The Wire

Alan Lamb is an artist, biomedical research scientist and composer who has long been fascinated by the vibrating qualities of telegraph wires. As a young boy he was introduced to the music of the wires during walks with his sister and their nanny, who showed the children how to press their ears against a telegraph pole to 'hear the sound of the world'.

Years later, when he was a student on a camping holiday in Mull, Alan pulled into the side of the road and fell asleep in his van. He was woken by an extraordinary sound. It was produced by the telegraph wires overhead as they waxed and waned in the wind. Alan was transported by the sounds and became determined to record their music.

Since then, he has worked with abandoned telegraph wires on several sites across Australia and installed new structures in order to produce and record music from them. Alan has also completed extensive research into auditory perception and developed theories relating to the wire music and its behaviour.

In this programme, wildlife sound recordist Chris Watson, who has long been interested in the sounds of the wind, travels to Australia to meet Alan Lamb and some of his colleagues at The Wired Lab Project. He discusses their work and its evolution and records for himself some of the extraordinary music of the wires.

Presenter: Chris Watson

Producer: Sarah Blunt.

The music of the wind captured on fencing wires stretched across the Australian landscape.

In Grose's play, Stanley Bray, a Cornish farmer, is compelled to hang donkeys and his wheelchair-bound wife Joy is desperate to get out of the house. Their way of life is fast disappearing, the farm is bankrupt and this is Stanley's bizarre response.

Stanley Bray - Charles Barnecut

Joy Bray - Amanda Lawrence

Solomon Singo - Sibusiso Mamba

Sally Tregersick - Helen Longworth

Randy Tregersick - John Canford

Carl Grose - himself

Directed by Claire Grove.

Carl Grose's dark comedy about a farmer who hangs donkeys from tree branches on his land.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

The first of two plays on Radio 3 for this year's Halloween. Followed on Sunday by Drama on 3: The Midnight Cry of the Deathbird, a new version of Nosferatu by Amanda Dalton

Clare opens her door to a meter reader, guides him to the cellar and watches him go down. But he doesn't come up. How can he have vanished into thin air? Clare doesn't sleep that night. No one believes her, not even the private detective she hires, although he stays on the case. They discover others too have vanished. They're a mix of illegal immigrants, criminals and conmen who left home one morning and never returned. No calls on their mobiles, no transactions on credit cards. It's as if they've been spirited away. The one thing each case has in common is that the vanished have all taken the identity of a dead person.

Meanwhile something has taken up residence in Clare's house. It picks her up and shakes her as though needing her to understand. Strange unidentifiable voices speak to her through the airwaves. Clare is terrified but determined to understand what's happening. When she discovers her late father's identity has also been stolen, she realizes whose violent spirit rages in her home. Her mission is no longer to prove her sanity but to save her father and other tortured souls from eternal limbo.

Clare...................Helen Bradbury

Philip..................John Hollingworth

Tom....................Lucas Smith

Afrim, DS Ross....Renny Krupinski

Tracy, Mrs Hope..Fiona Clarke

Mrs Jenkins........Judith Bailey

Writer, Lizzie Mickery

Sound design, Eloise Whitmore

Director, Melanie Harris

Sparklab Productions for BBC Radio 3.

A ghost story about the dead reclaiming their stolen identities from the living.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

You think you know someone and then you have children with them, suddenly they're a parent and they're different. Matthew and Elizabeth are having drinks with their new neighbours while the children play in the garden. Matthew watches his beautiful young wife navigate this new social scene when suddenly she does something he really doesn't like...

Matthew - Paul Hilton

Elizabeth - Hattie Morahan

Sue - Beth Goddard

Mark - Nigel Lindsay

Alex - Ben Greaves-Neal

Amy - Agnes Dromgoole

Flo - Bella Corwin

Simon - Luca Corwin

Directed by Mary Peate.

Social comedy about a man who suddenly and unexpectedly falls out of love with his wife.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Miriam - Suranne Jones

Narrator - Lemn Sissay

Puck - Chris Finnegan

Kian - Phil Korbel

Original music and songs - Jon Nicholls

Sound Design - Eloise Whitmore

Director - Melanie Harris

Featuring Suranne Jones as Miriam and Lemn Sissay as the narrator, Ballad of the Burning Boy by Lavinia Murray is a new drama for BBC Radio 3's the Wire strand. It is also a download audio trail for visitors to Preston which will feature as part of the Preston Guild Festival in September 2012.

Drama about a runaway boy who is swept up by a group of militant environmentalists.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Rosemary Jenkinson studied medieval literature at Durham. Her collection of short stories, Contemporary Problems Nos. 53 & 54 was published by Lagan Press in 2004. Since then she has been writing a series of provocative plays for Rough Magic, Tinderbox, and the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

Cast includes:

Speedy.....Richard Dormer

Stig.....Paul Kennedy

The Road Marshall.....Dan Gordon

Major.....BJ Hogg

Alana.....Abigail McGibbon

Mrs Murdoch.....Stella McCusker

Music composed by Graeme Stewart

Producer: Eoin O'Callaghan.

An unrealised love between two boys, Speedo and Stig, who are both battling to stay alive.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Donie 'Jellybelly' Burris's life is in free-fall. When one of his deepest, darkest secrets is revealed and he is betrayed by those closest to him, Donie decides its time for revenge, and revenge the old-fashioned way! Calling in a favour from ordnance expert Rafter Coulson, Donie sets out on a dangerous plan of reprisal, but will everything go as he intends?

As he records his last will and testament, charting the catalogue of events that sent his life spiralling into chaos, it seems Donie's legacy will be nothing short of explosive.

Savagery and sentiment collide in an anarchic story of revenge set in the Irish Midlands from one of the most distinctive voices in Irish literature: Patrick McCabe. Often referred to as the 'king of bog gothic' owing to his characteristic blend of dark horror and humour set in small-town contemporary Ireland, his novels include 'The Butcher Boy', 'The Dead School', 'Breakfast on Pluto', 'Winterwood' and 'Stray Sod City'. Both 'The Butcher Boy' and 'Breakfast on Pluto' were shortlisted for the Booker Prize and both were subsequently made into successful films directed by Neil Jordan. For Radio 3 he has most recently written 'All the Colours of Love' (2008) for Drama on 3.

Starring Stephen Rea and with original music by Gavin Friday.

Produced in Belfast by Heather Larmour.

Betrayed by those closest to him, Donie Burris sets out on an explosive act of revenge.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Life is hard for Katie, a young white girl on a rough inner city estate and, to make things worse, her older sister's boyfriend, Ian, has started showing an interest in her. At a local community development project, Katie meets Farooq and his friend Naz. But when Ian catches Farooq and Katie together, things get out of control.

Katie - Jemima Foxtrot

Chantelle - Rachel Brogan

Ian - Ciaran Griffiths

Farooq - Mahmood Miah

Dawn - Louise Wallwein

Yasmin/Mam - Rokhsaneh Ghawam-Shahidi

Garibaldi Man - Oliver Lee

Nasir - Billy Sarfraz

Directed by Susan Roberts.

Louise Wallwein's first radio play is inspired by a young woman she met in a workshop.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

By Jeffrey Caffrey

A thriller set in a Manchester nightclub where footballers mingle with shop girls, gangsters with Cheshire life and everyone's a millionaire for the weekend. Meet the major players on the scene, the doorman, the dealer and the DJ who's mixing up the soundtrack to everyone's big night out.

Adam - Sam Yates

Marshall - Craig Cheetham

Ben - Ray Emmet Brown

Kay/Kelly - Hayley Doherty

Sarah - Jessica Hall

Rob/Mikey - Chris Hannon

Directed by Melanie Harris.

Thriller set in a Manchester nightclub where everyone's a millionaire for the weekend.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A teenage couple, Zhuang and Niue, are prison-labourers in this chicken factory, having been convicted for petty theft. After nightfall, they meet in secret and read Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment together. Zhuang dreams about the possibility of bringing about a new social order, while Niue has quieter ambitions to become a mother and earn a living from her talent for singing.

