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The Riddle of The Sands was published one hundred years ago and is hailed as being the first modern spy thriller. It is set against the Anglo-German “Great Naval Race” at the turn of the Twentieth century where two young Englishmen stumble across suspicious activities while cruising around the Frisian Islands off the German coast. The plot is fiction but all the sailing details were taken from the author’s logbook of a real cruise in those waters at a time when the British authorities appeared indifferent to the intense development of the German seaboard and approaches to the North Sea. In fact this novel had a huge influence on official thinking about naval strategy at the time. Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1911, made it required reading for his staff as it highlighted his own fears that Germany’s thirst for power was of huge danger to Britain.

The novel has been abridged to ten episodes by Doreen Estall. She has ensured that the atmosphere evoked in the novel has not been lost and the plot plays out with fantastic tension in this abridgement.

Crispin Bonham Carter was thrilled to read such a historically famous novel on its anniversary year. He is best known for his role as Mr Bingley in the classic BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

This is a touching fictional drama about two women who share a passion for Daniel and his music and long to make the trip to celebrate their idol’s “Big Day.”

Both women have, in their separate ways, had a difficult year. Trishe has lost her business and life at home has been difficult. Doreen is recovering from losing the power of her legs in a road accident. She is now confined to a wheelchair and desperately fighting to maintain her independence.

A rites-of-passage story for two women as they each learn to face up to the future and find the strength in themselves to restore happiness and self-determination in their lives.

Rebecca Bartlett is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4 Drama. Her credits include "The Curragh Wrens", “Stone Memories" and "Dazzled by the Dark". Rebecca also wrote the award winning stage play "Shalom Belfast".
Cast includes:

Doreen Sorcha Cusack (Playing the Field, Eureka Street Casualty, The Bill)
Trishe Nicola Stephenson (Without you, Clocking Off, Big Bad World, Holby)
Derek Ian Kelsey (Blue Murder, Down to Earth, Casualty, Touching Evil)
Michael Gerard McSorley (Veronica Guerin, Bloody Sunday, Ordinary Decent Criminal)
Gordon Pat Laffan (Intermission, The Great Ceili War, On Home Ground)
Mabel Maria Connolly (Pressing the Flesh, Mix (R4), A Rap at the Door)
Coach Sean Crummey (Folks on the Hill (BBC Radio Ulster) & various voice overs for BBC)
Matthew Chris Rowan

MIX
Writer: Emma Donoghue
TX Date: 5 November 2003 on R3, 10pm
Producer: Tanya Nash
A poignant new drama from award-winning Irish writer Emma Donoghue about thirteen year old Teresa who discovers that she isn’t biologically a girl. After her mother takes her for a check up with her GP, Teresa is told that she has AIS, Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome; a chromosome abnormality which means that she isn’t a girl or a boy but a mix of both. If this wasn’t enough for a teenager to cope with, Teresa finds out that the abnormal gene is hereditary. Who else in the family might be affected?

Have a look at some of the behind the scenes photos from the recording of Mix.

At 33, Emma Donoghue, is already an award-winning Irish writer with an international reputation. Best known for her fiction which has been translated into six languages, her most recent publications are a novel Slammerkin and a collection of historical short stories The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits. She is also a successful playwright for the theatre and radio. Her latest BBC radio drama was Humans & Other Animals; a five part series of witty contemporary comedies looking at our lives in relation to the animals we share them with.
Her next novel Life Mask is published in Spring 2004.

Katie Davis makes her acting debut with this leading role.

Sony Award-winning actress Marcella Riordan (Two Doors Down, Faithful Departed on Radio 4) plays Clare, Teresa’s Mum, Dan Gordan (Give my Head Peace, Pulling Moves) plays Fintan and Doreen Keogh (Cold Feet, The Royle Family) is Gran. Other cast members are Neal McWilliams, Rebecca McKinty, Raman Goyal, Maria Connolly, Roger Jennings.

COLOURS OF THE WORLD: STORIES FROM THE BELFAST FESTIVAL

Writers: Peter Sheridan, Martina Devlin, Colin Carberry, Lana Citron and Ronan Bennett
TX Date: Monday 3 November to Friday 7 November at 15:30 on Radio 4
Producer : Heather Brennon, Sarah Stack, Deirdre Cartmill, Heather Larmour, Miriam Lehman

Photo from left to right: Ronan Bennett, Colin Carberry, Lana Citron, Peter Sheridan and Martina Devlin

BBC Radio 4 has commissioned five short stories from these acclaimed writers, who will also read them at this year’s Belfast Arts festival from Queen’s University. The stories will be recorded before an audience during the first week of the festival and then broadcast daily on Radio 4 during its second week.

