Additions and updates for Chapter 11 Film, Internet and Stage dimensions & Bibliography

Writing Audio Drama by Tim Crook published by Routledge 31st March 2023

Book Description

Writing Audio Drama offers a comprehensive and intelligent guide to writing sound drama for broadcasting and online. This book uses original research on the history of writing radio plays in the UK and USA to explore how this has informed and developed the art form for more than 100 years.

Audio drama in the context of podcasting is now experiencing a global and exponential expansion. Through analysis of examples of past and present writing, the author explains how to create drama which can explore deeply psychological and intimate themes and achieve emotional, truthful, entertaining and thought-provoking impact. Practical analysis of the key factors required to write successful audio drama is covered in chapters focusing on audio play beginnings and openings, sound story dialogue, sustaining the sound story, plotting for sound drama, and the best ways of ending audio plays. Chapters are supported by online resources which expand visually on subjects discussed and point to exemplary sound dramas referenced in the chapters.

This textbook will be an important resource for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses such as Podcasting, Radio, Audio Drama, Scriptwriting, and Media Writing.

The content of all the companion web-pages for this project is in the process of development following the publication of the printed book 31st March 2023. Many thanks for your patience and consideration.

Chapter Eleven

Updates and additions for Chapter 11 ‘Film, Internet and Stage dimensions to Sound Story Telling’ in Writing Audio Drama by Tim Crook published by Routledge in 2023.

This chapter investigates and discusses the relationship between sound and vision with how digital multimedia has expanded the possibilities of greater interactivity for listeners.

Analysis of examples of radio plays transferring to theatre, television and film such as the BBC’s Dad’s Army, Lucille Fletcher’s Sorry Wrong Number, and Jeremy Sandford’s research and writing of the life of Nigerian migrant David Oluwale in the early 1970s.

What was gained and lost with Orson Welles’s introduction of radio drama techniques of narrative and sound in the film Citizen Kane.

Interactivity actually brings in the audience to contribute authorship, and make their own choices when offered a contingency of narrative options.

Extracts selected and analysed in the printed text for the purposes of criticism and review, scholarship and learning.

Dad’s Army, episode ‘Ten Seconds From Now’ by David Croft and Jimmy Perry adapted for radio by Harold Snoad & Michael Knowles

Analysis on page 186, paragraph 3:

MAIN: I decide it’s time to go out on patrol. I speak to my sergeant. Sergeant it’s time for us to go out on patrol.

WILSON: Cor, blimey sir. So it is ‘an all.

MAIN: Corporal, it’s time for us to go out on patrol.

JONES: Men, it’s time for us to go out on patrol.

(Croft & Perry adapted by Snoad & Knowles 1976)

Oluwale by Jeremy Sandford. BBC 1972.

Analysis on page 189, paragraph 2:

NARRATOR: This is a dramatization of the life and death of David Oluwale, a Nigerian who came to Britain in 1949 full of hope and who died tragically in a North country river in 1969.

(Song)

(WATER NOISE AND SHIPS’ HOOTERS)

NARRATOR: On August 16^th David Oluwale stowed away on board the ship Temple Star and travelled in her from Lagos in Nigeria to London. That is the start of the story.

(NOISE)

BLACK: Yes, there was a crowd of us, we all came in boats then, we came on the ‘Empire Windrush’.

(Sandford 1972:1)

Screenplay Smiling David: The Story of David Oluwale by Jeremy Sandford 1974.

Analysis on page 189, paragraph 5:

LAGOS

Seascape

A wide sweeping bay in the

vicinity of Lagos,

All the dogs are barking in

Lagos

Townscape

Nigerian music,

Various shots show the lively

Street life in Lagos. Music

Continues.

Mountain

A boy sits up in the mountain.

He is DAVID (aged 6). Two or

three other BOYS

It is the mid-1930s

Catholic Mission School

CHILDEN sitting in class, among

them, DAVID (aged 8)

As we see this, we hear the voice of

DAVID’S MUM

You’ll do us proud, David. We did sacri-

fice for you, save up for you to go to the

Catholic school…

(ibid 13)

Radiophonique/audiogenic end to the iconic UK ITV series Upstairs Downstairs in 1975

The final sequence of this series offers an evocative and successful use of radio/audio drama style montage in a television drama series mainly shot and directed in the studio, which was the style and produciton tradition of the time.