When the Mainland is hit by a highly virulent strain of bird flu, suspicion falls on chicken meat from the island's processing plant. The chicken factory island and its workers are put into enforced quarantine, surrounded by soldiers and left to their fate. But Zhuang is determined that the workers should be masters of their own destinies.

About the writer: Writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo was named one of Granta's Best British Novelists in 2013. She studied at the Beijing Film Acadamy and received her MA from the National Film School in London. She has published seven novels in both English and Chinese. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her other novels include UFO in Her Eyes and 20 Fragments of a Ravenous Youth. She directed the award-winning films She, A Chinese and Once Upon A Time Proletarian. Her new novel, I Am China, is published this year by Chatto & Windus.

Drama in which convicts read Dostoevsky and dream of life beyond the prison chicken plant.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Taking refuge in a subterranean bunker under a 'Sound Mirror' Ella hears a horrific sound. Ella believes she is a witness to a brutal murder. But her evidence is dismissed as unreliable when the police learn that she is deaf. Ella's fight to be heard forces her to take action, putting her own life in danger.

Ella - Rose Ayling-Ellis

Birdman - Robert Pickavance

Leanne - Rachel Austin

Clare/WPC - Ruth Alexander-Rubin

Alastair - Jason Done

Audiologist/Craig - Matthew McNulty

Sound Design by Steve Brooke

Richard Monks's gritty drama about a deaf girl who believes that she has heard a murder.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

By Hayley Squires. A schoolgirl meets the wife of her teacher and their lives unravel.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

That was before Josie was violently assaulted by an intruder in her flat and began cognative therapy to help her come to terms with her ordeal. In her session with her female therapist she had got to the stage of verbally reliving the events leading up to the attack, and the rape itself. It was soon after that that Josie suddenly put a stop to her treatment, changed her name to Etian - after an Irish woman saint - and left to conduct her own surprising form of therapy in Ireland.

Reliving the events of a rape can be harrowing, and it is unsurprising when a victim decides they cannot continue.

But that is not the reason Josie gave up. The reason can be traced in quite another aspect of her cognative therpy, one this is hinted at in the name she has adopted and her new lifestyle in a convent in rural Ireland, invoking God's love to help women who have experienced the trauma she went through herself.

CAST:

Etian/Josie - Elaine Cassidy

Fergal - Lorcan Cranitch

Natalie - Sally Orrock

Man - Jim Norton

Amanda - Jane Whittenshaw

Shauna - Deeivya Meir

Writer: Malcolm McKay

Producer: Peter Kavanagh.

Malcolm McKay's play about the background to a rape and a woman's recovery from it.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Bold and original comic drama about two estranged sisters who come to blows on the first day of a new Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Northern Ireland.

Sandra Richardson is a politician and Member of Northern Ireland's Legislative Assembly. She's about to take her place on the new Commission when her baby sister, Teeni, turns up in a crazed mood and attacks the South African chairperson.

Sandra drags her into an office and, with the press and Stormont's security guards waiting at the other side of the door, the sisters talk about their shared and painful past for the very first time.

David Ireland is currently the Playwright-in-Residence at the Lyric Theatre, Belfast. In 2011 he won the prestigious Meyer Whitworth Award as well as the Stewart Parker Trust Radio Drama Award. Plays include What the Animals Say, Arguments for Terrorism, The End of Hope the End of Desire and Yes, so I said Yes. Everything Between Us has been adapted from the original stage play co-commissioned by Tinderbox Theatre, Belfast and Solas Nua, Washington DC.

Cast:

Teeni ... Veronica Leer

Sandra ... Abigail McGibbon

Director: Kirsty Williams.

David Ireland's darkly comic drama about peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

This powerful and intensely personal piece digs deep into the author's brutalising experiences growing up on the streets of Belfast. Will life continue to be seen through the prism of that time, or can he find a future without the burden of the past?

Eye - Michael Smiley

Other voices performed by Michael Colgan, JonJo O'Neill and Ciaran McMenamin.

Directed by Toby Swift.

Powerful and personal piece, exploring the author's experiences growing up in Belfast.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

John is left vanquished by his guilt of the past and is now ready to face up to the short time he has left. He wants his wife Ann to know the truth, he wants her forgiveness. Something Ann, as much as she loves him after thirty seven years of marriage, cannot do. This is a different man to the man she knew, he has killed a part of her now. She must go back to her life, to their children. She accepts that she will go, leaving John to face the unavoidable; it is only a matter of time before they find him and at last he will find the release he so yearns for.

Clare Dwyer Hogg grew up in Northern Ireland. She studied at Cambridge and lives in London. Her first play, FAREWELL, premiered in December 2012 with Stephen Rea's Field Day Theatre Company, and her second play, THIRSTY DUST, will be part of Derry's UK City of Culture celebrations in May 2013. Clare is an award-winning journalist. In 2008 she received the Premio Luchetta award for Human Rights journalism.

Director: Stephen Rea

Producer: Stephen Wright

Cast list

John - Stephen Rea

Ann - Brid Brennan

Patrick - Charlie Bonner

Mark - Eugene O'Hare.

Drama in which a man hides in a cottage waiting for the death he knows is inevitable.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Pastor T - a young, funky, self-taught pentecostal minister of an urban church - is well-known for taking no prisoners, and not just in his sermons. His biblical radicalism, youthful energy and street-smart image is attractive to young and old alike, and he has helped build up a thriving church community.

Originally 'saved' from prison life by the church bishop, Pastor T is next in line to take over when the older man retires. The pastor suspects the bishop of financial misdealings, putting his conflicting loyalties to the test. And when one of Pastor T's young church pupils is threatened on the street, he takes some radical action which threatens his future at the church.

CAST:

David Harewood - Pastor T

Mona Hammond - Sister Betty

Joseph Marcell - Bishop Andrews

Charles Mnene - Ade

Colin McFarlane - Bernard Edwards

Ben Onwukwe - Brother Kevin

Sound design by Alisdair McGregor and Howard Jaques.

Music by the CK Gospel Choir.

Written by Kwame Kwei-Armah, from an original idea by Dr Robert Beckford

Produced and Directed by Jo Wheeler.

Freewheel Productions

First broadcast in March 2012.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Andy has hit a mid-life crisis. His career is a mess, his relationship is falling apart and despite, or perhaps because of this, he seems intent on eating himself into an early grave. The Voice in his head has warned him, clearly, and a nightmarish tour of his inner organs has left him in no doubt that he is headed for, at best, a coronary arrest; at worst, something that he can't bear to think about it.

And yet he persists. Drowning in despair he grasps at crumbs of comfort, ingesting enough food to support a small country and doubling his waist and his weight in just one month, terrifying his wife and his work colleagues and rendering the average doorway inadequate for his desperate attempts at escape.

The Writer:

A writer, director and actor, Tim Loane's screenwriting credits include the comedy films 'Out of The Deep Pan' (BBC), 'Reversals' (ITV) and he was creator and lead writer of the Bafta-nominated 'Teachers' for Channel 4. He wrote the four-part conspiracy thriller 'Proof 2' (RTE), the three-part family drama serial 'Little Devil' (ITV) and the 2009 updating of 80's television classic 'Minder' (Channel 5). A co-founder of Northern Ireland's Tinderbox Theatre Company, his stage plays include 'Caught Red Handed' and 'To Be Sure' while he also directed the 1997 Oscar nominated short film 'Dance Lexie Dance'. For radio he was written the inner-city thriller 'The Tunnel' and the post-ceasefire ensemble comedy 'I Can See Clearly'.

Drama in which a man's overeating and plummeting self esteem are an explosive combination.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Natalie - Madeline Duggan

Justin - Carl Prekopp

Georgia - Lizzy Watts

Nan - Tilly Vosburgh

Mrs Adebole/Dr - Eleanor Crooks

Vic - Ben Crowe

Emma - Shannon Tarbet

Gamze - Candassaie Liburd

Lee - Will Howard

Director: Marion Nancarrow

Fresh Berries is Catherine Johnson's first play for radio. She has written for film and tv, including 'Bullet Boy', directed by Saul Dibb, and Simon Schama's 'Rough Crossings'. She enjoys writing novels for young teenagers: her books include 'A Nest of Vipers' and 'Brave New Girl' . Catherine spent a year as writer in residence in Holloway Prison and has also worked in Feltham Young Offenders Institute. She is currently on the BBC Writers' Academy. She is a Londoner and lives in Hackney.