The writers were asked to write on the theme for the whole festival: Colours of the World. This has produced a wonderfully diverse mix of stories from childhood reminiscences to restaurant critiquing and the very contemporary subject of IVF. Three of the writers hail from Northern Ireland; Colin Carberry, Ronan Bennett and Martina Devlin, while Peter Sheridan and Lana Citron are both from Dublin.

In Peter Sheridan’s story we meet Nuala Ahern, a young girl teased about her freckles until her father comes up with an ingenious plan. Martina Devlin’s story takes us into the world of Alice, a woman unable to have children, and her husband Leo who is determined to father a child of his own. Colin Carberry tells the story of a married couple’s encounter with a psychic medium, while Lana Citron’s touching story focuses on the relationship between a grand-daughter and grandmother. In Ronan Bennett’s story a writer, who knows nothing about food, is invited to write a restaurant review, with disastrous results.

TWO DOORS DOWN SERIES 3
Writer: Annie McCartney
Director: Tanya Nash
TX Date: For four weeks every Friday from 19 September

The comedy drama Two Doors Down by Annie McCartney and starring Frances Tomelty as cleaning lady, Sally O’Neill, returns to Radio 4 this autumn with a third series of four more hilarious stories about the chaotic lives of the bohemian residents of Marlborough Rd, Belfast.
Have a look at our behind the scenes photos

Sorcha Cusack (Casualty, Eureka Street,), Lorcan Cranitch (Ballykissangel, Spooks) and Elaine Symons (Sinners ) head a star cast of this two part dramatisation for Radio 4’s Classic Serial. More information.

PRESSING THE FLESH
Writer: Franics Turnley
You can hear it on: Radio 4 at 2.30 pm on 20 September 2003
Producer: Tanya Nash

Pressing The Flesh, Francis Turnley's radio drama debut, is a tense thriller for Saturday Play. Stars Lloyd Hutchinson. Have a look at our behind the scenes photos from the recording of Pressing the Flesh. More information

At a hotel in Belfast a group of six friends meet for an annual convention to celebrate the one thing they all have in common, their passion for Doctor Who. However, at this year's event, there is going to be trouble...one of them is a traitor!

DUNGANNON
Written by Chris Neil, and adapted for Radio by John P. Rooney.
TX date: Friday 15 August on R4
Producer: Stephen Wright
History has set a starting date for the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland as 1968, but the genesis may be traced back to events in 1963.

Forty years ago in Dungannon, County Tyrone a group of young women banded together to agitate for the fair allocation of housing in their town. People with no experience of politics suddenly became the driving force behind a movement that led to the development of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland.

Dungannon is inspired by the true story of Angela McCrystal and the Homeless Citizen’s League. Some of the characters have been fictionalised and events changed for dramatic effect. Nevertheless the drama is set against a historically accurate backdrop.

This story dramatises the struggle a group of young women led, for the fair allocation of housing. Taking inspiration from the civil rights movement in America, they overcame opposition from their local urban council and the Northern Ireland Government to effect change. Their actions stung the consciences of the other citizens including the local Doctor Conn McCluskey and his wife Patricia. Both of whom went on to form the Campaign for Social Justice that led to the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.

The cast includes: Susan Lynch (Nora, Anytime Now, Waking Ned and Cracker) plays Angela McCrystal.
Gerard McSorley (Veronica Guerin, Bloody Sunday and Braveheart) plays Conn McCluskey and Stellla McCusker (On Home Ground) plays Patricia McCluskey


THE TUNNEL (REPEAT)
Writer: Tim Loane
Repeat Transmission Date: Sat 16 August at 21:15 on R3
Starring: Lorcan Cranitch as Rex, Annie Farr as Maria and Patrick O’Kane as Buzz and introducing Neal McWilliams as Frankie

From the creator of the successful television series Teachers (C4) comes a fast paced thriller to Radio 3’s innovative drama strand The Wire. Tim Loane’s first radio drama is about a seventeen year old boy, Frankie who is wrongly credited with a violent crime. For Frankie this turns out to be a bonus. He lives in an enclosed macho world, on an estate on the edge of a city where satellite tv is the only sense of the outside world. He is at the bottom of the heap until his new reputation as a hard man brings him rewards in the form of money, drugs and sex because his mother’s new boyfriend Rex offers to protect him from the police. But Frankie is a young man with a conscience and the story forces him to make choices which rip his heart open.

