The trouble with being a writer is that sometimes I can see exactly where a story is going. Listening to a radio drama, and ten minutes in I've already figured out the third act twist :-/ — Allyn Gibson (@allyngibson) April 22, 2016 The story in question is “Holy Father,” a drama broadcast on BBCContinue reading “Holy Father”
Tag Archives: BBC Radio 4
Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition
What if the Beatles didn’t get a record contract with Parlophone in 1962? That’s the subject of BBC Radio 4’s radio play, Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition, adapted by Ray Connolly from his novella of the same name. Originally broadcast by the BBC in 2013, it was rebroadcast again this week, and I streamedContinue reading “Sorry, Boys, You Failed the Audition”
The Death of Christopher Marlowe
Yesterday at work, when writing catalog copy and assembling order forms and organizing name badges for the Retailer Summit, I listened to a several hours’ worth of BBC Radio dramas. Besides the first two episodes of “A Place of Greater Safety,” an adaptation of the novel about the French Revolution by Wolf Hall‘s Hilary Mantel,Continue reading “The Death of Christopher Marlowe”
The History of Titus Groan
In recent weeks I’ve been listening to audio dramas on BBC Radio 4. Besides The Once and Future King (which I blogged about at length), there was also Good Omens, based on the Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett novel about the childhood of the Antichrist, and War and Peace, based on the Tolstoy novel. (MyContinue reading “The History of Titus Groan”
War and Peace
I have finished War and Peace. The BBC audio drama, that is, not the novel. Which I have read; I read it in high school a long time ago. It was a bit flat. No, more than a bit. It was a lot flat. A decade after Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, the Rostov family andContinue reading “War and Peace”
The Once and Future King: The Lengthening Shadow
Enter Mordred. For the first four hours of Brian Sibley’s adaptation of T.H. White’s The Once and Future King, Mordred, Arthur’s bastard and incestuous son, has loomed over the proceedings as, on the night before the battle of Camlann, Arthur reminisces with Merlyn about his reign. He has always been an off-stage presence while ArthurContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Lengthening Shadow”
The Once and Future King: The Queen of Air and Darkness
While listening to “The Queen of Air and Darkness,” the third episode of Brian Sibley’s adaptation of T.H. White’s The Once and Future King for BBC Radio 4 for a third time, something I had overlooked or had passed over me came to the fore and I had an unexpected insight. Am I an atheistContinue reading “The Once and Future King: The Queen of Air and Darkness”
The Philosopher’s Arms
A few days ago I discovered a new BBC podcast, The Philosopher’s Arms. “Podcast” is, I should say, a misnomer. The Philosopher’s Arms is a BBC Radio 4 series, just finished with its third run of episodes, that the BBC has made available as a podcast download. And just what is The Philosopher’s Arms? ThisContinue reading “The Philosopher’s Arms”