The Snowfield (BBC Radio 4)

[thunder]

I don't think this is new, but we don't have it here, as far as I know. It says it was broadcast for the first time in 1993.
https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginf ... -snowfield

Dorothy is tasked with producing a live reading by George, an untried author who works on the docks. He was damaged by his wartime experience, which included a period of incarceration in a PoW camp.
His first largely autobiographical story, The Snowfield, has a startling effect on George, his family and ultimately, Dorothy herself.

BBC Radio 4 will air it to celebrate Celia Imries 70th birthday, It will be aired on July 9.

[Anniemouse]

This sounds amazing.

[servalan]

Thanks for the info. I do not remember this from 1993 - but I wasn't a Jason fan back then.

Celia Imrie is great, and so versatile. From needing "bigger buns" in Calendar Girls to a fighter pilot in Star Wars. She used to do a lot of radio drama.

BBC radio dramas are generally available to listen to for 30 days after broadcast, and you can listen outside the UK.

[Anniemouse]

And remember that Celia was Miss Babs in Wood and Walters Acorn Antiques.

[thunder]

Thanks, Servalan. Maybe I'll be able to liste, then.

[servalan]

Here is a link to the programme on BBC Radio 4 Extra. (I haven't listened yet.) It's one and a half hours.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001939d

[Anniemouse]

Spoilers Spoilers

I listened to the full radio play and it was rather wonderful. On the face of it it is a rather straightforward play set in the early post war years of WW2 about a dockworker called George (Jason) having his work recognised by a BBC producer called Dorothy (Celia Imrie). The course of the play follows their relationship as he overcomes complaints about his work to find his career on the rise and how this affects his marraige to Ellie (Tracie Bennett). George's traumas as a POW also adds another layer to his character.

I loved the complexities of this piece. The Snowfield is staggering ambitious in dealing with the Brittish class system post WW2, the political landscape of the era, how BBC radio was trying to lift the spirits of a generation torn apart by war and having a renegde writer was not something that was planned and how memories can be so difficult that many find them to difficult to discuss.

The play was somewhat radical in its form. Although the play is linear the piece is intersperced by moments that I can recall from discussions with my parents about how radio filled peoples lives and how in a pre rock and roll world musical standards and broad comedy entertained the masses and in many cases in the play perfectly coupled to the themes of the opening scene and the terrifying snowfield.

Gaorge is a really interesting and at times a difficult character to like. Reminiscent of the angry young man that Albert Finney and Tom Courtney would play on film in the 1960's. His success changes him and it is not for the better.

George's secrets once revealed actually threw me. The performances were exceptional and Jason must have recorded this around the Angels of America period and was sublime as George, a man who is never really comfortable in his own skin. I can see why Jason took this role. The play is complex and I actually think could be a great movie.

I would love to hear more gems from Jason's radio career.

A must listen if you have the time.

[servalan]

I have just finished listening. George's story has a very unexpected twist at the end - with one fact especially that would make him a very dubious character in the eyes of most people of the time, and even today.

At first I didn't recognise Jason, as he does a Yorkshire accent throughout, and then gets chance to do different voices for his radio shows.

The story is not totally linear, there are a lot of flashbacks, as well as George's plays interspersed with "real life".

It's not just the class system - it was very illustrative of attitudes at the time to unmarried "career women". There was a lot of sexism expressed towards Dorothy.

[Anniemouse]

You are right about the attitudes to women having careers. Also George is awful to his wife in all forms and I must say Tracie Bennett (who was always wonderful on Coronatiuon Street) was wonderful as was Celia Imrie. It dealt with a lot of rotten male behaviour as well. Geore's issues but also the locals pestering Dorothy at her isolated home was difficult listening.

Jason's accent is not just wonderful but really specific to the more rural Yorkshire accent against the heavier one he used for Death of Stalin. I cannot get over how he got into that character and oddly looking back he loved the more complex less likable characters even then.

The twist is brilliant though.

[thunder]

I listened today, it was very good.

Tanks for your long reviews and insights, Annie and Servalan.

[Anniemouse]

You are welcome.