The writer: Tim Loane is the creator and original writer of C4’s successful television series Teachers. In 2002 he also enjoyed UK-wide critical acclaim for his first stage play, Caught Red Handed which toured Northern Ireland in spring and was later revived in Belfast and Dublin in the autumn. Tim is currently working on television series in development for Box TV, BBC Northern Ireland and an Australian company. A man of many talents, he regularly directs drama and still occasionally performs. Most notably he directed the award-winning and Oscar nominated short film Dance Lexie Dance. The Tunnel is Tim’s radio drama debut.

Lorcan Cranitch plays Rex, Frankie’s mother’s new lover. Most recently Lorcan appeared in Spooks on BBC television and also played the title role McCready in BBC 1’s McCready and Daughter, as well as Sean Dillon in Ballykissangel.

Annie Farr plays Maria, Frankie’s mother. Recent TV work includes Sinead in Paradise Heights (BBC 1) and Alice in People Like Us (BBC 2). For Radio 4, Annie played the lead in Pearse Elliot’s play The Calling.

Patrick O’Kane plays Buzz, the good cop. Most recent credits include Scenes from the Big Picture by Owen McCafferty at the RNT, Colin Duggan in BBC1’s drama serial Any Time Now, and in Owen McCafferty’s previous play for the RNT, Closing Time (London & Dublin Theatre Festival).

TWO DOORS DOWN Series 2 (REPEAT)
Writer: Annie McCartney
Producer: Tanya Nash
TX date: Begins on 29 July 2003 at 11pm on R4 then 5 August, 12 August and 19 August

The comedy drama Two Doors Down returns to Radio 4 this summer with another chance to hear the second series. Four stories about the lives of the bohemian residents of Marlborough Road, Belfast, who are saved from their own chaos by Sally, their cleaning lady. More information and behind the scenes photos.

IPH… (REPEAT)
Writer(s): Colin Teevan
Duration/Slot: 75 min Sunday Play
Repeat Date: 10 August '03
Frist Transmission Date: 27.05.01
Producer/Director: Stephen Wright
Key cast: James Ellis, Gerard McSorley, Nuala O’Neill

Iph… is a forceful and resonant version of Euripedes’ Iphigeneia in Aulis. Agamemnon leader of the Greeks faces a dark choice on the brink of the Trojan War. He must choose between his love for his daughter, Iphigeneia and his nation’s ambitions to take revenge on Troy. Should he sacrifice Iphigeneia to the gods for a fair wind for the Greek fleet becalmed at Aulis or should he save his daughter? In the end he sacrifices his daughter.

THE MONOTONOUS LIFE OF LITTLE MISS P (REPEAT)
Writer: Enda Walsh
Duration/Slot: Radio 3 and it is the 5th play in the Wire Series
Repeat Date: 2 August '03
First Transmission Date: 05/09/02 at 21.30
Director: Enda Walsh
Producer: Gemma McMullan
In The Monotonous Life of Little Miss P, Enda Walsh brings us into the fascinating mind of P, a silent physically disabled young woman. We follow P as the action flits from her inner world to her life at home and the care centre, revelling in her observations and ironic commentaries on how she is perceived. P feels she has no control over her life, no privacy or secrets. Her world is open to everyone around her. At home she is washed, clothed and fed by her mother; at the day centre she is subject to the regular activities organised by the workers.
If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme and would like further information, then you can call the Radio 3 Action Line on 0800 033 033. Calls are free and confidential.

THE GREENHOUSE
Writer: Dominique Moloney
Transmission date : 18 July 2003 at 2.15pm on Radio 4
Producer: Tanya Nash.
A teenage Northern Irish boy (Neal McWilliams) finds a chance to escape a life of delinquency from an unexpected friendship with a black woman (Casualty Star, Adjoa Andoh), who has moved to his village.
More Photos
and information about the the actors and the drama

FRED RIMBLE
Writer: John B Keane, dramatised by Kerry Lee Crabbe
You can hear it on: Monday, 21 July 2003 at 2.15 pm on Radio 4
Producer: Gemma McMullan
Fred Rimble is based on one of John B. Keane’s delightful short stories dramatised for Radio by Kerry Lee Crabbe. It is a charming story about Jim Conlon’s (Ardal O’ Hanlon) fervent attempt to cure his hypochondriac mother (Doreen Keogh) by inventing an imaginary friend "Fred" who suffers the worst misfortunes and tragic circumstances beknownst to man. If Jim is ever to have any chance of happiness and leave home and marry Nice Nualla (Tina Kellegher), he must convince his mother that she is not, as she believes, on death’s door! Have a look at more photos

Eden is a poignant story about the expectation and desires of a married couple living in a small town in Ireland called Eden. Billy hopes that this is the weekend young, sexy Imelda Egan will fall for his charm. While his wife, Breda hopes that this is the weekend, Billy will passionately make love to her again, as he did when they were young.