By Catherine Johnson. Natalie is 14. And she'll do anything for Justin, 25. Anything.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Crazy golf takes on a whole new meaning in this fiery portrait of a family in meltdown, as 30 years of smouldering tensions finally reach their flashpoint.

Terry - Steven Hartley

Nan - Ann Mitchell

Danny - Ben Onwukwe

Emma - Emma Noakes

Carol - Tilly Vosburgh

Mr Pink - Simon Treves

Doctor - Peter Marinker

Directed by Toby Swift.

Crazy golf takes on a new meaning in Mark Kotting's fiery portrait of a family in meltdown

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Dawn's parents are black and white, but nothing is for her. A savagely comic look at the pleasure and pain of being mixed race in Britain today.

Dawn - Nadine Marshall

Mum - Elaine Lordan

Michael - Lloyd Thomas

Bev - Katy Cavanagh

Bunny - Joannah Tincey

Left - Laura Molyneux

Right - Ben Onwukwe

Tyrone - Alex Lanipekun

Dawn (aged 8) - Anna Bengo

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Dawn's parents are black and white, but nothing is for her. A savagely comic look at the pleasure and pain of being mixed race in Britain today.

Dawn - Nadine Marshall

Mum - Elaine Lordan

Michael - Lloyd Thomas

Bev - Katy Cavanagh

Bunny - Joannah Tincey

Left - Laura Molyneux

Right - Ben Onwukwe

Tyrone - Alex Lanipekun

Dawn (aged 8) - Anna Bengo

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

The third of six new plays for The Wire on the theme of Conviction.

Finnish teen eco-blogger, Ulli Earthgirl, wins a competition to join a low-carbon expedition to the North Pole by foot, to measure the melting ice. Blogging her way across the Arctic, she has to navigate deadly cracks in the ice, as well as the treacherous currents of environmental controversy in the blogosphere. Soon she's afloat in both worlds, as all her certainties begin to dissolve.

Ulli - Samantha Dakin

Lena - Felicity Montagu

HoaryOldMountainTop - Colin Stinton

Chris Curtis - Adam Billington

with Adjoa Andoh, Victoria Inez Hardy, Gerard McDermott, Carl Prekopp, Alex Rivers, Christopher Webster, and Tracy Wiles.

Guitar played by Carl Prekopp.

Produced and directed by Jonquil Panting

Kate Clanchy is one of Britain's leading contemporary poets, whose collections SAMARKAND, SLATTERN and NEWBORN, won numerous literary awards including The Forward Poetry Prize, The Saltire Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. In 2009, she won the BBC National Short Story Competition with THE NOT-DEAD AND THE SAVED. Her politically incisive history of her real-life relationship with a Kosovan refugee, ANTIGONA AND ME, was dramatised for BBC Radio 4. Her many works for radio include A NURSERY TALE, OTHER MOTHERS, MENACE, THE MONKEY'S MASK (adapted from the book by Dorothy Porter), MONEY, ALL THE BIRDS OF THE AIR, and THE TRUELOVE FILE. With Paul Farley, she presented CHILDREN OF THE WHITSUN WEDDINGS for BBC Radio 3's Poetry Season, and she has recently become Oxford's first City Poet.

Kate Clanchy's environmental-themed comedy play.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Deano's never met his grandmother, Ellen. But his mother's committed suicide and he's been placed in her care. Alone together they each occupy their own imaginary worlds. Ellen sees things - a bear in a white anorak, Victorian chimney sweeps, the disembodied head of Ian Beale. Deano, used to spending hours on his computer, is missing the imaginary world he created on Second Life. Then his avatar turns up in his new bedroom and their adventures begin again. When Deano and Ellen's imaginary worlds collide, a dark and tragic tale unfolds.

Ellen - Sheila Reid

Deano - Billy Seymour

Mexican Bob - Toby Jones

Dr Norton - Laura dos Santos

Barrister - Nigel Hastings

Nicola Wilson was the Literary Manager at the Bush Theatre before turning her hand to playwriting. Since then she's written for stage, television and radio. She's currently taking part in the BBC's Writers Academy.

Producer: Kirsty Williams.

Drama about the imaginary worlds of a grandmother and grandson which tragically collide.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

When community officer Alexander Aldgate is instructed to speak to a local man about his anti-social behaviour, he unearths a mystery. Buried beneath the man's amnesia is a secret, and Aldgate must put the pieces together before it is too late.

Aldgate ... Andrew Scott

Martin ... Dave Fishley

Klara ... Ania Sowinski

Rachel ... Alison Pettitt

Leonard ... Nigel Hastings

Man ... John Biggins

David ... David Seddon

Nurse ... Keely Beresford

Producer - Sasha Yevtushenko.

By Michael Bhim. Community officer Alexander Aldgate unearths a mystery.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

by Laura Lomas

A powerful piece of new writing by one of Britain's most promising new playwrights in which a grieving young woman transforms herself and her community.

CAST

Lucy - Georgia Groome

David - Joe Dempsie

Dianne - Esther Coles

Phil - Tony Bell

Vicky - Sophie Ellerby

Amy - Keely Beresford

Directed by Marc Beeby

THE WRITER

Laura Lomas is from Derby. She studied English at the University of Nottingham and completed an MPhil in Playwriting at Birmingham University in 2008. She has worked with the Royal Court and BBC writersroom on the 50 and 24 degrees projects, and has had rehearsed readings at Nottingham Playhouse and the Royal Court. Her first play Wasteland was produced by New Perspectives in April last year. Since then, her plays include Traces (Paines Plough, Lattitude Festival), 10,000 Metres Deep (Paines Plough and Oran Mor Theatre) and Us Like Gods (Hampstead Theatre Heat and Light). She is currently one of six writers on attachment with Paines Plough's Future Perfect Scheme.

THE CAST

Lucy Island features a top notch cast including GEORGIA GROOME (Tusk Tusk, London to Brighton, Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging) as Lucy, JOE DEMPSIE (The Damned United, Merlin, Doctor Who, Listen to the Words) as David and ESTHER COLES (Titty Bang Bang, Doctors, Shameless) as Dianne.

New play by Laura Lomas. A grieving young woman transforms herself and her community.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Andrew Logan - William Rush

Dad - Smug Roberts

Auntie Jeannette - Annette Badland

Big Smiggy - Stephen Hoyle

Directed by Pauline Harris

Both Andrew and his dad are living with 'evil Auntie Jeanette' - who never stops cooking; culinary delights such as Date and Wensleydale pie, mutton casserole, and veal and paprika stroganoff. But the most disturbing thing by far is Andrew's acne. It can hurt like crazy, beat like a drum, red and swollen. When he gets particularly upset the spots start shouting at him, willing him to cut them out, or kill evil Auntie Jeanette.

At school he gets bullied, and things come to a head when he gets smeared with chocolate cake to cover his red blotchy face, and he gets laughed and jeered at. This is compounded by his spots that he can hear shouting and screaming and laughing at him too. Andrew's spots, which alternately represent his pulsing anxiety and anger, recurrently come alive to torment him, and completely obsess him.

When eventually his evil Auntie Jeanette tells his father he's been skiving school, Andrew turns on his aunt and we discover just how much he is projecting all his hurt, his grief and anger onto her. This acts as a turning point for him and his father, who are forced to face the tragic truth.

Chris Wilson also had a play for Radio 4 - I Before Bee - broadcast in January 2011. He is also a Sports Journalist.

Chris Wilson's darkly comic account of an adolescent boy's struggle with acne.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Pricilla's Stephenson's preparations are well underway for her perfect Christmas Eve party, but with her son about to make his first public appearance in a mini skirt, and her husband's affair with the neighbour about to rear its ugly head, will the glue holding this family together be strong enough? Will the powerful truth in Cilla Black's lyrics give them the words to show each other their wounds and start to heal?

CILLA - Charlie Hardwick

ALFIE - James Baxter

RINGO - Trevor Fox

DIRECTED BY KATHERINE BEACON.