‘Whither Shall I Wander?’ completed the fifth season of the period drama created by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, and developed by Alfred Shaughnessy for London Weekend Television.

It first aired on 21 December 1975 on ITV and ran for 68 hour long episodes between 1971 and 1975.

For many years it represented the conclusion of the story of the characters of 165 Eaton Place, Belgravia London until 2010 when the BBC revived the programme with a new series.

The memories of ghosts and dramatic scenes past is run as sound sequences when Rose, played by the programme’s co-creator Jean Marsh, walks alone through the abandoned and lifeless house.

The memories she recalls are associated with each room before she finally leaves the property, which bears a sign showing that it has been listed for sale.

The episode was written by John Hawkesworth and directed by Bill Bain.

Steve Phillips’ comprehensively detailed website about the series provides a summary of the episode:

‘…and Rose is left all alone in the house to check to see that all has been left in order. She starts in the attic and works her way down and recalls the bittersweet times – weddings, royal visits, telegrams, and the voices she has known and loved in this house.”…and Rose is left all alone in the house to check to see that all has been left in order. She starts in the attic and works her way down and recalls the bittersweet times – weddings, royal visits, telegrams, and the voices she has known and loved in this house.’

He also provides an additional factfile revealing that the last episode was the longest at 55 minutes:

‘As Rose wanders through the empty house, we hear audio extracts from old episodes. These include the voices of departed cast members, Pauline Collins, Karen Dotrice, Rachel Gurney and Simon Williams.’

The analogue nature of the poduction (in the pre-digital age) is exemplified by the kind of echo created to mark the end of the audio memories. There is an increasing metallic clanking crashing effect as the feedback is accelerted with the sound fader being pulled up to increase the volume.

The sound sequence is radio dramatic because it could standalone in sound only without the visual presentation and performance, though the context of the empty rooms and Rose’s rueful countenance provides an effective dramatic fusion of the audiovisual.

Radiophonique/audiogenic structure of Jack Rosenthal’s P’tang, Yang, Kipperbang broadcast by the UK’s Channel 4 November 3rd 1982

This flimed television play has a unique audio-visual structure with self contained drama sequences being narrative framed by the imagined recollection and creation on the part of th young central character of BBC radio cricket commentary by John Arlott.

P’tang, Yang, Kipperbang title card.png. Image used for fair dealing/fair use criticism and review of the film in question.

I would argue that the film’s soundtrack uses this structure and narrative fusion of Arlott’s commentary so effectively that it could stand alone as an audio/radio play.

The screenplay was written by Jack Rosenthal as part of the Channel’s First Love series during 1982.

This is very much a coming-of-age story set in a grammar school in London suburbia during the late 1940s. It may well be semi-autobiographical as was the case with a lot of Rosenthal’s writing.

Its very successful nostalgic atmosphere can be attributed to the effective and sensitive direction of the late Michael Apted who was famous for the television documentary series 7 Up which tracked the lives of a group of children from the age of 7 every seven years and which is continuing as they are now over 60.

P’tang, Yang, Kipperbang’s central character Alan Duckworth performed by John Albasiny is a young cricket-obsessed teenage boy and the plot charts his love and desire to have his first kiss with fellow school pupil Ann Lawton performed by Abigail Cruttenden.

The script does not treat its subject with any sense of gratuitous crudeness. In fact it is utterly charming and suffused with human dignity. The title of the film is a password used by members of the Alan’s gang of schoolfriends.

Alan Duckworth’s well meaning adoration of Ann competes with his equally passionate desire for world peace and for the England cricket team to beat Australia and win the Ashes.

The film has been available on the Channel 4 watch again service as well as rebroadcasts on the FilmFour Channel at: https://www.channel4.com/programmes/ptang-yang-kipperbang

Learning on Screen subscribers (via school, college and university libraries) can access the film with the following academic citation:

P’Tang Yang Kipperbang, 19:25 23/09/2011, FilmFour, 95 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0078EA36?bcast=71062332 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

‘Nostalgic comedy drama, set in the summer of 1948, about a 14-year-old boy who has three dreams whirling around inside his head: that the brave postwar world will live in peace, that England’s cricketers will win the Ashes, and that this summer, he will finally kiss his beguiling classmate.’