AFTERNOON READINGS from Jimmy Ellis
Written & performed by: Jimmy Ellis
Transmission date: 30 June - 4 July 2003 at 3.30 pm on Radio 4
Producer: Heather Brennon.
Jimmy Ellis will read five short stories from his collection, Home and Away. The stories are based on French folk tales which Jimmy has transposed to Ireland. They were recorded at Corridreenan House, (a cottage at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra). Have a look at the photos and find out more about the five short stories

TEMPTATION
Writer: Dermot Bolger
Transmission date: Monday 30 June 2003 at 2.15 pm on Radio Four.
Producer: Gemma McMullan.
Based on Dermot Bolger’s bestselling and highly acclaimed novel Temptation, a compelling drama which takes us into the life of Alison Gill, a married mother of two, and the confusing emotions which stir after a chance encounter with an old flame. Have a look at the behind the scenes photos.

CARMILLA
Writer: Don McCamphill
Transmission date: Thursday 5 June 2003 at 14.15 on Radio 4
Producer: Lawrence Jackson
A 45 minute afternoon play dramatised by Don McCamphill from the story by Sheridan Le Fanu, starring Anne-Marie Duff, Brana Bajic, David Warner, Celia Imrie, Kenneth Cranham, Nigel Anthony, Jacqueline Pearce and Roger May.
More information on actors and writers and see the photos from behind the scenes

FIVE WAYS TO MEET YOUR LOVER
Writer: Gemma McMullan
TX from 28 April – 2 May 2003 (5 episodes - Woman’s Hour)
Time: 10:45 and 19:45 (Repeat)
Producer: Tanya Nash

JENNY and BRIAN are two single thirtysomethings still searching in life for their ideal partners. Over the course of five episodes they will individually embark on the topsy-turvy world of contemporary dating trying various approaches in the hope they will meet their perfect match.

As they become entangled in the labyrinth of disastrous dating, enduring - matchmaking nights by married friends, dating agencies, supermarket singles nights and trying to find love in the personal ads, it begins to feel as if “singledom” is, by far, the easier option. Will Brian and Jenny’s luck ever change?

Behind the scenes photos

Tina Kellegher (Ballykissangel, Sinners, Baldi (R4),) and Vincent Reagan (Messiah II, Eureka Street, Rescue Me, Murphy’s Law, Rebel Heart) head this great cast.
Other members of the cast include: Doreen Keogh (Cold Feet, The Royle Family, Coronation Street), Anne-Marie Duff (Sinners, The Magdalene Sisters, Amongst Women, Trial and Retribution, Enigma and Aristocrats) Simon Delaney (Bachelors Walk – Nominated for an IFTA for Best Actor 2003), Don Wycherley (Bachelor’s Walk, Ballykissangel), Ger Ryan (Forgive and Forget, Sinners, Queer as folk, Amongst Women)
Frank McCusker (Agnes Brown, Nothing Personal), Catherine Walsh (Best actress for The National Theatre production of Eden), Julia Deardon, Dawn Bradfield and Jack Logue.

Written and directed by Gemma Mc Mullan, (Past writing credits include: the awarding winning BBC short film “The Freesia of Eden”, “Custer’s Last Stand Up” for BBC Children’s Drama and “Sick” for Channel 4.)

BALDI (Series three)
Writers: Simon Brett, Mark Holloway, Martin Meenan
Duration/Slot: 6 x 45 min Afternoon Plays R4
Transmission Date: Fridays 14/3/03 – 18/04/03
Producer/Director: Mark Lambert

The return for a third 6 episode series of the murder mystery series set in Trinity College Dublin, with David Threlfall reprising the role of Dr Paolo Baldi, a Franciscan priest, academic and philosopher. See photos from behind the scenes at the recording of Baldi 3.

THE DIMMING OF THE DAY (Repeat)
Writer: Jane Cassidy
Producer : Pam Brighton
TX date: Thursday 17 April at 14:15 on R4

It follows the fortunes of a retired Judge, a highly respected, remote and distant figure, who falls in love with an also highly respected, retired head-mistress. Both are married but realise that they have little time left for happiness so leave their respective spouses. Their children set up a howl of disapproval.
James Ellis stars in this highly topical drama, of elderly people simply refusing to die but instead facing their old age with boldness and imagination.

The cast includes James Ellis, David Kelly and Stella McCusker.

