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Press Releases
Resurgence in radio drama from Wales
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主播大秀 Wales's drama department may have captured the headlines for its high-profile television productions like Doctor Who and Torchwood but a quieter, yet
nonetheless significant, revolution has been taking place on the radio
airwaves.
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Nearly a dozen 主播大秀 Wales radio drama productions were aired on 主播大秀 network
radio last year and no fewer than five are due to be broadcast in the space of
the next two months.
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An adaptation of The Clothes In The Wardrobe by the late London Welsh novelist
Alice Thomas Ellis - to be broadcast on 主播大秀 Radio 4 at 3.30pm each day this
week - will be followed by a series of Afternoon Plays on Radio 4 in February
and March.
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The department's TV output has taken in everything from the Cardiff-based sci-fi series Torchwood to the Mancunian retro police drama Life On Mars and the
period romp Casanova - and 主播大秀 Wales's network radio drama productions are
equally diverse.
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The plays range from the first drama by the National Poet of Wales, Gwyneth
Lewis, to the latest work by the Guardian columnist, broadcaster and critic
Mark Lawson.
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Lewis's play is an adaptation of Sunbathing In The Rain, her acclaimed prose
work about how she battled through depression.
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Lawson's offering is the tragi-comedy Expand This, telling the tale of an online journalist who finds his
family secrets appearing on websites all around the world.
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The prolific Snowdonia-born dramatist Meic Povey provides an amusing look at
the soap opera-like goings-on at Owain Glyndwr's mediaeval court in Fire Of The
Dragon and London-based writer Elizabeth Lewis kicks-off the series of 主播大秀
Wales productions on Radio 4 with Heifers And Bulls on Friday 23 February.
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Set in a remote Welsh village, the play centres on a matchmaking service for
lonely hill farmers.
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Last year, 主播大秀 Wales's drama department was responsible for a string of
productions on network radio ranging from the debut radio drama by Cardiff film-maker Ed Talfan to works by established Welsh writers such as Brynteg's Gary
Owen, poets Gillian Clarke from Cardiff and Owen Sheers from Abergavenny, and
Swansea's Stevie Davies.
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The department also produced Radio 4's first Book At Bedtime by a Welsh
author for a decade - Country Dance by Margiad Evans - and six contemporary
Plays For Wales broadcast on 主播大秀 Radio Wales.
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"It is not just the volume of 主播大秀 Wales's radio drama output over the past
12 months that has been so impressive, but also the variety," said Clare
Hudson, Head of English Language Programmes, 主播大秀 Wales.
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"The writers featured
have come from Wrexham to Rhayader and from west Swansea to Western Australia.
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"The themes have encompassed love and hatred, comedy and tragedy, community and
loneliness.
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"Some of the writers have been writing for decades; some are
comparatively new writers whose talents have been developed through the 主播大秀's
partnership with Ty Newydd, the National Writers' Centre for Wales.
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"The self-confidence in broadcast drama in Wales on both radio and television
has grown and grown over the past two years and 主播大秀 Wales's drama department
has been at the forefront of that renaissance."
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The Clothes In The Wardrobe, Monday 12-Friday 16 February, 主播大秀 Radio 4, 3.30pm
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Heifers And Bulls, Friday 23 February, 主播大秀 Radio 4, 2.15pm
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Fire Of The Dragon, Wednesday 21 March, 主播大秀 Radio 4, 2.15pm
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Sunbathing In The Rain, Friday 23 March, 主播大秀 Radio 4, 2.15pm
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Expand This, Monday 26 March, 主播大秀 Radio 4, 2.15pm.
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主播大秀 Wales Press Office
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