The script of P’Tang, Yang, Kipperbang and Jack Rosanthal’s other television plays were published by Longman in 1984 and can be obtained via Abebooks and second hand booksellers.

Rosanthal was a prolific and much celebrated television and screenplay dramatist who passed away at the age of 72 in 2004. He was responsible for 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street.

His radio drama credits did not match his output for the screen medium. He wrote the linking dialogue for a BBC Radio 2 musical presentation Dear Anyone in 1979.

On 28th June 1998 he was Sue Lawley’s castaway in Desert Island Discs which is available on BBC Sounds at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p009434h

‘Sue Lawley’s castaway this week is the playwright Jack Rosenthal. Bar Mitzvah Boy, and The Evacuees are among his many successes. His work often reflects his own life. He poured the grief he felt when his children left home into Eskimo Day, and touched a raw nerve with many parents who felt they had been left behind.’

In 2004 in ‘a tribute to one of Britain’s most acclaimed and prolific writers’, who died in May of that year BBC2 re-showed the Bafta-nominated edition of Omnibus from 1997 in which ‘Rosenthal embarks on a retrospective journey to revisit the people and places that inspired his career over the first 30 years of his life, up to the point, in 1961, when he wrote the first of his 129 “Coronation Street” episodes. Including contributions from family members and his friends at school, university and in the Navy.’

On 30th September 2004, the BBC Four Channel programme Time Shift profiled Jack Rosenthal. with a repeat of his television play The Knowledge following.

His autobiography, By Jack Rosenthal, was published posthumously, and a four-part radio adaptation by his daughter Amy, titled Jack Rosenthal’s Last Act was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2006 and starred his widow Maureen Lipman as herself and Stephen Mangan as Rosenthal. It was also released on CD.

Following her father’s death Amy Rosenthal adapted some of her father’s television playwriting for radio which were broadcast by BBC Radio 4 and included an original play scripted by herself about her father. Her mother Mauren Lipman also celebrated Jack Rosenthal in a BBC radio presentation after his death and he has been referenced in a radio documentary appreciating the television Play For Today series.

They are available to listen on the Learning on Screen archive. [Click on th citation link to listen]

Afternoon Play: Tortoise Monday, 31 Dec 2007, 14:15 45 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis ‘Shrewdly observed comedy by Jack Rosenthal. Roy’s pet tortoise Merlin is ailing, as is his marriage. As Merlin slowly regains the will to live, he realises that he needs to do the same. With Stanley Baxter, Olivia Colman, Rupert Degas, Simon Greenall. Directed by Maureen Lipman with Dirk Maggs.’

Academic citation: Afternoon Play: Tortoise, 14:15 31/12/2007, BBC Radio 4, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0078A5C7?bcast=28236624 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

With Great Pleasure Monday, 24 Jul 2017, 23:30 30 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis ‘Actress and writer Maureen Lipman shares some of her most treasured poems and literary extracts with an audience at Arnolfini on Bristol’s waterfront. She presents key moments from her performing career, pays homage to Joyce Grenfell and includes a work by her late husband, screenwriter Jack Rosenthal. She is joined on stage by David Horovitch.’

Academic citation: With Great Pleasure, 23:30 24/07/2017, BBC Radio 4, 30 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/02EEC535?bcast=124615164 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Drama: The Rosenthals – Thin Ice Thursday, 31 May 2018, 14:15 45 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis. ‘Affectionate tribute from Amy Rosenthal to her playwright father Jack, inspired by her own experience of going to university and an unusual pact she made with her dad. With Richard Lumsden, Georgia Groome, Helen Monks. Directed by Marion Nancarrow.’

Academic citation: Drama: The Rosenthals – Thin Ice, 14:15 31/05/2018, BBC Radio 4, 45 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0ED49318?bcast=126810052 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Review:- This is a truly beautiful and charming original radio play by Amy Rosenthal which has the charm and humanity of her father’s writing expressed through her own individual voice. The production has delightful bridges of the popular music of the play’s setting with brilliant characterisation of a family sitution of two parents and two late teenage children. The eldest Edie is about to go to university in Manchester. And contrary to the parents’ empty nest syndrome the plot here is of a young woman who doesn’t want to leave home. It opens with Edie locking herself in the bathroom.