THE VISITOR
Writer: Maeve Brennan
Abridged by: Neville Teller
Radio 4 Book At Bedtime in two, fifteen minute episodes
TX date:Mon 31 March and Tuesday 1 April at 10.45 pm
Producer/director: Tanya Nash

Tina Kellegher returns to Book at Bedtime to read this haunting two part novella The Visitor by Maeve Brennan. [Tina read Edna O’Brien’s Girl with Green Eyes for BaB in Nov 2001]

Maeve Brennan emigrated from Ireland to New York in 1934 when she was seventeen where she worked as a contributor to The New Yorker for over thirty years and wrote sketches about Manhattan life for The Talk of The Town from 1954-1981. Her Irish short stories and novellas about life in Dublin are now being rediscovered since she died in obscurity in 1993. The Visitor was written in the 1940s and remained unpublished until it was found in a university archive and published only eighteen months ago in September 2001. Her work is now highly acclaimed by her fellow authors and critics and is gaining a reputation amongst the twentieth century classics.

“To mention her in the company of Chekhov and Flaubert is only proper” Edward Albee -celebrated 20th Century American playwright.

The novella is about twenty-two year old Anastasia King who returns to her grandmother’s home in Dublin after her mother dies. Anastasia wants the love of her only remaining relative and a sense of family. However, her grandmother has never forgiven her for choosing to go with her disgraced mother to Paris, six years ago and breaking the heart of her son (Anastasia’s father), who has since died without seeing her again. Anastasia does all she can to gain her grandmother’s love, but is it enough?

Tina Kellegher is best known to Radio 4 listeners for her role as Insp. Tina Mahon in the detective series Baldi (3rd series begins on the 14 March 2003 on Radio 4) and her television role as Niamh in BBC ONE’S Ballykissangeland more recently the award winning Sinners. She has recently appeared at The Abbey Theatre Dublin this winter (Dec 2002-Feb 2003) in their acclaimed production of Plough & The Stars.

THE DOCTOR'S WIFE
Writers: The book was written by Brian Moore and abridged in eight episodes for BBC Radio 4 by Doreen Estall.
Duration/Slot: 8 x 15mins for R4
Transmission Date: Monday to Friday from 17/3/03 at 22.45. Episodes 4-8 from 24/3/03 to 28/04/03 at 22.45
Producer: Susan Carson

Zara Turner reads the extraordinary novel by Brian Moore, The Doctor’s Wife, for Book At Bedtime.

This is a powerful story of an ordinary woman seized by love for a younger man in the middle of her life. The romantic idyll soon turns to anxiety and guilt when the reality of what she has done hits home. Her family and friends won’t conspire to help her and in fact do everything they can to dissuade her from leaving her neglectful and bullying husband. They even go as far as to accuse her of having a breakdown.

This book was written by Brian Moore, the prolific Northern Irish novelist, in 1976 and subsequently short listed for the Booker prize. It is anoutstanding work of fiction from the author of The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne.

The book has been abridged in eight episodes for BBC Radio 4 by Doreen Estall.

Zara Turner (above) is best known for her role alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors and starred recently in a BBC Northern Ireland Drama Any Time Now.

HUMANS AND OTHER ANIMALS
Writer: Emma Donoghue
Duration/slot: Five, 15 minute episodes/Woman’s Hour
Tune in to Radio 4 every morning at 10.45, Monday, 10 March – Friday, 14 March 2003
Or catch the evening repeat at 7.45 every evening that week.
Producer : Tanya Nash
James Ellis and Pauline McLynn head the cast of these delightfully humorous dramas about the different types of relationships we have with animals.

Joey (James Ellis) a lonely pensioner is distraught when his pet rabbit goes missing; Trevor (Dan Gordon) and Louise (Pauline McLynn) have the tricky dilemma of what to do with their three beloved dogs at Christmas; Seventeen year old Suzie (Emma McNeil) falls in love with a twenty-two year animal rights protester (Miche Doherty); Liz (Pauline McLynn) and Sophie (Julia Dearden) have to decide how much they can afford in vet bills for their cat; Nine year old Felicity (Coirle Magee) is desperate for her own horse but her parents can’t afford one. See photos from behind the scenes

Emma Donoghue (playwright) had great success in the Woman’s Hour slot with her series Exes in 2001, about the tricky business of getting on with your ex-partner. She also wrote charming comedy Don’t Die Wondering for Radio 4. She is successful novelist, short story writer and playwright. This year Virago published her collection of short stories The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits and her sixth novel, Slammerkin, about a poor seamstress caught up in London’s 18th C underworld was published in 2000. Her short film Plucked was shown on RTE in summer 2002.

