With Judith Kerr at the recording of The Road.
My dramatisation of Nigel Kneale’s famous lost television play, The Road, for Radio 4 was recorded in Maida Vale at the beginning of February. The cast is phenomenal : Mark Gatiss, Adrian Scarborough, Hattie Morahan, Colin McFarlane, Susan Wokoma, Francis Magee and Ralph Ineson. It will be the Halloween Fright Night production for BBC Radio 4 on October 27th. It is one of my proudest achievements. Nigel Kneale’s widow Judith Kerr (a writer of great repute herself : Mog, The Tiger Who Came for Tea etc) attended the recording and had a lovely time talking about “Tom” (Kneale’s actual first name) and his work.
Adrian Scarborough plays Sir Timothy and Mark Gatiss is Gideon Cobb in the recreation of this lost classic.
I have jumped in at relatively short notice to play Doc in West Side Story at the Royal Northern College of Music at the end of February. There’s a terrific young cast and it’s a great show. Tickets here.
The Guardian asked me to add a positive note to their coverage of the death of actor Peter Wyngarde which I was more than happy to do. The result is here.
Chatting to Mary Peach at her home about Doctor Who and much, much more.
Please vote for XS Malarkey as Best Comedy Club (that runs weekly or has a capacity of 150 or more) in the Chortle Awards. Stiff competition this year so please help!! Here.
The forthcoming DVD release of The Enemy of the World has an hour long documentary produced by Ed Stradling in which I try to find out some brand new facts about the making of this once lost Doctor Who serial. I interview some hitherto unheard from folks, and get some insights into the leading man who, in this story, plays a dual role.
This is wonderful news! I vividly remember watching this TV play (already a fan of the Quatermass TV dramas) as a youngster. It was an absolute disaster that it was wiped and I gave up any hope that it might be “resurrected” due to its being perceived as “not commercial” What I found particularly penetrating was the juxtaposition of Victorian science being conducted in a wood with the subsequent contact to the future. The stellar cast for the new production will ensure that it will, once again, find its deserved place in science fiction history.