Her father Ben agrees to drive Edie to her hall of residence with all of her suitcases and actually stay in Manchester for five days to help settle her in on this challenging and awe-inspiring life journey.

Mother quite rightly observes this is a bad idea. Everything about the script crackles with rich and affectionate characterisation. Father’s nickname for Edie is ‘squirrel.’ The going to university project starts to go wrong when they discover that instead of having her own room in the ‘all girls’ hall she has to share with a publican’s daughter called Natasha- who prefers to be called ‘Tasha.’

This is BBC R4’s Afternoon play at its very best and a reminder of the quality of sound drama cultural contribution from BBC Radio Drama. It premiered 8th May 2017 and has been repeated on BBC R4 Extra and it was quite rightly selected as the BBC’s Drama of the Week.

The developing relationship between Edie and Tasha with the latter helping her to settle in and to eventually to cut the purse strings of family life at home. There are some lovely comic lines properly rooted in character. From a student ‘Cocks’ society actually standing for Cocktails and Edie being so unworldly that she actually thinks ginger ale is an alcoholic drink: ‘Where have you been all your life?!’

Director/producer Marion Nancarrow and actors Richard Lumsden, Georgia Groome, and Helen Monks and the rest of the cast also deserve a special mention.

Drama: The Rosenthals – Eskimo Day Friday, 1 Jun 2018, 21:00 60 min BBC Radio 4
Synopsis. ‘Jack Rosenthal’s poignant comedy drama follows two sets of parents as their children try to get into Cambridge. With Ben Miles, Pooky Quesnel, Nicholas Gleaves. Adapted for radio by Amy Rosenthal. Directed by Marion Nancarrow.’

Academic citation: News; Drama: The Rosenthals – Eskimo Day, 21:00 01/06/2018, BBC Radio 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0EC82C8D?bcast=126816399 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Drama: The Rosenthals – Cold Enough for Snow Friday, 8 Jun 2018, 21:00 60 min BBC Radio 4
Synopsis. ‘Jack Rosenthal’s comedy drama, adapted for radio by Amy Rosenthal. Neil and Pippa’s futures are uncertain as A-levels beckon, and their parents have something to learn from them. With Ben Miles, Pooky Quesnel, Nicholas Gleaves, Lucy Robinson. Directed by Marion Nancarrow.’

News; Drama: The Rosenthals – Cold Enough for Snow, 21:00 08/06/2018, BBC Radio 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0ED0FB07?bcast=126861826 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Play For Today Saturday, 17 Oct 2020, 20:00 60 mins BBC Radio 4
Synopsis. ‘Alison Steadman celebrates 50 year since Play for Today was launched on BBC television. The series ran from 1970 until 1984 and offered the audience hundreds of plays, many of which tackled the thorny issues of the day – industrial relations, the rise of the far right, poverty and consumerism. The series also included classics such as Abigail’s Party and Nuts in May – which starred Alison Steadman and shone a perceptive light on suburban pretentions and preoccupations. This archive-rich programme includes contributions from Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. We also talk to Margaret Matheson who produced Scum, the play about life in a borstal which was banned by the BBC; Paula Milne, one of the few women writers on the series; and Maureen Lipman, who was given an early acting role in Play for Today and whose late husband Jack Rosenthal was responsible for Bar Mitzvah Boy and Spend, Spend, Spend, the tragic story of pools winner Vivien Nicholson.’

Academic citation: Play For Today, 20:00 17/10/2020, BBC Radio 4, 60 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/172448BB?bcast=133030831 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Jack Rosenthal’s Television plays available on Learning On Screen [Click on the citation link to view]

Play for Today, Spend, Spend, Spend, 21:25 15/03/1977, BBC1 London, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/RT3C4256?bcast=119397481 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Bar Mitzvah Boy, 23:00 18/07/2004, BBC4, 75 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/000C0CCA?bcast=3948893 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Eskimo Day, 22:40 11/01/2009, BBC4, 85 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00CF5FCD?bcast=31356133 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Cold Enough for Snow, 22:40 19/07/2004, BBC4, 90 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0009AE5E?bcast=3959075 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