The Stephensons' party is set to be a disaster. Will Cilla Black's lyrics be of help?

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A space odyssey with a difference, Moonmen centres on a philosophical encounter between two isolated men - an astronaut and a CB radio enthusiast in rural Ireland. Are they polar opposites or kindred spirits locked in a mutual orbit?

Moonman - Dermot Crowley

Spaceman - Nathan Osgood

Ground Control - Peter Marinker

Radio Announcer - Linda Wray

DJ - Paul Sheridan

Director: Eoin OCallaghan.

The play centres on an encounter between two isolated men - an astronaut and a CB fan.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A space odyssey with a difference, Moonmen centres on a philosophical encounter between two isolated men - an astronaut and a CB radio enthusiast in rural Ireland. Are they polar opposites or kindred spirits locked in a mutual orbit?

Moonman - Dermot Crowley

Spaceman - Nathan Osgood

Ground Control - Peter Marinker

Radio Announcer - Linda Wray

DJ - Paul Sheridan

Director: Eoin OCallaghan.

The play centres on an encounter between two isolated men - an astronaut and a CB fan.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

When her teenage son Matthew is charged with raping three women in one night on a university campus, Brenda Kapowitz fights for him to be sentenced as a child and finds herself in the spotlight. With Matthew under house arrest and the press camped outside of her home intent on depicting her as the real criminal, Brenda fights to balance work, the care of her youngest son, eight-year-old Jason, and to stay in control. When her estranged ex-husband turns up, intent on taking Jason away, Brenda is pushed to breaking point.

Set over the eight nights of the Jewish festival of Hannukah, Mother of Him by Evan Placey is about how far a mother's love can stretch and at what cost.

Evan Placey is a Canadian-British playwright who grew up in Toronto and now lives in London, England. His work has been produced in the UK, Canada, Israel, South Korea, Italy, and Croatia.

Mother of Him was Evan's debut full-length stage play. It won the King's Cross Award for New Writing, Canada's RBC National Playwriting Competition, and the Samuel French Canadian Play Contest and was shortlisted for the Meyer Whitworth Award and the Rod Hall Memorial Award. It was produced at the Courtyard Theatre in London. A Hebrew production opened at the Beit Lessin Theatre in Tel Aviv in September 2011.

The play contains strong language.

Production Assistant, Kate Brook

Sound Engineer, Jerry Peal

First broadcast in December 2013.

A mother fights for her son to be sentenced as a child when he commits a terrible crime.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A contemplation of the astonishing and brutally painful experience of infertility, taking listeners on a poetic journey inside and outside the protagonist's body as images, memories, future fantasies, rages and desires float in and out of a sea of consciousness.

Furse collaborated with composer Graeme Miller, whose score wraps around the world created by the voices of Barbara Flynn, Jack Klaff and Becky Hindley.

My Glass Body, by Anna Furse.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Annie Griffin's comedy thriller about NEST, a secretive technology company.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Nina has to get to Glasgow but she has no money, no minder and no sense of time or place. She falls in with a boy and his dog, but is he really her friend?

A mix of drama and interviews with the real-life Nina Black - a Swede with severe attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder - creates a complex portraix of living with ADHD.

Nina - Bonnie Engstrom

Boy - Ashley Gerlach

Sophie - Sophie Dow

Guard - Charles Swift

Woman - Caitlin Thorburn

Man - Colin Warner

Girl - Georgia Keatley-Barclay

Music by Leafcutter John and Rupert Shean

Directed and produced by Melanie Harris.

Melanie Harris' portrait of a woman with severe attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

By Mike Bartlett.

What happens to a relationship when it becomes impossible to talk? What happens when the system does not allow us to speak? Richard Briers and June Whitfield star in this provocative and touching play which won the Imison and Tinniswood awards for outstanding radio writing.

James - Richard Briers

Lucy - June Whitfield

Mark - Carl Prekopp

Amanda - Lyndsey Marshal.

Touching play that asks what happens to a relationship when it becomes impossible to talk?

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Annie - Pat Dunn

Roz - Christina Berriman-Dawson

Jon - Brian Lonsdale

Other voices: Janice Acquah, Gunnar Cauthary, Donnla Hughes, Manjeet Mann

Director: David Hunter.

The tale of Annie, a rose-obsessed, disfigured recluse, a spoilt boy and a shy girl.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A man and a woman meet in a hotel room. They have been in love for five years but have never yet spent a night together. Tonight they meet alone for the first time. But this is Iran, and what the couple are doing is illegal. If they are caught, or even suspected, the consequences might be too terrible to contemplate.

He reveals that he received a phone call from the Secret Service that morning inviting him in for an interview the following day - but with no indication as to why he has been asked in. In Iran it could be about anything - a casual remark made to a colleague, an error at work, a denouncement from a neighbour, or questioning about adultery...

As the light fades and night sets in, the couple must decide what really matters.

Writer Oliver Emanuel became interested in this story in 2006 when he read an article in The Guardian by an anonymous Iranian woman. Oliver writes:

'I was moved by her conviction that love could surpass any obstacle. Fear of persecution or even prosecution was nothing in the face of this woman's passion. In telling this story I want to explore the personal behind the political, letting the intimate setting of a hotel room explode the dangerous world beyond.'

Oliver Emanuel was short-listed for a Radio Drama Sony 2010 for his 30-minute two-hander Daniel and Mary (BBC Radio Scotland).

Other work includes: Children in Need: Everything, BBC Radio 4 andThe Vanishing by Tim Krabbe, BBC Radio 4. He has been Writer-in-Residence for BBC Radio 4/Children in Need and Writer-on-Attachment at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.

Cast:

Man - Khalid Abdalla

Woman - Maryam Hamidi.

Oliver Emanuel's real-time drama about two lovers meeting in a hotel room in Iran.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

James - Rupert Simonian

Patrick - Adrian Scarborough

Angela - Lindsey Coulson

Tim - Philip Fox

Pete - Jamie DiSpirito

Lisa - Candassaie Liburd

Alice - Lizzy Watts

Phyllis - Annabelle Dowler

Mr Morris - Paul Rider

Doctor - Matt Addis

Speaking Clock - Malcolm Tierney

Sound Design - Caleb Knightley

Produced by - Steven Canny

Won the 2010 Sony Gold Award for best drama and was runner up for the Prix Italia. People Snogging in Public Places is written by one of the country's leading young writers. Jack Thorne has written three other plays for radio and has written Shameless, Skins and This is England '86 (with Shane Meadows) all for television. Last year also saw the release and his film The Scouting Book for Boys.

A story about an uncle with learning difficulties moving in with his nephew's family.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Where do you go for your self-esteem when you've no job and no future?

Gary starts looking in all the wrong places.

Gary - Tom Brooke

Frank - Peter Wight

Rachel - Lizzy Watts

Danny - Joe Absolom

Adam - Ben Crowe

Michael - Nyasha Hatendi

Interviewer - Craig Els

Youth - Adeel Akhtar

55 year old Frank is an-old school skinhead, embracing the music, fashion and politics of the culture since he was a teenager - reggae, Ska, regulation Fred Perry and Harrington and respect for a multi cultural Britain.

A printwork veteran and union activist, he believes the working class have to stick together, regardless of where they're from or the colour of their skin.

Frank's son Gary has been bought up to respect the same values as his dad. But Gary has been out of work so long he thinks he'll never get another chance. And how can he make his dad proud of him like his brother Anthony who was killed in Afghanistan. Maybe the answer lies in the politics of protest, protecting the memory of his brother and soldiers like him. Standing up against the anti-war protestors. Standing up for what's British ...

First broadcast in October 2011.

Play about a young unemployed man who wants to make his family proud of him.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A radio production of Debbie Tucker Green's stage play, first produced at the Royal Court in March 2008.

Nadine Marshall plays four characters in a family whose ordinary day is shattered by unforeseen disaster. The cast also includes Petra Letang, Richie Campbell, Manjeet Mann, Jill Cardo, Inam Mirza and Gunnar Cauthery.

Directed by Debbie Tucker Green and produced by Jeremy Mortimer.

