Radio Plays - sex and relationships

ALL IN GOOD TIME....1976
The famous medical man and author T. Van der Velde wrote ...."After the bridal night comes the honeymoon. Quite erroneous beliefs are current about this stage of married life, especially among young bachelors. Just as they depict or describe the bridal night as a riot of supreme pleasure, so they anticipate a ceaseless succession of unrestrained sexual enjoyment, from the first weeks of conjugal life. They are gravely mistaken............." This is what Bill Naughton's play is about.

THE PASSION FLOWER HOTEL....c1980
"Sex comedy" by Erskine, 90m; set in a girls' school. Very very funny.

STOLEN KISSES....c1985
Based in a hotel - a relationship develops between one of the waitresses and a guy attending a conference ... but there's a jilted boyfriend, Gerard, who is determined to even the score.

MY BABY MINE....1987
Play by Paul Angus about two men who work for an advertising company. One is a womaniser; one is a family man. But 'Don Juan' changes when he meets a special young lady .... an ultimately cheerful story of love against adversity and the world of work.

ROCK & ROLL BABY....1990
13 Aug 1990, 90m. By Leslie Davis. A heartwarming story about the relationship between a teenage youth -old for his years- and one of his teachers.His English teacher is witty, enthusiastic, but twenty years older than him...and she is going out with Mr. Pollard- who's steady, reliable and dull. A nice twist at the end lifts the spirits; an excellent play. Directed by Cherry Cookson. Clive Lever found this for me.

A Tinker's Daughter....c1990
Interesting play about the relationship between a titled girl and the head gardener's daughter. Recording sent by Clive Lever.

JUST A GYPSY .....c1990
Interesting play about prejudice and a group of travellers. Can't remember the writer, unfortunately, but it's an excellent piece of work. 90m. Recording from Clive Lever. Many thanks, Clive.

THE MAN IN THE PAPER MASK....1992
Helen, a young widow with twin stepchildren, wants to start a new relationship but the devious pair plan otherwise. With Richard Pearce, Siriol Jenkins, Joanna Myers, Paul Greenwood. R4, 11 Feb 92.

A MATTER OF SEX....1992
An East End love story by Nick Stafford, based on true events. Starring Patricia Hayes. James and Abigail lived an outwardly conventional married life in the early 1800s in London. But on his death, James was found to be a woman. A public scandal followed. Director- Claire Grove.

Victorian Marriage Beds... 2001
- R4, 1415, beginning 22 Jan 01 - was a series of three drama-documentaries about sexuality and how the Victorians coped with it. One hopes that the marriages described (of Edward Benson, August Strindberg and George Eliot) were not typical. Some of the scenes were upsetting but horribly fascinating. Nicholas McInnerney wrote the plays, and Rosie Boulton and Peter Leslie Wild did the production.

INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOUR....2002
17.8.02 - Sensitive play about an awkward vicar and a lonely widow who's just about to marry again. Helen is slightly tipsy and accidentally insults the vicar...this is the start of a long-lasting and very unusual friendship. Their relationship is funny and touching as they try to make sense of their lives. Martin Jarvis is the vicar, Rosalind Ayres is Helen; other cast members are Danen Brucker, Jane Carr, Kenneth Danziger, Jean Gilpin, Charlie Hixon, Hayley Hixon, Simon Templemann and David Weston. Directed by Martin Jarvis. (Quite similar in some ways to NOTHING HAPPENED, by Shelley Silas, 2005 - see further down the page).

THOMAS HARDY....2004
There were two plays by Adam Thorpe on the life of Thomas Hardy which were interesting because of the utter tediousness of the subject - the elderly Thomas Hardy. Could anyone really be as awkward as this? The titles were SOMETHING MEMORABLE (R4 29 Jan 03 1415) and NOUGHT HAPPENS TWICE THUS (R4 30 Jan 03 1415); first we had Hardy (Patrick Malahide) and his first wife Emma (Gemma Jones) amiably arguing with each other; then we had his second wife Florence (Sylvestra Le Touzel) coming out for the next round; it is July 1921 and a production company descend on the house to make a film of "The Mayor of Casterbridge". If Hardy was as cantankerous as this it was a wonder he ever wrote the books. The first play was produced by Rob Ketteridge and the second by Patrick Rayner.