The Evacuees, 13:25 11/02/2012, Yesterday, 95 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0000E158?bcast=78993662 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

The Lovers, 22:00 08/10/2019, Talking Pictures TV, 110 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/000CAC87?bcast=130365185 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

The Chain, 18:35 07/08/2021, Talking Pictures TV, 115 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00029375?bcast=135065042 (Accessed 08 Nov 2023)

Companion Website Resources Chapter 11 Page 190

Additions and updates for Chapter 11 Film, Internet and Stage dimensions to Sound Story Telling
https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-11-film-internet-and-stage-dimensions-to-sound-story-telling/
Orson Welles and Radio Plays
https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/29/orson-welles-and-radio-plays/
Oluwale Jeremy Sandford and Radio Drama
https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/29/oluwale-jeremy-sandford-and-radio-drama/
Caryl Churchill and Radio Plays
https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/30/caryl-churchill-and-radio-plays/
Cinema Television and Audio Drama
https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/30/cinema-television-and-audio-drama/
Audio Crime Drama and Radio Detectives
https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/30/audio-crime-drama-and-radio-detectives/
Radio Drama and Stage Theatre
https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/30/radio-drama-and-stage-theatre/

Companion Website Resources Bibliography Pages 191 to 218 (Only online links from bibliography are provided here)

Page 191

Balsam, E. (2019) The Closing Sequence of Claire Denis’s Beau Travail, Frieze, (200), 8 Jan 2019. https://www.frieze.com/article/closing-sequence-claire-deniss-beau-travail

Page 194

Crook, T. (2014) Norman Corwin’s the Lonesome Train (Live Broadcast) CBS 1944: A critical reflection. RadioDoc Review, 1(1). doi:10.14453/rdr.v1i1.5 Online link https://ro.uow.edu.au/rdr/vol1/iss1/6/

Dann, L. (2015) Only Half the Story: Radio Drama, Online Audio and Transmedia Storytelling, Brighton: University of Brighton at https://cris.brighton.ac.uk/ws/files/376126/Dann%20-%20Only%20Half%20the%20Story.pdf

Page 195

Fink, H. (1981) Beyond Naturalism: Tyrone Guthrie’s Radio Theatre and the Stage Production of Shakespeare. Theatre Research in Canada/Recherches théâtrales Au Canada, 2(1): 19–32, Retrieved from https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/TRIC/article/view/7519

Page 198

McMurtry, L. (2021) Special Section: Radio Drama Takeover. RadioDoc Review, Online at https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1111&context=rdr

Page 199

Teller, N. (2018) Audio Drama: 10 Plays for Radio and Podcast, Kindle at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Audio-Drama-Plays-Radio-Podcast-ebook/dp/B07NCYRZX9/

Page 200

Teller, N. (2021) More Audio Drama: 10 More Plays for Radio and Podcasts, Kindle at: https://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Audio-Drama-Plays-Podcast-ebook/dp/B097Q8MLPW/

Watts, E. (2018) Drama Podcasts: An overview of the US and UK Drama Podcast Market, London: BBC Sounds and published at: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/radio/commissioning/Drama-Podcast-Research-Dec2018.pdf

Johnstone, P. (2022) Independent Local Radio Drama:
A cultural, historical and regulatory examination of British Commercial Radio Drama, Bournemouth: Bournemouth University. This is available online at https://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/36966/1/JOHNSTONE%2C%20Philip_Ph.D._2022.pdf (Accessed 10 January 2023)

Pepler, C. S. L (1988) Discovering the Art of Wireless: A Critical History of Radio Drama at the BBC, 1922–1928, Bristol: University of Bristol. This is available online at https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/34496537/381402.pdf (Accessed 3 September 2022)

Page 206

Anon, (1 June 1978) ‘The Revenge: A play for radio without words by Andrew Sachs’ Radio Times, Issue 2846, online archive at https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/731c3868560546f1ab8369520c0297fe

Jacobs-Jenkins, B. (2022) An Octoroon. Interview with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, playwright, National Theatre Blog. https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/blog/octoroon-interview-branden-jacobs-jenkins-playwright. visited 13th August 2022. [Note blog page link removed by National Theatre after referenced in research and writing for this book and just prior to print publication.]

