Annie McCartney Radio Plays
Annie McCartney has written eight afternoon plays and three
comedy drama series "Two Doors Down" for Radio 4. She has also done work
for television (BBC Northern Ireland Drama) and is
a novelist. Her website is at
www.anniemccartney.com/
Annie McCartney writes .....
I had my first experience of radio drama as a first year student at Queen’s. I was “spotted” in a Dramsoc production and offered a part – well, four lines - in a play directed by the legendary Ronnie Mason. Several luminaries of the acting scene were in the cast - Margaret D’Arcy, JG Devlin, Harold Goldblatt and Kitty Gibson. When I remarked that I hadn’t a lot to do, Harold Goldblatt told me not to mind because line for line I was probably the highest paid member of the cast.
I went on to work in schools programmes for many years after that, with Sam Hanna Bell, Tony McAuley, and Douglas Carson. I was also lucky to work on a fairly regular basis with countless producers in radio drama, in plays by writers like John McGahern and Stewart Parker. I always loved the medium. Therefore when I turned from an acting career in 1998 and decided to write, it seemed fitting that my first efforts should be for Radio 4. I began with short stories and eventually plucked up the courage to move to afternoon plays. These were set in the Home Counties, Radio 4’s traditional listening ground, and were produced by Eoin O’ Callaghan. To date I have written eight plays and three series.
It took me a while to set any of my work in Northern Ireland but my last play Every Breath You Take and my series Two Doors Down are both set here. I worked very closely on both these with Tanya Nash. It is a tough but satisfying experience watching an idea slowly evolve into a drama. I am always humbled by the way actors bring characters from one’s imagination so fully to life. Only an organisation like the BBC could allow producers – and I have been fortunate in having the best – to devote the time and patience to work with writers who are literally learning the craft as they go along.
....summarised from BBC Northern Ireland website - N.D.
NOTES ON ANNIE'S RADIO PLAYS:
HEARTS AND BONES....1998
R4, 1415, 27 Jul 98; rpt.25 Oct 99. A mother faces a dilemna when tests for a bone marrow transplant
reveal that her husband may not be the father of her child. With
Amanda Root, Kenneth Cranham, Ellie Beavan; dir. Eoin O'Callahagn.
GO ASK ALICE....2000
R4, 1500, 29 Jan 00; Saturday Play, 60m. Alice, an asthma sufferer,
starts angling for attention. Nothing unusual in that, but before
long her parents realise their lives are starting to come apart. With
Ellie Beavan, Georgie Alexander and Amanda Root; dir. Eoin O'Callahagn.
INTO THE MYSTIC....2000
R4, 1500, 29 Apr 00, Saturday Play. Following her regression
therapy, Susan Sinclair accuses her brother of having abused her as
a child. The family's reaction is predictable, but in this case,
perhaps there is no smoke without fire...with Samantha Bond, Ron Cook,
Sophie Thompson. Dir. Eoin O'Callahagn. Rpt. 6 Apr 01.
DON'T GET ME WRONG....2001
R4,15 Jun 01; four young women invite a clairvoyant to read their
palms. With Saskia Wickham, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lizzie McInnerney,
Marcella Riordan. Dir. Eoin O'Callahagn.
DOUBLE VISION....2002
R4, 31 Oct 02....Meredith is a young widow, grieving for the husband
she lost in a road accident. Unexpectedly a "twin" brother appears at her
door and gradually to the consternation of her friends and widowed father,
establishes himself firmly in her life. Is he telling the truth? Or indeed
is he an impostor taking advantage of Meredith? With Rebecca Sayer,
Tracy Ann Oberman, Rebecca Front. Director Eoin O Callaghan.
OCCASIONAL SWIM....2003
A woman's marriage has disintegrated after a family tragedy. She
meets another man, and they get on famously, and a happy ending is anticipated. But there
are some surprises in store. With Emma Fielding and
Robert Glennister, Lizzie McInnerny, Mick Garner,
Andrew Alston, Frances Jeater, Lewis Aaltonen,
Juliet Aaltonen. Director Eoin O'Callaghan.
EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE....2004
R4, 6 Jan 04, 1415...a psychological thriller about a mother who tries
to protect her family from a man who threatens to expose her past.
Maura's son Ryan wins a recording contract as a singer in a television talent
show. But then Maura receives an unexpected 'phone call from a man she
met on holiday twenty years earlier and who says he could be Ryan's
father. With Brid Brennan, Orla Charlton, Ivan Kaye, Alan McKee,
Katy Gleadhill, Sarah Gordon, Hannah R. Gordon, Aine McCartney,
Roger Jennings
and Malchi Cush. Malchi sings
one of his own songs, as Ryan, in this production. Directed and
produced by Tanya Nash.
MARTHA MY DEAR...2006
R4 December 19th, 2006... Martha is the epitome of Earth-mother;
she runs a house dripping with genuine tea and sympathy and has four
children whom she fusses over and loves deeply and a quiet husband Robert
who patently adores her. Then a scurrilous book is published to a fanfare
of publicity, Martha is suspected to be the author. Her denial is swift,
and though many try to believe her, the "no smoke" rule clings. But if
she didn't write it, then who is the author?
With Marcella Riordan, Mark Lambert, Lizzie Mc Innerney, Katy Gleadhill. . Directed and produced by Eoin O Callaghan
Update from Annie McCartney, Feb 2007:
I had a play broadcast December 19th, 2006, "Martha My Dear", directed by Eoin O Callaghan with
Marcella Riordan, Mark Lambert, Lizzy Mc Innerney, Katy Gleadhill, Robert
Patterson & Ali White. I also have a 2-
parter for BBC7 which I am working on at the moment, and have had 3 series of
Two Doors Down directed by Tanya Nash. Details of these are on my website:
www.anniemccartney.com/
Synopsis of MARTHA MY DEAR:
Martha loves her home and children and she has a quiet husband
Robert who adores her.
Her
personality attracts confessions out of even her normal reticent
friends-she is a virtual repository for all the gossip all the heartbreak
affairs and as a final touch all her neighbours trust her with the keys
to their houses.
There is however a modicum of smugness to Martha, and unbeknownst to all these confidants she off loads all the titbits to Robert in bed at night who seems to pay no attention. Robert is a busy man who spends most of his week on the train commuting to Dublin from rural Ballymurray and resentful of the endless parasites who he feels are sucking Martha dry with their neediness and leaving her time with him sullied. He wants Martha to move to Dublin, but she is reluctant, loving her garden, the schools and the large house which they could not hope to have in the overpriced city of Dublin.
Then a book is published to a fanfare of publicity, part of the interest being that the writer has used a pseudonym. “Tea with Babette” contains characters who not only resemble closely Martha’s many friends and neighbours but the lives of these people are extremely salacious …the things they get up to the amount of philandering, the romps Zelda has with numerous married men, the fact that Gillian’s boyfriend leaves her for another man…
Martha is suspected to be the author. Her denial is swift, and though many try to believe her, the
"no smoke" rule clings. But if she didn't write it, who is the author?
Nigel Deacon, Diversity website