The ensemble cast are: James Ellis (Z Cars, Playing the Field (BBC1) Only Fools and Horses (BBC 1 2002) and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted C4) with Dan Gordon, Julia Dearden, Miche Doherty, Emma McNeil, Coirle Magee, Anthony Ofoegbu and Stella McCusker.

THE FLEADH
Writer: John Rooney
Duration/slot: R4 Afternoon Play
TX Date: Monday 3 March at 14:15

Bob has been reared in a small Northern Irish community; he has adopted his parents’ narrow views. He's horrified, when shortly after arriving at Queen's University, he finds himself sharing a house with a mixed group of students who all play traditional Irish music. The words of his father, a lay preacher and police officer, ring in his head as he becomes increasingly attracted to a world full of life and hope and possibility. Will he have the strength to progress? See photos from behind the scenes

John Rooney has been writing exciting radio drama for the last 20 years, always sensitive to the current situations in Northern Ireland. His latest play asks a question that is highly relevant at the moment: can and will people change? The Fleadh re-unites the three young actors who were such a success in Brian Campbell's recent radio play Tiger Leaping Gorge - Tony Devlin, Chris Simpson and Duncan Keegan. It is also a radio debut for young actress Deirdre McAliskey.

GOING TO THE DOGS
Writer: Carol Freebairn
Duration/slot: R4 Afternoon Play
Tx date: 18.02.03
Producer/director: Tanya Nash
An hilarious comedy about the difficulties of marriage from an exciting new Northern Irish writer, Carol Freebairn. “That’s what women do. We fill in the quizzes and complain about our husbands, it’s a social thing. But not for one minute did I think he had such a low opinion of me” says Jenny when she discovers the dreadful answers to a relationship quiz filled in by her husband in a men’s magazine. With the help of her best friend Laura, Jenny resolves to change and become the ‘perfect wife’. This petrifies her husband David into changing too because he doesn’t want to lose his wife. Meanwhile, Laura’s secretive behaviour convinces her husband Mark that she is having an affair. Events reach a climax when David takes Jenny out on a romantic date which doesn’t turn out quite as expected.
Carol Freebairn is from Belfast and this comedy marks her radio drama debut. THE CAST: - Laura Hughes and Ian Beattie play Jenny and David. Maria Connolly and Alan McKee play Laura and Mark.

TAKE THE BUS
Writer: Don McCamphill
Duration/slot: R4 Friday Play
Tx date: 07/02/03
Producer/director: Lawrence Jackson
Take The Bus is an idealistic rural Youth worker's journey into the heart of Belfast’s worst estate on a quest to retrieve his theatre group’s stolen minibus.
Take The Bus is directed by Lawrence Jackson and stars Aidan Campbell, Mary Moulds, James Ellis, Alan McKee, Michael Smiley, Vincent Higgins, Stella McCusker, Helena Bereen, Richard Orr, Sarah Gordon and Sarah Dobson. More information and photos

BARRY LYNDON
Writer: William Makepeace Thackery dramatised by Don McCamphill
Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 3pm,
Transmission Date: 5/1/03 first episode and 12/1/03 second episode. (repeated at 9pm on 11 and 18 January 2003)
Producer/Director: Lawrence Jackson

Star cast includes: Sheila Hancock, Kenneth Cranham, David Kelly and Andrew Scott. A dramatisation of William Makepeace Thackery’s novel first published in 1844. Set in the second half of the 18th Century, Barry Lyndon is the fictional autobiography of an adventurer and rogue whom we are led to distrust from the beginning. Born into the petty Irish gentry and outmanoeuvred in his first love affair, a ruined Barry joins the British army only to desert after service in Germany. After a brief spell as a spy he pursues the career of a gambler in the dissolute clubs and courts of Europe until, in a determined effort to enter fashionable society, he marries a titled heiress but finds he has met his match. More information

STUMBLING
Writers: Joseph Crilly
Duration/Slot: R4
Transmission Date: Wednesday 15/01/03
Producer/Director: Tanya Nash
Stumbling is a black comedy, set in rural Ulster, about three people, Donna, Gary and Logan who tell their version of a shocking event which changed their lives for the better. More information



DYING FOR A MOTHER
Writer: Graham Reid
Duration/Slot: R4
Transmission Date: Friday 17/01/03
Producer/Director: Stephen Wright
A moving emotional drama set during the 1981 Hunger Strike. Two women from opposite sides of the conflict are unexpectedly brought together. A young WPC in the RUC discovers she was adopted and locates her birth mother. Her birth mother is a republican with a son about to join the hunger strike. The two women must come to terms with each other as mother and daughter and with each others’ position in opposing communities that are deeply and violently divided by the hunger strike.