Page 207

Bick, Andreas (1 May 2010) A Pot Calling The Kettle Black! SilenceRadio.org, available at https://soundcloud.com/andreas-bick/a-pot-calling-the-kettle-black (Accessed 31 August 2022).

Brecht, B. (1963) The Trial of Lucullus. KPFA Readers’ Theatre, technical production by John Whiting. Translation HR Hays. Broadcast March 18, 1963 on KPFA, Berkeley, California, Available at: https://www.ubu.com/media/sound/brecht_bertolt/Brecht-Bertolt_The-Trial-of-Lucullus_KPFA_1963.mp3

Cooper, G. (2018) The Disagreeable Oyster, 21:15 06/08/2018, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 45 minutes. Available at: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/00525703?bcast=127238309 (Accessed 31 Aug 2022)

Durham, R. (15 May 1949a) The Ballad of Satchel Paige, NBC/WMAQ in the series Destination Freedom. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSyaU7BcZSc (Accessed 19 August 2022)

Durham, R. (5 June 1949b) Anatomy of an Ordinance, NBC/WMAQ in the series Destination Freedom. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnUQT4HA6ck, (Accessed 19 August 2022)

Page 208

Fletcher, L. (17 November 1941) Suspense – The Hitch-hiker, CBS Radio production from 1942, Available at https://archive.org/details/Suspense-TheHitchhiker, (Accessed 25 Aug 2022)

Fletcher, L. (25 May 1943) Suspense – Sorry, Wrong Number, CBS Radio production, Available at https://archive.org/details/Episode31SorryWrongNumberEastCoast/Episode+31+-+Sorry+Wrong+Number+East+Coast.mp3, (Accessed 25 Aug 2022)

Phillips, C. (2017) The Wasted Years, 20:30 27/08/2017, BBC Radio 4 Extra, 90 minutes. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/008934EA?bcast=124931667 (Accessed 31 Aug 2022)

Smith, Al. (2021) Life Lines, ‘Episode 1 of 6, Series 5, BBC Radio 4, 15 September 2021, available online 30 July 2022 at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09w05mj

Stoppard, T. (2017) Artist Descending A Staircase, Drama on 3, 21:00 08/10/2017, BBC Radio 3, 80 minutes. Available at: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0BA9EF4E?bcast=125283656 (Accessed 31 Aug 2022).

Walker, M. (23 September 2003) The Dark House, BBC Radio 4. Available at: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/002054EC?bcast=121853514 (Accessed 28 August 2022).

West, T. (1959) This Gun That I Have in My Right Hand is Loaded, clyp available online at: https://clyp.it/fif3lyin, (Accessed 31 Aug 2022).

White, Graham (17 October 2010) The Unfortunates, dramatisation of BS Johnson’s 1960s ‘novel in a box’, BBC R3, Available at: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/016C1AFC?bcast=127975129, (Accessed 21 August 2022).

Wishengrad, M. (12 December 1943) The Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto, NBC network, available online at: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn702472 (Acccessed 31st Aug 2022).

Page 210

The independently developed online site originated and managed by Nigel Deacon Radio Plays & Radio Drama is, in my opinion, one of the most important publicly accessible online resources recording the history and appreciation of British audio drama in the world. http://www.suttonelms.org.uk/RADIO1.HTML

Recommended summary of audio play-writing advice from BBC World Service competition page (last updated 2012 and archived): https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2010/10/100728_playcomp_writingtips.shtml
The International Radio Playwriting Competition 2020. BBC World Service. Ten tips for writing a play for radio. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/tnkQgSgPJVWM4ZpZ3hHbjv/ten-tips-for-writing-a-play-for-radio
BBC Writers’ Room Online 2022
Scriptwriting essentials https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/

Developing Your Idea
All ideas are only as good as the characters that drive them, and all good ideas need to be dramatic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/1-developing-your-idea/
Know What You Want to Write
Strong scripts know what they are and what they are trying to do. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/2-know-what-you-want-to-write/

