How did your career as a writer start, and what made you move into radio?
I became a full-time writer in 1975 and my first job was as writer/researcher with the Belgrade Coventry Theatre in Education team. I wrote my first original radio play in the late 1970s. I’ve always felt that radio drama was part of what I wanted to do as a writer although I only became more fully involved later on.
What has been your biggest achievement in your writing career so far, and why?
Well, winning the Tinniswood Award for Memorials to the Missing will do – because, although I’ve been nominated for other awards, this is the first one I’ve ever won! Sometimes as a radio writer you can lose any awareness of who is listening (apart from your friends and relations) or why. From its first broadcast, Memorials drew very strong and positive responses from both listeners and my peers and it’s reminded me very powerfully of why such work is worth doing.
Who or what provides your inspiration to write?
I think it was the late Douglas Adams who, when asked where he got his ideas from, replied “a small mail-order firm in Dorking”. Or words to that effect. I really don’t know how to answer this question. I suspect that if I knew I’d stop writing.
You wrote some episodes of Dr Who in the 1980s. What do you think it is that makes the series so perennially popular?
In part at least it’s because it’s always been a writers’ show. Unlike other long-running shows, there’s a real freedom to the format. As a writer, you can take the Doctor anywhere and get him to meet anyone. It’s an exciting challenge to the imagination.
You’ve written for TV as well as radio. In what ways does the craft of writing for radio differ from writing for the screen?
Radio is words and sounds only. It’s a medium that comes alive inside your head instead of in front of your eyes.
Are you conscious of writing for a particular demographic with a radio play?
No. You have to write something which engages you and your collaborators on the project. If you start trying to double guess who would or wouldn’t enjoy it, I think you’re on a slippery slope towards compromise and condescension.
Do you ever get involved in the casting and recording of your radio plays? To what extent?
All the producers and directors I’ve worked with in radio have always discussed with me the central casting because it’s a way of establishing the tone and feel of the piece. But in general they know far more about suitable actors than I do and availability is always a key factor so there’s no point in setting your heart on a particular actor.
I always attend the read-through of my radio plays and stay around to deal with problems about length, interpretation or particular lines. After that, sometimes I stay the distance, sometimes if it’s a long recording, I dip in and out. I think radio welcomes the involvement of the writer far more than television.
The internet poses a degree of opportunity and threat for all writers. How do you feel the online environment affects the work of a radio drama writer?
Obviously the way in which radio drama is delivered to listeners is going through a process of change and experimentation but I don’t feel qualified to comment on how that will affect writers like me in the future.
To your knowledge, have any of your works been exploited through the online environment without your permission? If so, what did you do about it?
Not so far as I know. If I had had any problems, I would have talked to the ALCS.
Do you think that radio drama will always have a place in the BBC?
I certainly hope so. During the 1960s and 1970s, radio drama was often seen as being on its way out, eclipsed by trendy new visual media. I don’t think that’s true today. Young people nowadays have technology which gives them unprecedented opportunities to listen as and when they want to. In fact, it’s far less constricting than having to sit and watch a screen. Hearing stories is always going to be part of that listening and so I believe there’ll always be a place for drama, even though its form and length may change. If that’s the case, the BBC Radio will always find there’s an audience eager for what it can provide.
What’s your next project?
I’ve just adapted Thackeray’s Yellowplush Papers for the 11.30am comedy slot on Radio 4. Then I’m part of a project to bring all Patricia Highsmith’s Mr Ripley books to radio. After that, like everybody else in radio, I’m at the mercy of the next commissioning round!
What advice would you give new writers trying to write for radio in this competitive age?
a. Listen to as much radio drama as you can.
b. Visit the BBC Writers’ Room and find out what the various slots for drama are and what sorts of guidelines exist for them.
c. Find out the names of producers and directors whose work you’ve particularly enjoyed hearing and who you feel would be sympathetic to your own writing.
d. Don’t give up.
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