Graham Reid is one of Northern Ireland’s leading writers and has written extensively for radio, stage and television. Previous radio plays include Sweet Sixteen and his many television credits include The Billy Plays, Life After Life and the award winning BBC2 film The Precious Blood.

The cast includes; Cara Kelly, Stella McCusker, Margaret D’Arcy, Emma Jordan, Katy Tumelty, Dan Gordon, B J Hogg, Mark O’Shea, Sean Kearns and John Hewitt.

FORTY SEVEN ROSES
Writer: Peter Sheridan
Duration/Slot: R4
Transmission Date: 8/01/023
Producer/Director: Tanya Nash
Forty Seven Roses by Peter Sheridan dramatised from his own family memoir A compelling memoir that examines everlasting love and family pride, based on the true experiences of the author’s father. When Peter Sheridan’s father unexpectedly dies, he discovers that Doris, the English woman who spent summers with them in Dublin when he was a boy, was actually having an affair with his father.
This relationship lasted 47 years and was conducted mainly by letter. Even more shocking was the discovery that his mother knew about this all along and appeared to tolerate the situation.
This play is a dramatisation of Peter Sheridan’s memoir of this story, Forty Roses published in 2001. Through a series of meetings with Doris, talks with his mother and a search for the letters between Doris and his father, their story is uncovered. Peter Sheridan, writer, playwright and theatre director. His short film The Breakfast won several European Awards and his first feature film script Borstal Boy was released in 2000. He received the Rooney Prize for Literature in 1977. He was Writer-in-Residence at The Abbey in 1980. His first memoir 44, about his Dublin childhood became a best seller. Forty Seven Roses was published in Sept 2001.

A WEEK OF FIVE SHORT STORIES - Radio 4
Sitting with the Dead by William Trevor
Transmission: 25/11/02 at 15:30
Producer: Gemma McMullan
Duration/Slot: R4

The Geraghtys are two middle-aged sisters, who sit with the dying. They are Legion of Mary women famed for their charity and tireless in their support of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. However, on this particular day, as they attempt to bring their good works to a sick room, they are about to experience a rather strange visit.

William Trevor has been one of Ireland’s most prolific writers of novels and short stories since the 1960s. He has written 14 novels and nine collections of short stories. His contribution to the arts was awarded with an honorary knighthood earlier this year. He has won the Whitbread three times and has recently been shortlisted for the 2002 Booker Prize for his latest novel The Story of Lucy Gault.

Sorcha Cusack, who has worked extensively in theatre, television and film, reads the story. Among her many television credits are Inspector Morse, Maigret, Poirot, Plastic Man, Playing the Field, Eureka Street, Ulysses, Private Affairs, Murder Machine, August Saturday, four series of Casualty, Shoot the Revolution, Married Love, Jane Eyre, Confessional, Rides, Boon, Hold the Dream, The Real Charlotte, Kilmore House, Napoleon & Love, Brookside, Thou Shalt Not Kill, and The Bill. Films include Angel (Neil Jordan), Sinful Davy (John Huston), and Snatch (Guy Ritchie).

Transparency by Brian Gallagher
Transmission: 26/11/02 at 15:30
Producer: Heathor Brennon
Duration/Slot: R4

It’s two years since Michael’s last affair, when his wife caught him in a compromising situation with his assistant. However, with a new atmosphere of openness in his marriage, Michael thinks it would be safe to risk giving in to the seductive allure of Lucille Garvey.

Brian Gallagher is a Dublin barrister turned writer who has had two novels published, Feng Shui Junkie, which has been translated into five different languages and optioned for film. The screenplay is presently being written for an Australian production company. Junk Male, his second novel has also been very successful, and he’s currently working on his third.

Liam Cunningham has appeared in numerous films, Abduction Club, a Little Princess, Dog Soldiers, First Knight, The Island of the Mapmaker’s Wife and television dramas including Falling for a Dancer, A Likeness in Stone, Cracker, Roughnecks as well as being a prolific stage actor.

The Fishing Trip by Marian O'Neill
Transmission: 27/11/02 at 15:30
Producer: Susan Carson
Duration/Slot: R4

Young Jack is desperate to go fishing with his Dad and older brother. To him going on a fishing trip means being accepted as a man. However when he arrives at Jim Grimes’ fishing boat he realises with horror what becoming a man will entail. Jack decides that he still has plenty of time to enjoy his childhood comforts - he doesn’t want to become a man yet.

Owen Roe is best known on Radio 4 as Supt. Rynne in the series Baldi. He is also prolific on stage and screen, his screen credits including Ballykissangel and The Ambassador. He has also featured in films namely Michael Collins and When The Sky Falls.