A radio production of Debbie Tucker Green's stage play, starring Nadine Marshall.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Directed by Debbie Tucker Green

Produced by Jeremy Mortimer

Just an ordinary day. But for one black family a random event is going to change everything.

The first play in a new series of 'The Wire' - writing for radio that pushes the boundaries of narrative is a radio production of Debbie Tucker Green's latest stage play. Random was premiered at the Royal Court in a production by Sacha Wares in March 2008.

Nadine Marshall reprises her extraordinary performance, playing four characters (Sister, brother, Mother and Father) in a black family which, in an otherwise ordinary day, is devastated by sudden, unforeseen disaster.

It starts just like any day with 'Birds bitchin' their birdsong outside' and with the sister (the play's central voice) outstaring the alarm clock 'till it blinked first - loser'. But at work she gets a voicemail message from her mother: 'Come home. Now.

There are two police cars outside. Sister and her father have to take a journey to identify her brother's body. Killed in a random attack, just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The radio production of Random was recorded on location in South London in August 2008, and features Nadine Marshall, Petra Letang, Richie Campbell, Manjeet Mann, Jill Cardo, Inam Mirza and Gunnar Cauthery. The play was directed by Debbie Tucker Green.

Debbie Tucker Green's first radio play 'Freefall' was broadcast in The Wire in 2003. Her stage plays include Dirty Butterfly (Soho 2003) Born Bad (Hampstead 2003) Stoning Mary (Royal Court 2005 ) Random (Royal Court 2008). Her Channel 4 play Spoil was broadcast in 2007.

Nadine Marshall stars in a play about a family devastated by sudden, unforeseen disaster.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Michael - Richard Dormer

Gina - Esther Hall

Steve - Shaun Dooley

Rennie - Philip Jackson

Frankie Hoyle/Pilot - Marty Maguire

Fr. Brian/Eric - Richard Howard

Captain Desaie/Simon - Paul Kennedy

Mrs Williams - Susie Kelly

Debbie - Laura Conway

Susie - Abbie Spallen

Sound Design by Bill Maul, John Simpson & Matthew Laughlin.

Producer/Director: Heather Larmour.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

With Ophelia Bitz, Donald McCleary, Stewart Porter, Ron Donachie, Crawford Logan, Morag Stark and Geoff Noar.

Adaptation of Yasutaka Tsutsui's sci-fi black comedy set on Planet Porno.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Seven Scenes is the first in Radio 3's Conviction drama series, new writing and classic drama that explores unwavering and uncompromising belief and battling against forces that present unimaginable challenges - but still bring hope.

Through an intense emotional journey - from family drama, through police investigation, media circus, public trial and personal despair - Emma becomes determined that the loss of her daughter should make a difference. That out of her family's pain, something positive must come. SEVEN SCENES takes an unflinching look at a difficult subject and suggests that the strongest convictions arise out of the most challenging life experiences. Conviction is our way of changing the world. By following her own painful path through the hell of losing her child, Emma discovers a ray of hope; the unshakeable faith of a mother's love

Emma - Lorraine Ashbourne

Paul - Rob Jarvis

Heather - Beth Goddard

Jack - Tom Glenister

Natalie - Alice Hoskyns

Max - Louis Milner

Director: Celia de Wolff

A Pier Production for BBC Radio 3.

Monologue-based drama by Nicola Baldwin set over seven years after a girl goes missing.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

An outspoken and uncompromising play by an award-winning young Scots writer that explores the relationship of Rachel, 15, and her 17-year-old cousin - a relationship based on desire for escape from their empty lives in rural Aberdeenshire. Rachel's life is transformed, root and branch, when she swallows an apple pip and discovers a new way of living.

Rachel - Ashley Smith

James - Gary Collins

Music by Pippa Murphy

Directed by Lorne Campbell.

An outspoken and uncompromising play by Morna Pearson.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

In a fit of self-loathing after being dumped by his girlfriend, Richard puts his life up for sale on eBay. To his surprise he gets an offer he can't refuse. Cut off from everything familiar - his flat, his job, his ex, even his own name, he is propelled on a journey of self-discovery.

Richard - Bruce Mackinnon

Suzy - Claire Rushbrook

Lian - Zita Sattar

Clive - Emil Marwa

Richard's Mum - Amelda Brown

Cyber Characters: Dan Starkey, Malcolm Tierney, Donnla Hughes, Manjeet Mann, Jill Cardo, Stephen Critchlow, Robert Lonsdale and Gunnar Cauthary

Directed by Mary Peate.

Van Badham's comedy about a man who sells his life on eBay.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Tomorrow 23-year-old Ronia will have the most important conversation of her life - her parole hearing. Ronia has been serving an Imprisonment for Public Protection sentence ever since she was eighteen. With an IPP sentence there is no automatic release date: once a prisoner has served their full tariff, they still have to convince a parole board that they've changed. And that's what Ronia must do.

After five years, Ronia has long served her tariff, and is ready to persuade the parole board that she's no longer a danger to the public. As the night passes, Ronia takes us back to her younger self, having fun with her friend Tyson, hanging out on London streets, and trying to steer clear of violent girl gang, the Sykes Crew.

Charlotte Thompson was inspired to write this play through her work running writing programmes in prisons. The play itself though is fictional.

Older Ronia - Sophie Cosson

Younger Ronia - Holli Dempsey

Tyson - Zaraah Abrahams

Parole Judge - Marian Kemmer

Stepdad - Ben Crowe

Prison Officer - Lloyd Thomas

Producer: Fiona Kelcher.

Frank drama about a young woman in prison preparing for her parole board.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Two half-brothers unite over a hostile takeover bid that sparks a war amongst

rival business interests. But in the middle of a war you should always watch your back.

Harry - Allan Corduner

Adam - Adam Levy

Terry - Ben Crowe

Jack - David Fleeshman

Lenny - Elliot Levy

Goody - Carl Prekopp

Hugh - James Lailey

Andreas - Chris Pavlo

Anna - Susie Riddell

Sharon - Alex Tregear

Thug - Rikki Lawton

Directed by Sally Avens

First broadcast in February 2012.

By Paul Sellar. A hostile takeover bid sparks a war among rival business interests.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A darkly comic story of love, loss and prejudice.

When Stevie's boyfriend Matthew becomes seriously ill, the couple move into a new house, complete with wheelchair access and a downstairs toilet. However, Cardiff's multicultural Grangetown is far from the peaceful idyll they were hoping for. The walls are thin and you can hear everything, even whispered conversations if you put your ear to the wall. As Matthew's condition worsens, Stevie is drawn into a sinister story happening next door.

A BBC Cymru Wales Production

The Writer

Dafydd is an award-winning writer, composer and performer, working in theatre, radio and television in both English and Welsh. Dafydd's play Llwyth was a huge success in Wales with a sell-out tour and wonderful reviews. It appeared at the Edinburgh festival before touring Wales and appearing at the Taipei Arts Festival. My Name is Sue, co-created with Ben Lewis, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival before transferring to Soho Theatre and was awarded the Total Theatre Award for Music and Theatre. The sequel - Sue: The Second Coming provided an unorthodox Christmas celebration for Soho Theatre in December 2013. Dafydd is currently working on Connections with the Royal National Theatre.

Praise for Dafydd James

A bizarre and beguiling must-see show.' (My Name is Sue, The Stage)

Brilliant...hysterically funny and beautifully played.' (My Name is Sue, Time Out)

Utterly unlike anything else I saw at this year's festival: a play that took on far-reaching questions of language and sexuality without a hint of preachiness' (Llwyth, The Guardian)

A piece of theatre...that changes the landscape of the country that produced it.' (Llwyth, Buzz Magazine).

By Dafydd James. Drama in which a man becomes obsessed with the lives of his neighbours.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

By turns darkly comic and moving, we follow Simon's initial confusion, despair, and gradual return to life - a new kind of life - within an alcohol recovery programme. He befriends Jean (Harriet Walter), his mentor on the recovery scheme. She's a blind gay woman who's grieving for the loss of her partner. However, we also witness the impact of Simon's alcoholism on his wife (Lia Williams) and children and Julie (Maria Askew), a vulnerable young woman who - for better or worse - befriends him.