Page 211

Beginnings (and Endings)
Knowing where to start with the story that you tell is inextricably linked to the ending you are trying to reach. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/3-beginnings-and-endings/
The Muddle in the Middle
The difficulty with many scripts and stories is the middle – the stretch that connects the beginning with the end. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/4-muddle-in-the-middle/
Characters Bring Your Words to Life
Characters are the thing that separate great scripts from only competent scripts – and great writers from only competent writers. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/5-characters/
Scenes
A scene is the combination of time, place and setting you use to frame and show a significant moment or event in the story. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/6-scenes/
Dialogue
Dialogue is not just about what characters say – it’s about what they express by what they say. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/7-dialogue/
Writing is Rewriting
So you’ve developed your idea, worked out what kind of story and experience it is, created characters, structured the story, brought it to scenic life, and voiced the characters. You have a draft and it feels like an achievement. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/scriptwriting-essentials/8-rewriting/

Paul Ashton’s Perfect 10. Blog at BBC Writers Room

Medium, Form and Format https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/117b337c-52fd-35c5-bf84-1ca9a3299b16
Get your story going! https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/2c2fdbe4-00e0-3a6c-85d8-9d6eb20de866
Coherence https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/2f228300-0fca-3bed-92e7-befe768d92cb
Character is Everything https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/1e2f143d-9356-396f-a745-246b99644025
Emotion https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/32ca8225-c334-384a-a205-d63cc1c94b17
Surprise! https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/8f99f831-cc42-3fe2-8141-e94176fcddcc
Structure https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/4ff33083-4a96-385a-b5f5-b20489845627
Exposition and Expression https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/7c325f56-3029-3539-868a-e73ae1d6541c

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Script Room latest: radio drama
By Paul Ashton Tuesday 14 May 2013, 10:28 https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/ae298ad7-8489-30fe-a76d-a703fa463a63

John Yorke’s 10 Questions
John Yorke’s 10 Questions are used by top TV writers all over the UK to unlock and refine their stories: https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/10-questions

Writing Radio Drama
Radio drama is the most intimate relationship a scriptwriter can have with their audience, and yet it can also cheaply create anything that you can imagine. https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/resources/tips-and-advice/writing-radio-drama/

Monday–Friday 10:45–11am Radio 4 (repeated at 19.45 weekdays) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qy2s
15 Minute Drama – Short form (15min) commissioned in multiples of 5, ideally a series with individual stories in each episode or short term stories that mature over five or ten episodes.
Monday–Friday 2:15–3.00pm Radio 4
Afternoon Drama – Daily narrative drama strand. A complete story that is imaginative, accessible and entertaining.
Saturday 2:30–3:30pm Radio 4 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qgxs
Saturday Drama – Enjoyment and escapism. For example: love stories, thrillers, and extraordinary personal stories.
Sunday (time varies) Radio 3 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnwj
Drama on 3 – Radical drama, classics and new theatre productions.

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BBC Radio 4 Drama https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xxp0g

BBC Radio Drama Podcast of the week https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrv5m/episodes/downloads
BBC Sounds produces podcast/online drama, which is also broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
Examples. Doctor Who: Redacted
When a terrifying phenomenon starts redacting the Doctor from reality, three queer women become the world’s only hope. #DoctorWhoRedacted https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0c0krqf
Lusus What happens when your neuroses come to life? What shape will they take? Lusus is a brand new psychological horror podcast starring Ncuti Gatwa, Morfydd Clark and Alistair Petrie. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00176y7

Life Lines Podcast
Al Smith’s award-winning series set in an ambulance control room. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bcm4/episodes/downloads
BBC Radio Four Extra Podcasts and Podcast Radio Hour https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09n14fm/episodes/downloads
Script Library – Radio Drama
Scripts from the BBC Radio Drama archive https://www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/scripts/radio-drama/
Making Radio Drama – the bad news and the good news
Friday 7 March 2014, 12:35 by Stephen Wyatt https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/dc3dc934-4287-36da-8d9a-2f5def642772
Writing for Radio – Find Your ‘Itch’
Thursday 28 August 2014, 10:50 by Al Smith https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/fe9b30bc-d2a5-3210-ac05-fc2539258025
The Writer’s Prize commission: Bang Up
Thursday 8 August 2013, 11:51 by Sarah Hehir https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/d797ecd1-db18-349d-b39c-69e83c7eb8e6
Creating Home Front – Radio 4’s epic new First World War drama
Friday 1 August 2014, 11:54 by Jessica Dromgoole https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/dc24c0c6-74ec-3071-8265-4a8184713d9a

