Episodes

TitleFirst
Broadcast
RepeatedComments
A Touch Of Daniel1977112720120204/05 (BBC7)
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Young Carter Brandon struggles for love in a world preoccupied with Cheshire cheese, individual trifles, dominoes, outbreaks of wireworm and vests.

Strong women fight grimly to maintain their hold on a traditionally matriarchal society and where the only person who really understands Carter is his cousin - the baby Daniel.

~Peter Tinniswood's Northern drama about the Brandon family.

Carter Brandon - Christian Rodska

Pat - Stephanie Turner

Mrs Brandon - Liz Smith

Mr Brandon - Graham Roberts

Uncle Mort - George A Cooper

Auntie Lil - Eileen Derbyshire

Mrs Partington - Daphne Oxenford

Uncle Stavely - Geoffrey Banks

Jessie Lewis - Fiona Walker

Linda Preston - Sharon Duce

Daniel - Judy Bennett

Sid Skelhorn - Peter Wheeler

Directed at BBC Manchester by Tony Cliff.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1977.

As Carter Brandon struggles for love, the only person who understands is his baby cousin.

A Very Rare Bird Indeed1997051720130822/23 (BBC7)
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At a small family-run hotel on the Welsh coast, lonely Avril observes the guests while waiting for her philandering husband.

Judi Dench stars in Peter Tinniswood's drama.

Avril - Judi Dench

Maynard - Peter Jeffrey

Morgan - John Moffatt

Clayton - Lou Hirsch

Marion - Carolyn Jones

Gilbert - Jeff Shankley

Major Rackham - Derek Waring

Music by Simon Morecroft.

Director: Gordon House

First broadcast on the BBC World Service in May 1997.

A lonely woman waits in a remote Welsh hotel for her philandering husband.

A lonely woman waits in a remote Welsh hotel for her philandering husband, and observes the guests. Starring Dame Judi Dench.

Age Gap2000061620150402 (BBC7)
Two women are thrown together in a rest home. Dark comedy about growing older.
Anton In Eastbourne2002112020120201/02 (BBC7)
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Mr Anton arrives for a sojourn. He expects to meet a young lady with a little dog. He knows her stories well. But he doesn't yet seem to know his own.

~Peter Tinniswood's last play was created as a tribute for Chekhov admirer, Paul Scofield.

Anton - Paul Scofield

Miss Mansfield - Emma Fielding

Mr Kember - Stephen Thorne

Director: Enyd Williams

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.

Set in a hotel, Peter Tinniswood's last play was created for Chekhov admirer Paul Scofield

Call It A Canary1989071520120211/12 (BBC7)
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Carter's wife has left him, but can he stand the pace of his new life of freedom?
Crossing The Frontier1985071820150605/06 (BBC7)
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Jean is 38, attractive and married. She decides to go on a cruise without her husband.

On the first night out, she sees a row of lights sticking straight out to sea. She feels as if she's entering a strange land with different customs, different values. As if she is becoming a different person.

Written by Peter Tinniswood.

Jean - Shirley Dixon

Roy - David Buck

Richard - Stephen Thorne

Producer: Shaun McLoughlin.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1985.

Jean is 38, attractive and married. On a cruise, she finds her values being challenged.

Dorothy, A Manager's Wife2000101720121206/07 (BBC7)
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A resentful soccer spouse rants about the game and her football manager husband.
I Always Take Long Walks1991070420141209/10 (BBC7)Dame Judi Dench plays Enid, the wife of a man addicted to cricket.

She shares with us her private thoughts - many of which she has while taking walks - on cricket, kitchen units and life with her husband.

Written by Peter Tinniswood. Director: John Tydeman

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1991.

Dame Judi Dench, playing the wife of a man addicted to cricket, shares private thoughts.

Mr Reliable2001092820120203/04 (BBC7)
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It's Mr Openshaw's job to listen to people. He goes to their houses to listen to them talk.

Mrs Flenswick is one of his visitees. But he doesn't listen to her at all...

~Peter Tinniswood's drama stars Peter Sallis as Mr Oakenshaw and Edna Dore as Mrs Flenswick.

Director: Enyd Williams

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.

It is Mr Openshaw's job to listen to people, except when he visits Mrs Flenswick.

Next Time We Might Play Better1997051520170226/27 (BBC7)
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The fervent aim of an excruciatingly inept quartet of musicians is to play better.

Staring Graham Crowden and Hugh Dickson.

~Peter Tinniswood's touching comedy.