That I Should Rise' is a powerful and insightful play about addiction, self-destructive behaviour, love, and the chance of recovery, accompanied by an impressive R'nB soundtrack.

Tim McInnerny..Simon

Harriet Walter..Jean

Lia Williams..Paula

Olly Bell...Philip

Susanna Dye... Dawn

Pameli Benham.Assistant in charity shop

Maria Askew..Julie / Girl in Nightclub

Alun Raglan....Lenny

Director: Mark Smalley.

Tim McInnerny stars in AL Kennedy's darkly comic drama about an alcoholic pub musician.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A moving, funny and quirky play about friendship and family that follows three disaffected teenagers Keith, Janine and Ian. Janine and Ian discover they share a favourite poem, The Fire Girl, about life's destruction of beauty. Their spiritual connection and teenage lust leads them on a heady emotional adventure, as Janine is compelled to follow Ian's interpretation of the poem no matter what the consequences.

Keith Cullen - Adam Paulden

Mr Patten - Steve Edge

Janine Dworski - Carla Henry

Keith's Mum/Ian's Mum - Siobhan Finneran

Ian Duffy - Oliver Lee

Janine's Dad/Ian's Dad - Jeff Hordley

Directed by Katherine Beacon.

By Stephen Riley. Moving play about three disaffected teenagers' friendship and family.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

A powerful portrayal of class and politics by an award-winning new writer, set in the early days of British operations in Afghanistan. Gary is on patrol with his mate Phippy during a swelteringly hot summer, but the terrain seems suspiciously quiet.

The play contains very strong language and violent scenes.

Gary - Joe Armstrong

Zia - Ashley Kumar

Captain Mannock - James Norton

Hafizullah - Josef Altin

Phippy - David Kirkbride

Jalander - Imran Khan

Produced by Fiona Kelcher

Directed by Polly Thomas

DC Moore has adapted THE EMPIRE from his stage play, first presented by the English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre in 2010. ALASKA, his first full-length play, was awarded the inaugural Tom Erhardt Bursary by the Peggy Ramsay Foundation. Moore's most recent play, THE SWAN, opened at the National Theatre in July 2011.

DC Moore's powerful portrayal of operations in the war in Afghanistan.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Toby has a bad day at work on the phones for Careless the household cover people. When an angry customer pushes him too far - he snaps and tells him to have a heart attack and die. The next morning he wakes up as Dr Richard Jugg. And the next day as a homeless person called Deke. How are these events connected? And where will this nightmarish journey end?

Toby / Richard / Deke / Clive.....Jonathan Keeble

Craig / Scott.....Andonis James Anthony

Tariq / Naz.....Armand Beasley

Sheila.....Sue Jenkins

Anastasia / Nurse Phoenix .....Melissa Jane Sinden

Stacey / Renata .....Catherine Kinsella

Directed by Gary Brown.

A shapeshifting, existential comedy nightmare about the modern world.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

The First Domino is a response to that event. A fiction inspired by that horrific bombing and other attacks like it, the play is woven around a series of conversations between a prisoner and a psychiatrist. It is a study of prejudice, extremism and marginalisation, as well as an examination of the human urge towards violence and revenge.

An uncompromising and at times shocking script, it is full of dark comedy too: 'When people first meet me, I'm not expected to have a sense of humour. You seem to be defined by what's happened to you.' Jonathan Cash

In a radio version re-imagined and rewritten for The Wire, this play has been developed from Jonathan's stage version, which won the Award for Best Theatrical Performance at the Brighton Fringe Festival in 2009.

The Cast stars Toby Jones (Infamous, Elizabeth I, Frost/Nixon, Harry Potter) and Carlton Hobbs Award-winner, Joseph Kloska.

Adaptation of a play about violence and prejudice, in response to the 1999 Soho pub bomb.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Terry is a clerk in a Cardiff law firm. He only moved to Wales to be close to oblivious colleague Sally, and now he's lonely, alienated and beginning to get things out of proportion.

But online, Terry is Tork Thunderbolt - a warrior in the Kingdom of Dragons. His best friend is Greyhawk, a fellow gamer. But Greyhawk is hiding a shameful secret. And that's not the only surprise waiting to derail Terry's delicate grasp on real life.

CAST

Terry - Rory Kinnear

Chao - Paul Courtenay Hyu

Sally - Annabelle Dowler

Barrie - Philip Fox

Players - Stephen Hogan

Directed by Abigail le Fleming.

THE WRITER

Alan Harris has recently been commissioned by National Theatre Wales to write their first show, A Good Night Out in the Valleys, which will be performed in March 2010.

He's also working on an oratorio for the Welsh National Opera's MAX department and has recently finished a radio project at HMP Cardiff.

He has written plays for and worked with companies such as Sherman Cymru (Cardboard Dad), Hijinx Theatre (Miss Brown To You), Paines Plough, The Operating Theatre Company, Sgript Cymru and Pentabus Theatre and has been a new writing tutor for Sherman Cymru and the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.

Alan Harris' dark fantasy about a man who has two lives. Starring Rory Kinnear.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

With Khalid Abdalla, Ameet Chana, Elaine Lordan, Saikat Ahamed, John Dougall, Mark Straker, Anthony Glennon, Jasmine Callan. Directed by Jessica Dromgoole.

A fictional comic documentary by Ed Hime.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

The Wire and Drama on 3 join forces to mark the centenary of Albert Camus' birth, twinning John Retallack's new dramatisation of 'The Outsider', with Leila Aboulela's 'The Insider' for The Wire - a drama inspired by Camus' classic, which takes its only two Arab characters- vital to its story but unspeaking and even unnamed by Camus - and reimagines their lives.

Leila Aboulela writes:

One of my favourite novels is 'Wide Sargasso Sea' by Jean Rhys, in which she tells the story of the first Mrs Rochester, Bertha Mason, the mad women in the attic in Charlotte Bronte's classic 'Jane Eyre'.

Wide Sargasso Sea' fills in the Caribbean spaces of Jane Eyre which Charlotte Bronte could not have had access to. The mad woman in the attic becomes a woman with a country and a family, a story and more importantly, a voice. This is what 'The Insider' does. Not as a missing jigsaw piece, but as an extruding slice of the novel. 'Raymond's Mistress' and her brother 'The Arab' become main characters, who have their own side to the story and well beyond it.

There are parallels between our character Fatima, and Meursault, the protagonist of The Outsider. She is a sinner in a world which urges her to repent. Her senses respond to clothes - specifically French fashion- as Meursault's respond to Nature. She is an outsider too: a prostitute in a conservative society. And, at a certain point, both of them find themselves alone in the dark. But Fatima is also an Insider, because she is not a stranger to herself, and because, through loving her brother, she eventually connects to a higher form of spiritual Love.

Leila Aboulela won the first Caine Prize for African Writing. Her novel 'Lyrics Alley' is set in 1950s Sudan and is inspired by the life of her uncle the poet Hassan Awad Aboulela who wrote the lyrics for many popular Sudanese songs. Leila is the author of two other novels: The Translator, one of The New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year, and Minaret- both long-listed for the Orange Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award. Her collection of short stories Coloured Lights was short-listed for the Macmillan Silver PEN Award.

Leila's work has been translated into twelve languages and included in publications such as Granta, The Washington Post and the Virginia Quarterly Review. BBC Radio has adapted her work extensively and broadcast a number of her plays, including 'The Mystic Life' and the historical drama 'The Lion of Chechnya'. The five-part radio serialization of 'The Translator' was short-listed for the RIMA (Race In the Media Award). Leila grew up in Khartoum, and has lived much of her adult life between Scotland and Doha.

Drama reimagining the lives of the unnamed, unspeaking characters in Camus's The Outsider.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Bernie - Candassaie Liburd

Nathan - Pascal Akuwudike

Juliet - June Bailey

Pastor - Jude Akuwudike

Raff - Rhiannon Harper-Rafferty

Knolidge - Gabriel Akuwudike

Directed by Jessica Dromgoole

The Lady of Kingsland Waste has been shortlisted for The Imison Award 2010, for best dramatist new to radio.

