Writing The Century - The Secret [15 Minute Drama]

Episodes

EpisodeTitleFirst
Broadcast
Comments
01Innocence20160411The series which explores the 20th century through the words of real people. Muriel Howard's account of her Somerset childhood and the secret that defined it adapted by Tina Pepler with Sara Davies.

It's 1911 and Muriel at 5-years-old begins to question her mother's night-time absences

Violinists - Sam and Andrew McGregor

Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins

Muriel Howard, full name Brenda Muriel Howard-Tripp, grew up in the Somerset village of Sampford Brett with her brother and widowed mother after her father, the rector, died of consumption. Behind the story of a fatherless and impecunious but affectionate rural upbringing hovers a secret that threatens to emerge and tear apart her close-knit family.

Adapted from her unpublished memoir, The Secret, explores the emotions of a child caught in an adult drama she doesn't understand.

The action plays out against the backdrop of village life, school and friendships in early 20th Century rural England, spanning the years 1911-1923.

Brenda Muriel Howard-Tripp went on to become a trail-blazing career woman, Director of East Europe at the British Council and cultural attach退 in the Soviet Union after the Second World War.

It is 1911, and five-year-old Muriel begins to question her mother's night-time absences.

Classic and contemporary original drama and book dramatisations

02The Go-between20160412Muriel becomes an unwitting decoy in her mother's drama.

Classic and contemporary original drama and book dramatisations

03Foundationers20160413The series which explores the 20th century through the words of real people. Muriel Howard's account of her Somerset childhood and the secret that defined it adapted by Tina Pepler with Sara Davies.

Boarding school offers an escape from her mother's "wild moods and secrets"

Violinists - Sam and Andrew McGregor

Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins.

Boarding school offers an escape from Muriel's mother's 'wild moods and secrets'.

Classic and contemporary original drama and book dramatisations

04Betrayal20160414The series which explores the 20th century through the words of real people. Muriel Howard's account of her Somerset childhood and the secret that defined it adapted by Tina Pepler with Sara Davies.

Betrayal close to home brings her mother's secret out into the open

Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins.

Betrayal close to home brings Muriel's mother's secret out into the open.

Classic and contemporary original drama and book dramatisations

0520160415The series which explores the 20th century through the words of real people. Muriel Howard's account of her Somerset childhood and the secret that defined it adapted by Tina Pepler with Sara Davies.

With her mother's affair exposed Muriel waits for the village to react

Produced and directed by Gemma Jenkins.

With her mother's affair exposed, Muriel waits for the village to react.

Classic and contemporary original drama and book dramatisations