Marian O’Neill is originally from Dublin. She has written two novels, the critically acclaimed Miss Harrie Elliott and Daddy’s Girl, which was published by Scribner in 2001. She is currently working on a third novel.

Some Type of Women by Pearse Elliott
Transmission: 28/11/02 at 15:30
Producer: Susan Carson
Duration/Slot: R4

A petty thief is driven by the love for his girlfriend to carry out an armed robbery on a bank in upstate New York in order to fund her breast augmentation. He persuades his hapless gang to help him out but none of them bargain for what’s in store.

Kerry Shale is a native North American and is well known to Radio Four audiences. He is also a prolific stage actor and has recently finished his one-man show, CAVEMAN, INC at the Edinburgh Festival. His film and TV credits include: Max, 102 Dalmatians, Welcome to Sarajevo and Kiss Me Kate.

Pearse Elliott is a unique Irish writing talent on the brink of major success. His single drama, A Rap at the Door was broadcast on BBC2 to critical acclaim and his new 10-part drama has recently been greenlit by the BBC. He has three feature films in development with DNA Films, Simon Channing Williams and Treasure Films. He has also written two novels, which are yet to be published, and a short story, Tiger Slayer that was broadcast last year on Radio 4.

The Gold Digger by Gretta Mulrooney
Transmission: 29/11/02 at 15:30
Producer: Gemma McMullan
Duration/Slot: R4

Jack Daly’s daughters, Rose and Ita, are far from happy at the prospect of Leila entering the life of their father. They are convinced this younger woman is nothing more than "an old fashioned gold digger" who is out to relieve their father of his money and leave them with nothing. Jack, however, is determined to prove them wrong.

A delightful story by Gretta Mulrooney, one of Ireland's most exciting writing talents. Gretta has won great acclaim for her recent novels Marble Heart and Araby. Her children’s fiction includes Nest of Vipers, A Den of Thieves and A Can of Worms.
The story is read by Dermot Crowley whose television credits include, Falling for a Dancer, Poirot, The Sculptress, A Touch of Frost, Kavanagh QC, Helen West, Jonathan Creek. Film credits include: The Legend of Bagger Vance, The Star Wars Trilogy.

LADIES NIGHT AT FINBAR’S HOTEL
Writer: Dermot Bolger
Duration/Slot: Radio 4
Producer: Gemma McMullan
Transmission: 28/11/02
Star cast: Liam Cunningham (Falling for a Dancer, Cracker, A Love Divided), Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Angela’s Ashes), Angeline Ball

After the huge success of Finbar's Hotel, Dermot Bolger decided to publish a second novel, Ladies Night at Finbar's Hotel, inviting seven of Ireland’s leading female novelists for a very unique collaboration - to create fictional guests staying at Finbar’s Hotel over the course of one night.

Adapting three of the stories for radio, Dermot Bolger has nleashed the raw sense of Irish humour as we meet the various "guests". A rollicking comedy that proves that at Finbar’s Hotel…just about anything can happen!

Liam Cunningham (Falling for a Dancer, Cracker, A Love Divided), Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Angela’s Ashes), Angeline Ball (The Commitments, Peak Practice), Ger Ryan (Amongst Women), Sorcha Cusack (Casualty), Dermot Crowley (Falling for a Dancer), are among some of the renowned cast who star in this imaginative and highly entertaining production.

REGENERATIONS
Written by: Daragh Carville
Directed by: Gemma McMullan
Radio 3

At a hotel in Belfast a group of six friends meet for an annual convention to celebrate the one thing they all have in common, their passion for Doctor Who. However, at this year's event, there is going to be trouble...one of them is a traitor!

Meanwhile, outside the hotel a menacing, “monstrous” riot has erupted on the streets of Belfast…and into this highly charged atmosphere steps the only person who might yet be able to save the day, "The Doctor" (TOM BAKER).

A fast, punchy, imaginative drama by one of Northern Ireland’s finest writing talents. Definitely a must for anyone who loved "Doctor Who".

Daragh Carville was the winner of the 1997 Stewart Parker New Playwright Award and the 1998 Meyer-Whitworth Prize. In September 1999 he was appointed Writer-in-Residence at Queen's University, Belfast. He is currently working on two new plays; The Visitation, commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, and The Holyland, for the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain. He has also written for television and radio, and recently completed work on his first screenplay, English as a Foreign Language.

The cast includes: Tom Baker, Sophie Aldred, Michael Colgan, Miche Doherty, Tim Loane, Richard Dormer, Justine Mitchell, Thomas Lappin & Alan McKee.

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