J Parkes's magical story of love, death and redemption, recorded on location in Hackney.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Matter - Paul Copley

Rutholz - Ralph Ineson

Schwertfeger - Bryan Dick

St䀀uber - Simon Bubb

Stocker - Kenneth Collard

Directed by Toby Swift.

A play imagining applicants to be the executioner of a triple murderer in Switzerland.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Newborn Simone has Down's syndrome but her mother is convinced she has extraordinary powers. Is this complete fantasy or is Simone really in a world where superheroes exist and are being hunted down?

Mum - Meg Fraser

Simone - Sarah Gordy

Social Worker - Lucy Paterson

Doctor/Telekenetic Boy's Mum - Louise Ludgate

Telekenetic Boy - Robert Softley

Francis/Soldier 1 - Ben Lewis

Receptionist/Soldier 2 - Nick Underwood

Sound design: Paul Wilson and Dan Lyth.

Denise Mina's surreal drama about a mother coming to terms with her child's disability.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Timothy Freeman, newscaster and voice of the nation's major news network, is facing a crisis, seeing himself overlooked by younger colleagues. His teenage son Tom is holding up a bank at gunpoint and demands to speak to him live on air, broadcasting Timothy's failings as a father and a man to a million-strong audience who listen aghast.

Newscaster Timothy Freeman faces a crisis when his son holds up a bank at gunpoint.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Verne's story takes place in a 19th century Swiss village. This contemporary take on the original is set on a remote fictional Scottish island but the essential story is unchanged.

A village organist gets old and deaf and stops playing and the organ falls silent. A mysterious stranger arrives who not only plays the organ beautifully but also declares that he will develop a new organ registration with the voices of the children in the school. Each will have his or her own note that has a special resonance.

Though the children are musically untrained, the stranger rehearses them with an iron discipline and prepares them for a Christmas concert. It's at this concert that he demonstrates his phenomenon of a 'human organ'. He tells the children that he will make them famous and that they are a choir like no other choir.

A boy and girl who are arch rivals are given their special notes. They're angry because this strange music maestro seems to have given them the same note. However he explains that there is a tiny beating sound between them - and this difference is the Pythagorean Comma. The two children are relieved that they have their own notes but strangely, once they start to sing, their old rivalry disappears and it is as if a new harmony has come to them and to the village in general.

The stranger seems to have a power over the choir and they outperform everyone's expectations in a Christmas concert for the island community.

Composer Gavin Bryars and author Blake Morrison have collaborated before on a Jules Verne story, 'Doctor Ox's Experiment' - also about Verne's interest in music and science.

Gerda Stevenson stars as the narrator, Anna. She's the church warden and mother of a child she christened Ian but who now has the new name of Ray because his special note is Ray sharp. She sees at first hand how the stranger brings his gift of music.

Anna - Gerda Stevenson

Irvine - Gerard McDermott

Kubiak - Renny Krupinski

Ray - Daniel Kerr

Mimi - Olivia Cosgrove

Oakham School Jerwoods Choir

Soloist, Dominic Hill

Conductor, Peter Davis

Organist, Thomas Chatterton

Sound Design, Mike Thornton

Producer and Director, Judith Kampfner

A Corporation for Independent Media Production

Picture: Gavin Bryars and Peter Davis in the Oakham School chapel. Photo: Rupert Conant.

Gavin Bryars and Blake Morrison give a modern twist to a Jules Verne tale about music.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

We swoop into the lives of Rhoda, Stan and Ron as the action inter-cuts between three houses in the same street on a freezing, snowy day. When there's a power cut each person is faced with their worst fear.

A prize-winning innovative drama based on verbatim interviews with three elderly people, and in this new production performed by children.

Produced and directed by Pauline Harris and first broadcast in April 2013.

The producer and writer have interviewed three elderly people over a period of time and woven their verbatim interviews into this fictional day. Through the interviews each person's worst fear emerged. This was not intentional, but as it echoed in each interview it informed the narrative organically, so that each character faces their worse fear.

Rhoda's story: on the eve of her 80th birthday party, Rhoda panics as the snow prevents her from going out, she's run out of cigarettes, she can't get hold of her family, she's worried for their safety in cars on the motorway, and then the phone cuts out. She's suffered panic attacks all her life. With an aneurism the size of a large orange, she's certain she's going to die before her birthday.

Stan locks and re-locks his door. To make sure. It's his biggest fear - not to be able to defend his wife. He's had seven heart attacks but he's not afraid. He used to fight like a bear but it seems as though someone, or kids, or people are trying to get in. First he thinks its kids throwing snowballs but it seems it's more sinister.

Since Ron's stroke, he lives alone in his wheelchair. He has many different carers, a different one comes at breakfast, another at lunch, and so on, each mealtime from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. when they put him to bed. They wheel him into the living room, and there he stays until they wheel him out again. But as the snow thickens, his carer is late. He can't get to the phone - it's out of reach, and as each meal time passes, he keeps waiting for a carer to arrive.

The rendition by children aims to explore the close links of elderly people and children; the vulnerability, simplicity, fragility, resilience.

First broadcast 16th March 2013.

A drama based on verbatim interviews with three elderly people, and performed by children.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

By Ali Smith

Partly inspired by the magically romantic film musicals of Jacques Demy, this is the story of George, a young electrician from the north of England, told in a sequence of songs, with words written by Ali Smith to a diverse selection of library recordings.

Accompanied by his French bride, George heads for the Scottish Highlands in the optimistic 1960s to set up in business. Forty years later, their daughter Genevieve remembers her parents and her childhood as she journeys by train from London back to Scotland.

George - Nick Farr

Sidonie - Lucy Paterson

Genevieve - Gabriel Quigley.

The story of George, a young electrician, told in a sequence of songs.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Terence Griffiths - 'The Griff' to his friends - was a top industrial correspondent back in the eighties during the miners' strike. But a terrible blunder left his career in ruins. His life seemed over; but he was fortunate enough to secure a position as Head of Journalism Studies at a northern university. Twenty-eight years later he commits suicide. His best friend Simon was the last person to see him alive. Or was he?

A tale of love and betrayal.

Griff - Roger Allam

Simon - Reece Dinsdale

Rachel - Tracy Whitwell

Marsha - Deborah McAndrew

Julie - Lisa Allen

Harris/Coroner - Russell Richardson

Producer Gary Brown.

Griff finds himself in the invidious position of having to enforce government spending cuts by making former valued colleagues redundant, including his oldest friend, Simon. On the day he's given his notice, Simon makes a vicious personal attack on Griff's integrity. That night, Griff is found dead alone in his flat, having drunk a litre of vodka and swallowed half a pack of paracetemol. Simon, believing himself to be the last person to see Griff alive, blames himself for Griff's suicide and spirals into depression.

But the appearance at Griff's inquest of the mysterious Rachel forces Simon to re-examine the past and the roots of the 'blunder' that ended Griff's journalistic career.

Starring Roger Allam and Reece Dinsdale, and written by Sony Gold winning writer Christopher Reason.

A drama centring on a man's search for the truth behind his old friend's suicide.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

When ex-soldier Matthew dies in a diving accident, his parents are forced to come to terms not only with a rising tide of grief, but also the ghost of responsibility.

Sweetmeat - Desmond McNamara

Sugar - Paula Wilcox

Jeannie - Jade Williams

Mina - Rachel Bavidge

Matthew (adult) - Jot Davies

Matthew (young) - Jordan Clarke.

By Hattie Naylor. When Matthew dies accidentally, his parents feel both grieved and guilty

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

Paul and Anna wake up one morning to find their neighbourhood has been enclosed by a wall. The gates are guarded and anyone wanting to cross into the rest of the city has to apply for a pass.

They are told the Wall is there to protect them against violence between rival postcode gangs. They are told that their local community is being challenged by central government to do more for themselves. They are told that only certain individuals will qualify for a pass. And that they don't.

The Wall takes a provocative look at growing social inequality, using an image we're more used to seeing as a symbol of divided cultures abroad - in Gaza, or Baghdad, or Berlin, or in the ghettoes of the second World War - and to explore the unseen divisions in our own cities. The Wall doesn't just divide neighbourhoods. Soon it's tearing apart the people inside them.

