlglass has just discovered IT. Beguiled by the novelty of cyber-magic,
she finds herself facing a challenge when a dubious email lands in her inbox.
The Shocking Tale of Margaret Seddon by John Fletcher
******John Fletcher's Edwardian murder story is based on real events.
Frederick and Margaret Seddon take wealthy Mrs Barrow into their Islington home as a lodger.
The summer of 1911 proves scorchingly hot and when Mrs Barrow dies, leaving all her money to Fred,
suspicions are aroused. Was her death caused by the heatwave, or the arsenic-laced fly papers
have something to do with it?
A Night at the Wasteland by David Stafford
******A spoof with T S Eliot and The Marx Brothers
Another Country by Julian Mitchell
******Another Country is loosely based on the life of the spy Guy Burgess,
Guy Bennett in the play, and examines the effect his homosexuality and
exposure to Marxism has on his life, and the hypocrisy and snobbery of the
English public schools.
The setting is a 1930s Harrow-esque public school, where Guy Bennett and
Tommy Judd are friends because they are both outsiders in their own ways.
Bennett is openly gay, while Judd is a Marxist.
One day a teacher walks in on Martineau and a boy from another house having sex.
Martineau subsequently kills himself because of the shame of having been found in a
homosexual embrace, and chaos erupts as teachers and the senior students try their
hardest to keep the scandal away from parents and the rest of the outside world.
However, the gay scandal gives the army-obsessed house captain Fowler,
who dislikes both Bennett and Judd, a welcome reason to scheme against
Bennett to keep him from becoming a "God" - a school name for the elite
pupils of the school.
A Candle For Casey by Harry Towb
*******A delicious comic ghost story, set in New York on Christmas Eve, about Casey (David Kelly)
an Irish rogue who haunts his old Jewish friend, Israelovitch (Henry Goodman) to help him get to Heaven.
All Israelovitch has to do is light a candle for him on the first anniversary of Casey’s death at St Michael’s
church. Israelovitch isn’t keen because Casey died owing him money and its cold and very snowy outside.
So Casey enlists the help of Israelovitch’s wife, Bessie (Suzanne Bertish) who is already there and will get
her wings if she helps Casey. Then the race is on to light the candle before 12 noon.
Angelophany by Miles Gibson
******a vagrant in the church says he's an angel
Very comical.
The Subject Was Roses by Frank D. Gilroy
******The play premiered on Broadway at the Royale Theatre
on 25 May 1964, starring Jack Albertson, Irene Dailey and
Martin Sheen, and directed by Ulu Grosbard. A major critical
and commercial success, the play ran 882 performances and
was nominated for five Tony Awards, winning two for Best Play
and Best Featured Actor (Albertson). For his work in the play,
Gilroy won the year's Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The Element of Doubt by Alec Baron
******
Maugham's Eye View 1.6 The Creative Impulse
Maugham's Eye View 2.6 The Vessel of Wrath
Maugham's Eye View 3.6 The Round Dozen
Maugham's Eye View 4.6 Footprints in the Jungle
Maugham's Eye View 5.6 The Fact of Life
Maugham's Eye View 6.6 Before the Party
******Dramatisation of short stories by the great English writer Somerset Maugham
Promise to Kill by Eddie McGuire
******
Backtrack by Jill Hyme
*******A play that begins in a temporary centre for the homeless,
when a volunteer helper finds herself oddly interested in one of the down-and-outs.
Bravo 74
Bumps and Bruises by Rachel New and Ben Edwards
******about an antenatal class.
The Inextinguishable Fire by Zosia Wand
******In July 1914, Joseph Conrad travelled to Poland with his family. The visit brought unexpected personal struggles.
The Killing of Dr Morgan
******Andrew lives a comfy middle class life - then his wife's best friend is murdered and his world crumbles.
The Hamburg Connection by Barry Hill
The Hand of the Hunter by Gaylord Meech
******Richard Bonner, owner of a book store in Boston, gets a call from a Sheriff Onslow in New Hampshire
asking him to come up and identify a corpse with the name of a old friend who only had a scrap of paper with
Richard’s phone number on him.
Incommunicado by Stephanie Young
******Louise and Claire flirt with disaster by entrusting sweet nothings to mobile phone,
palmtop computer and walkie-talkie, as they flirt with Tony, Sam and Dave.
Iq - The Affair Of The Yellow Dress by Paul Celeste.
******Psychotherapist Amanda Mace and philosopher O'Toole take time off from academic pursuits
to solve a mystery of adultery, sexual blackmail and a particularly dodgy brand of whisky.
Letter of the Law by R D Wingfield (1 hour) (end credits clipped)
Letters Of Introduction 1.6 by Peter Whalley
Letters Of Introduction 2.6
Letters Of Introduction 3.6
Letters Of Introduction 4.6
Letters Of Introduction 5.6
Letters Of Introduction 6.6
******The world of Richard Gillian, a successful publisher and good family man,
is turned upside-down when he starts receiving blackmail letters that have nothing to do with him - or so he claims.
Lie Down Comic by John Clifford Mortimer
******The story of a comedian who befriends one of his female fans. She is dying and raging against it.
The two initially don't hit it off, but eventually find inspiration in each other's company.
They end up talking about their shared fear.