Mr Deedes - Graham Crowden

Narrator - Hugh Dickson

Mrs Klite - Jillie Meers

Penelope - Carolyn Jones

Esmond - Christopher Scott

Old/Young Mr Sievewright - Stephen Thorne

Mr Martindale - Anthony Ofoegbu

Mistress - Tracy-Ann Oberman

Duffy - Gerard McDermott

Musical Director: Michael Haslam

Director: Enyd Williams

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1997.

An inept quartet of musicians' fervent aim is to improve.

On The Train To Chemnitz2001011520121107/08 (BBC7)
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Aubrey and Dorinda live their lives in their own claustrophobic world, dominated by guilt.

Their verbal games of storytelling are vivid, unbelievable and true. Only 'they' exist - and the others.

~Peter Tinniswood's drama stars Paul Scofield as Aubrey and Fiona Shaw as Dorinda.

Producer: Enyd Williams

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2001.

Vivid storytellers Aubrey and Dorinda inhabit a claustrophobic world fuelled by guilt.

On The Whole It's Been Jolly Good1998032720170118 (BBC7)Maurice Denham is ex-MP Plympton Makepeace, reflecting on 60 glorious years in The House.
Pen Pals1995050420161218/19 (BBC7)
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Fay, from Bristol, and Miami-based Beth have been pen pals since they were 11 years-old. Fay endlessly describes her life with her dentist husband and three children, whilst Beth boasts of her lovers and free-wheeling between San Francisco and Florida.

They never meet - until Beth announces that she's arriving at Gatwick Airport and won't be put off.

For some reason, Fay is terrified.

Starring Jane Lapotaire as Fay Fuller and Lorelei King as Beth Camacho.

Director: Shaun MacLoughlin.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1995.

Transatlantic pen pals since 11, Fay is terrified when Beth says she is coming to visit.

Stoker Leishman's Diaries1981012420190928/29 (BBC7)
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Frederick Leishman was the lower deck member of a British party which made a dash for the South Pole.

This had fatal consequences for all except himself and his leader.

For years his family have tried to get hold of the Stoker's diaries, believing his account of the epic journey should be worth a fortune.

It turns out to be a revelation...

Robin Bailey stars in Peter Tinniswood's drama.

Frederick Leishman ....Robin Bailey

Mrs Bentall ... Shirley Dixon

Dora - Barbara Marten

Gordon - Christian Rodska

Barbara - Liz Goulding

Edgar ... Martin Matthews

Director: Tony Cliff

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1981.

The diaries of Leishman's South Pole attempt become the focus of an avaricious family.

The Duvet Lady2001031420120131 (BBC7)
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Wrapped in a duvet, Edna recalls younger days. Will she emerge for an evening engagement?
The Governor's Consort1993051720121004/05 (BBC7)
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Mary Wimbush stars as Lady Edith in this play written specially for her by Peter Tinniswood.

Lady Edith is sailing with her husband to the tiny South Atlantic island of St David's, of which he's about to become Governor.

Her fellow passengers, not to mention the crew and the exuberant band on board, produce an invigorating and somewhat earthy effect on her Ladyship, a frustrated woman of 'a certain age' with a vivid imagination.

Lady Edith - Mary Wimbush

Sir Wilfred - John Moffatt

Doctor Spofforth - Bernard Hepton

Captain MacWhirter - Stephen Thorne

Delgado - Keith Drinkel

Chief Engineer - Matthew Morgan

First Officer - James Telfer

Tarleton - Jonathan Adams

Radio kept Mary Wimbush particularly busy throughout her career. She was known to millions as Julia Pargetter in 'The Archers' until her death in 2005, shortly after she'd recorded an episode of the BBC's long-running soap opera at the BBC's Mailbox in Birmingham.

Director: Enyd Williams

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1993.

Lady Edith's life-changing boat ride to the South Atlantic.

The House Swap1999020620110916/17 (BBC7)
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Sid Fiedelman is a hard-drinking, award-winning American cartoonist.

His editor sends him to cast a satirical eye on Britain at the end of the millennium.

But Sid and his world-weary wife Alma are unprepared for what the small English village of Winterleaf Gunner has to offer...

Starring Penelope Wilton, Peter Vaughan and William Hootkins.

Earthy drama written by Peter Tinniswood.

Alma - Penelope Wilton

Sid - William Hootkins

Ferns - Peter Vaughan

Edgar - John Hartley

Henry - Nigel Carrington

Director: Gordon House

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in February 1999.

Sid is an American struggling to come to terms with English life. Stars Penelope Wilton.

The Last Obit1998042820140124/25 (BBC7)
/7) (BBC7)
Billie Whitelaw stars as an obituarist living in her own very particular world, in a monologue written especially for her by Peter Tinnswood.