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Red Velvet – Rediscovering Ira Aldridge
Thursday 17 July 2014, 14:40 by Lolita Chakrabarti https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/885fd420-c3a0-3aac-8fa5-4dd3adacce8b
Writing The Archers: From idea to airwaves
Monday 21 October 2013, 9:15 by Keri Davies https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/989184e1-10a1-3c2d-916e-cfbf67c7a334
Five things I know about writing The Archers
Tuesday 22 October 2013, 12:25 by Carole Salazzo https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/writersroom/entries/391bb749-0c9b-38e6-ac56-1f0f31f8ae27
Gordon House talking about key things when writing radio plays. 1 Nov 1996
Launch of the International Radio Playwriting Competition. BBC World Service. Spotlight https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p02sfxvq
Technical presentation or sound design for radio drama. BBC World Service Spotlight. 21st July 1996. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p02sfxkh
Ten tips for writing a radio play. 2020 BBC World Service International Radio Playwriting Competition https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/tnkQgSgPJVWM4ZpZ3hHbjv/ten-tips-for-writing-a-play-for-radio
My Shakespeare Radio Drama at 90. The first radio drama, a scene from Julius Caesar, was broadcast 90 years ago. Now performed by Harriet Walter and Jenny Jules from Phyllida Lloyd’s all-female Donmar Warehouse production. Introduced by Jeremy Mortimer Published on February 16, 2013. https://soundcloud.com/my-own-shakespeare/radio-drama-at-90-julius

Companion website pages
Additions and updates for individual chapters.

Additions and updates for Chapter 1 Radio Drama is Born and in its Cradle https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-1-radio-drama-is-born-and-in-its-cradle/
Additions and updates for Chapter 2 The Psychology of Writing and Listening https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-2-the-psychology-of-writing-and-listening/
Additions and updates for Chapter 3 Instrumental Utilitarianism in Radio Playwriting – the Evolving Thoughts of Val Gielgud https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/chapter-3-instrumental-utilitarianism-in-radio-playwriting-the-evolving-thoughts-of-val-gielgud/
Additions and updates for Chapter 4 Achieving the Long Form Audio Drama https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/chapter-4-achieving-the-long-form-audio-drama/

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Additions and updates for Chapter 5 Beginning the Sound Story https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-5-beginning-the-sound-story/
Additions and updates for Chapter 6 Characterising the Sound Story https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-6-characterising-the-sound-story/
Additions and updates for Chapter 7 Dialogue and the Sound Story https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-7-dialogue-and-the-sound-story/
Additions and updates for Chapter 8 Sustaining the Sound Story: Techniques and Devices https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-8-sustaining-the-sound-story/ Additions and updates for Chapter 9. Plotting the Sound Story: Techniques and Devices https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-9-plotting-the-sound-story/
Additions and updates for Chapter 10 Ending the Sound Story https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-10-ending-the-sound-story/
Additions and updates for Chapter 11 Film, Internet and Stage dimensions to Sound Story Telling https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/12/updates-for-chapter-11-film-internet-and-stage-dimensions-to-sound-story-telling/

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Podcasting and Audio Drama https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/30/podcast-and-audio-drama/
BBC World Service African Plays 1973 https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/30/bbc-world-service-african-plays-1973-2/
Audio Crime Drama and Radio Detectives https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/30/audio-crime-drama-and-radio-detectives/
Radio Drama and Stage Theatre

https://kulturapress.com/2022/08/30/radio-drama-and-stage-theatre/
Phyllis M Twigg – the BBC’s first original radio dramatist
https://kulturapress.com/2022/09/24/phyllis-m-twigg-the-bbcs-first-original-radio-dramatist/
Kathleen Baker aka John Overton – a prolific BBC radio playwright lost to history
https://kulturapress.com/2022/12/28/kathleen-baker-aka-john-overton-a-prolific-bbc-radio-playwright-lost-to-history/
Eric Fraser – Radio Drama Artist and Illustrator
https://kulturapress.com/2022/09/24/eric-fraser-radio-drama-artist-and-illustrator/

Additions and updates for Chapter 11 Film, Internet and Stage dimensions & Bibliography

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