Mr Sex....2004
R4, Friday Play, 15 October 2004, 21:00 hrs, 60 min, with Garrick Hagan/Emily Wachter/Adel Robbins/Jason Chan/Stephen Hogan/Niddi del Fatti/Liza Ross/Helen Longworth/Ewan Bailey/Alex Tregear/Kerry Shale/Stuart McLoughlin/Robert Hastie. This is a play about the famous Kinsey, his sex survey, and his private life.

Radio Times: Fifty years ago, Kinsey paid the price for discovering the truth about sexual behaviour in the US. .... This play tells how the safest man on the dullest campus in the US came to change our world.......

BBC Publicity: In 1936, Alfred C Kinsey was a 38-year-old leading light of the Boy Scouts of America and a zoologist at a college in Bloomington, Indiana, with a keen interest in gall wasps. When he was asked by the Dean to tutor the sex module on a marriage course for students engaged to be married, Kinsey insisted on doing a little research of his own to back up his teaching. Fifteen years later, Kinsey had collected 18,000 300-page “sex histories” and conducted the largest survey of human sexual behaviour ever undertaken. A lot of what we know and take for granted about sex was first discovered by Kinsey and his students. Mr Sex is the tragi-comic tale of that journey and how a few pioneers opened up a whole new continent of science. The cast includes Garrick Hagon as Kinsey and Adele Robbins, sister of actor and director Tim, as his wife, Mac. The cast also includes Liza Ross.The writer is Steve Coombes. Producer/Peter Kavanagh. More information on Steve's page.

THEY ARE A MARRIED COUPLE....2004
- by Sheila Goff. Interesting play starring Chris Langham and Brigit Forsyth. A long-married couple go out every Thursday to a fish restaurant; they are the only guests. The woman had one affair, fifty years ago, whilst her husband was away; she had a miscarriage, and they have never once spoken of it. The play covers difficult issues - the couple's ignorance and embarassment (and worst of all, silence) about sex, their indifferent love life, and their inability to talk things through. Now it's too late. The play - an excellent, thought- provoking listen - was directed by Polly Thomas.

Tell Jake to Sleep on the Roof ....2004
Afternoon Play, 11 October 2004, 14:15 hrs, 45 min, with Brony Glassco/Gavin Muir/David Collings/Richenda Carey/Beth Chalmers/Allison Pettitt.

In 1914 Margaret Sanger, the great campaigner for birth control, had a relationship with eminent Fabian and sexual campaigner Havelock Ellis. Using their letters and autobiographies, the play recreates that year and asks, can history ever tell the truth? Director Marion Nancarrow.

ANOTHER PART OF THE WOOD....2004
R4, 1415, 2 Apr 04. A couple move to rural France. The husband meets a local beauty, whose own husband is much older, jealous and armed. Director - Jim Poyser.

WATERLOO SUNSET....2005
R4, 18 May 05. A warm, enjoyable play about lovers who meet after a long separation. Terry first met Julie when he took her out in the sixties. Now it's nearly forty years later. Written by and starring Mervyn Stutter. Director - David Jackson Young.

THE GOLDILOCKS ZONE....2005
By Lucy Catherine. Excellent play about love and relationships set in a kid's play group. There's a young mother, and a male helper, Max. Director- Mary Peate. 55m, Friday play.

NOTHING HAPPENED....2005
Lovely play by Shelley Silas and Luke Sorba about an on-off relationship which lasts for many years; it looks as if it's going nowhere. College, first job, married, later in life..... there are several scenes set many years apart, with the same couple meeting under different circumstances. Skilful, effective writing, and beautifully acted.

MY DIFFICULT SECOND ALBUM....2005
By Stephen Keyworth. Another "will they - won't they get together?" play, but none the worse for that. It's touching, humorous, well-paced, and reminded me of incidents, missed opportunities, and what might have been..... I guess that was the author's intention. With Adrian Bower, Catherine Shepherd, Corey J. Smith, Olivia Colman, Kate Colgrove Pope. I don't know if this was a first play, but if so, it was an impressive effort. Directed by Lu Kemp. R4, afternoon play, 15 Dec 05.

Nigel Deacon / Diversity website

Above plays in vrpcc collections.

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