Paul - Javone Prince

Anna - Louise Brealey

Joyce - Dona Croll

Hugh - Sam Dale

Kasey - Jessica Raine

Dylan - Nyasha Hatendi

Clarence - Sean Baker

Alex - Stuart McLoughlin

with Jo Monro

Producer/Director: Jonquil Panting

The writer Ed Harris spent time as a binman, husky trainer and care worker, before finding his way first to performance poetry, and then to drama. He's been Writer on Attachment at the Chichester Festival Theatre, where his epic play, LUCY, won the Chichester Festival Theatre Slams. His play NEVER EVER AFTER for Chalkfoot, was short-listed for the Meyer-Whitworth prize, and for his own theatre company, Squaremoon, he's written THE COW PLAY and TOTAL. He's currently writing MONGREL ISLAND for the Soho Theatre.

His plays for radio include ABSOLUTE SILENCE, PORSHIA, starring Robert Webb, AROMATHERAPY, starring Martin Freeman, THE MOMENT YOU FEEL IT, starring Richard Briers and Rory Kinnear, and TROLL, starring Rosie Cavaliero and Jack Klaff.

Ed Harris's play addressing social inequality and unseen divisions in our cities.

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Cast:

Miso Blake - Jennifer Lim

Han - Mo Zainal

Jack - Matthew Marsh

Naomi/Miss Han - Sonnie Brown

Bunny/Waitress - Elizabeth Tan

Ajossi - Jay Lim

Director Lisa Goldman

In-Sook Chappell says:

This story addresses what faces immigrants and asylum seekers when they return to the country of their birth. I was born in Korea and adopted into an English family. The inspiration for the play came on a visit back to Seoul. Unable to speak Korean, I was a foreigner in the country I was born in. I had lost my language, my country and my family. The sound of Korean upset me, stirred feelings I had as a baby that I'd forgotten. I met a lot of adoptees searching for their biological families, only communicating with them through an interpreter. I decided not to track down my family. Instead I spoke to some who had, then I imagined and wrote this play. On a visit to an orphanage, I met a little boy aged 4 who had been left on the street by his parents. If I had been in a better financial situation I would have adopted him. He was the starting point for Han. Growing up in England I always thought; What if I had stayed in Korea, grown up in an orphanage; would I have ended up a teenage prostitute or a factory worker? I had a strong sense of guilt for living a privileged life in England. In cross-cultural adoption, we rarely talk about what happens when the children grow up, what they lose as well as gain. The sounds of this play evoke emotions and memories, a sense of dislocation, of being thrown into another world; the alienation of hearing another language clearly spoken with passion and love, but incomprehensible and impossible to respond to.'.

A tender, violent Korean love story about cultural identity, sex and twisted revenge.

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by Esther Wilson

Based on true stories, this is a biting and sometimes humorous play about homeless people and people living on the breadline. It follows the poignant story of Roz, a homeless

drug addict who has five adult children and looks especially at the relationship with her and eldest daughter Carly. Tony Teardrop is also homeless, and a parent; he's hoping to arrange a visit to see his two boys, who are in long term foster care. When Tony and Roz meet a relationship develops.

Tony Teardrop ....... Steve Evets

Roz ....... Siobhan Finneran

Carly ....... Christine Bottomley

Billy - Gerard Kearns

Ken ....... Glen Cunningham

Lynne - Deborah McAndrews

Big Truck - Stephen White.

Esther Wilson's biting and comic play about two homeless people.

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When 9 year old Bethan goes missing, the community are incredible, for a while. A hard-hitting new play about the thin line between sentimentality and vigilantism.

Cast

Phil - Ralph Ineson

Marie - Eva Pope

Bethan - Edward Hartley

Mark - Paul Stonehouse

Karen - Sarah Thom

Ellie - Jessica Stanton

DS Webb - Ben Crowe

Terry - Patrick Brennan

Michael - Robert Blythe

Vivien - Liza Sadovy

Diane - Stephanie Racine

directed by Jessica Dromgoole.

By Frazer Flintham. When little Bethan goes missing, the support is incredible, briefly.

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By Matthew Broughton.

A dark and compelling play about a lonely young man who finds a home amongst eccentric strangers, but his inability to deal with the truth of their lifestyle leads to dreadful, shocking conclusions.

Jason - Shaun Dooley

Daisy - Natalie Press

Wes Bell - Jamie Foreman

Lisa Bell - Juliet Cowan.

Dark, compelling play about a lonely young man who finds a home among eccentric strangers.

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Written and performed by Lemn Sissay

Directed by Claire Grove

Lemn arrives at the poetry reading in Salford and finds that the organizer wants him to talk about race. This is Hazel Blears constituency and the BNP represents it in Europe. So he explores his history - being singled out at school, failing to fit into pub culture, being 'loved up' on a Spanish holiday and spat at in the street. And Lemn's quest for answers increasingly frustrates him. Lemn asks on what terms is he being accepted as a writer and performer by this audience. It's 2010. He' s still a black man in a white man's world. Lemn's genial good humour begins to desert him. Anger is taking over. Will he get to the end of the evening and answer his own question?

Lemn Sissay is a poet, playwright, performer and broadcaster and writer in residence at the South Bank. His poetry includes Tender Fingers in a Clenched Fist, Rebel Without Applause and Listener. His plays include Chaos By Design, Storm, and his one-man show Something Dark, which won a RIMA award for Radio 3 in 2004.

Lemn Sissay presents a humorous, rollercoaster investigation into race.

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A dark tale about families and other animals.

Ragi is in trouble. His wife is due back any minute, and he has to piece together the events of the last month before she arrives. All he knows is that while he's been in charge, his gentle geek of a son has transformed into an aggressive scrapper, and his father has developed an unhealthy obsession with household pets. But the explanation turns out to be worse than he could ever have imagined.

Inua Ellams is an award winning poet, playwright and performer. His plays include The Black T-shirt Collection and The 14thTale (both of which toured nationally before runs at the National Theatre), Untitled and Knight Watch. His most recent pamphlet of poems Candy Coated Unicorns and Converse All Stars was published by Flipped Eye, 2011.

A dark tale about families and other animals by performance poet Inua Ellams.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative

They leave Belfast with Paul secreting a copious amount of cannabis on his person. They use Paul's status as a wheelchair user to bunk any queue they are ever in. Paul is a big lad over twenty stone now. This means they get moved to spacious fire-exit areas, get served their drinks first.

At Zurich they are rumbled by the sniffer dog, which signals that Paul has got cannabis. Paul protests that it is a medicinal necessity, and they are released with a caution. The lads reach their opulent hotel; Aidan enquires why the luxury, as they normally stay in a low-budget one, and Paul explains that 'you only live once'. They head out to the concert where once again Paul gets them the best seats in the house, demanding vehemently that Aidan be afforded the same treatment as his carer and explaining that Aidan empties his catheter bag.

The concert rocks. Angus and co tear it up and the boys are energized by the music. They have the time of their lives, with big doobies, ice-cold beer and burgers. Only after twenty cans do they realize they have been drinking non-alcoholic beer! The lads laugh and reminisce about the good times, and bad times, when finally Paul reveals the reason he has chosen Zurich and asks his best friend a favour that will test their close relationship to the limits ...

Pearse Elliott was born in West Belfast and was nominated for the Irish Film and Television Best New Talent Award for his feature film, Man About Dog. His second feature, The Mighty Celt, starring Robert Carlyle and Gillian Anderson was nominated for Best Script and Best Film at the IFTAs and was a critical success. He also wrote the feature film Shrooms (Capitol Films/Magnolia Pictures) which was released last year. His tv work includes the acclaimed BBC A Rap at the Door and the BBC 3 series Pulling Moves. Pearse has projects currently in development with Mammoth, Rubicon Films and Treasure Entertainment and a new theatre play.

Paul - Conleth Hill

Aidan - Patrick FitzSymons

Verity - Victoria Inez Hardy

Doctor - Gerard McDermott

Music by Brendan Ratliff.

Director, Eoin O'Callaghan.

Producer, Gemma McMullan.

Rock fan Paul has chosen Zurich for a holiday. His best friend soon discovers why.

Showcase for works that push the boundaries of drama and narrative