Having spent years writing obituaries for the Morning Telegraph, Millicent Doris Clayton's mind wanders as she prepares her final piece before taking retirement. Epitaphs and judgments on the famous, the notorious and the undeserving have passed through her office. She is a middle-aged spinster. So who will prepare Millicent's own obituary? And what will it say?

Directed by Enyd Williams. First heard on BBC Radio 4 in 1998.

Billie Whitelaw stars as an obituarist living in her own very particular world.

The Packer2000040720180801 (BBC7)Gladwyn Jebb is obsessed with his job, but cannot tell the truth.
The Scan1999092920140926/27 (BBC7)Compulsive talker Ernest seeks reassurance from a protective nurse.
The Sitter1990050220130718/19 (BBC7)
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Bulldog is 82. While his wife goes out for a tootle in the SS Jaguar, he is visited by a sitter with tired, lank hair and woebegone eyes.

But before the war Bulldog was an aviator who skimmed the Andes and who flew the mail from Singapore to Casablanca and who loved dusky beauties the world over.

Maurice Denham and Liz Goulding star in Peter Tinniswood's drama.

Bulldog ... Maurice Denham

The Sitter ... Liz Goulding

Director: Shaun MacLoughlin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 1990.

A new visitor inspires memories of Bulldog's death-defying flights and exotic love affairs

The Village Fete1987011720160514/15 (BBC7)
When Nancy moves to the countryside with her brother, sister and poorly father, everything goes wrong.

The Empson family's new house has a gas leak and needs re-wiring and re-roofing.

Nancy doesn't mind. She likes organising. But then Winston, the local poacher and handyman, takes over and invites Nancy to the village fete.

~Peter Tinniswood's play introduces the Empson family - which sparked five series of Winston's adventures for BBC Radio between 1989 and 1994.

Nancy ....... Shirley Dixon

Father ....... Maurice Denham

Winston ....... Bill Wallis

Rosie ....... Liz Goulding

William ....... Christian Rodska

Producer: Shaun McLoughlin

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1987.

When Nancy and her family move to the country, everything goes wrong. Can anyone help?

When Nancy and her family move to the country, everything goes wrong. Can anyone help? Stars Shirley Dixon and Maurice Denham.

When Nancy moves to the countryside with her brother, sister and poorly father, everything goes wrong. The Empson family's new house has a gas leak and needs re-wiring and re-roofing.

Stars Shirley Dixon as Nancy, Maurice Denham as Father, Liz Goulding as Rosie, Christian Rodska as William and Bill Wallis as Winston.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1987.

But then Winston, the local poacher and handyman, takes over and invites Nancy to the village fete...

~Peter Tinniswood's play introduces the Empson family.

This sparked five series of Winston's adventures for BBC Radio between 1989 and 1994 - still regularly heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

The Wireless Lady1996071120220612/13 (BBC7)Winifred Leslie, the Grande Dame of radio drama, lives alone and thinks she's been forgotten.

But when she's offered a part by a young producer at the age of 80, her memories come flooding back:.

She recalls her three marriages, appearing on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs – and being Samuel Beckett's muse.

Her companion in life is an old Bakelite wireless, which answers her back.

Starring Billie Whitelaw and Christian Rodska.

~Peter Tinniswood's sad, funny and joyous celebration of the great days of radio.

Winifred Leslie - Billie Whitelaw

The Wireless - Christian Rodska

Directed in Bristol by Shaun MacLoughlin.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 1996

Winifred Leslie, the Grande Dame of radio drama, feels forgotten. Stars Billie Whitelaw.

Visitors2010100720130913/14 (BBC7)
Peter Tinniswoood's final play, written just before his death in 2003, is an elegiac drama on the shortness of life and the frailty of love.

Shacklock - Roy Hudd

Stella - Emma Fielding

Music - David Chilton

Abridger - Liz Goulding

Producer - Gordon House

Shortly before he died, Peter Tinniswood - one of Radio Drama's iconic dramatists - wrote Visitors. Set on a misty Thames embankment over the course of several evenings, the play recounts the meetings of two hospital 'visitors', Shacklock and the much younger Stella, whose relationship - strange, erotic and yet seemingly entirely innocent, is the bedrock of this hauntingly sad and beautiful drama about the shortness of life and the frailty of love. We are in archetypal Tinniswood territory, where nothing is straightforward, where words take on a surreal existence of their own (the visitors' respective patients live in 'Indifferent Ward' and 'Terrified Ward') and where the quiet beauty of much of the descriptions is undercut by recurring echoes of loss, transience and death. Our two characters' lives, like Vladimir and Estragon, while providing much humour and no little sexual frisson, are essentially brief and unfulfilling.

The dramatist's final play observes the brevity of life and the frailty of love.