Horse-racing dramas from BBC Radio 4

One Flat Summer & Sharing Fatman

A BBC trio of horse-racing dramas 
 
Scripted by Dave Sheasby (the co-writer of The Blackburn Files), these three cracking comedy dramas bring the world of horse-racing alive, from the agony and ecstasy of risking it all on a likely-looking thoroughbred to the thrill of having a share in a potential equine superstar... 
 
In One Flat Summer, newly redundant clothing salesman Ken Warburton finds himself adrift and lured by the temptations of serious gambling after an old acquaintance offers him a promising partnership. Betting on the horses has always been Ken's hobby, but now it's a full-time job. The stakes are raised by a big win at Newmarket - but can his success last? And what of the cost at home? Gerard McDermott stars as Ken, with Gillian Bevan, Anthony Ofoegbu and Janet Maw. 
 
Sequel Sharing Fatman sees Ken's wife Margaret taking the reins to find an absorbing new hobby that will steer Ken away from gambling and fill their retirement. Could owning a horse be the answer? Trainer Karen French warns them both about the downsides - but when they make a connection with Mr Fatman at the horse sales, the Warburtons throw caution to the wind... Starring Gerard McDermott as Ken and Gillian Bevan as Margaret, with Tony Rohr, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Rachel Atkins and Fine Time Fontayne. 
 
Also included is standalone play Apple Blossom Afternoon, which won a Giles Cooper Award. Ted's down at the betting shop, just like every Saturday. But this one's a bit special: it's his 55th birthday. This particular anniversary isn't like any of the others, so he indulges in a dream accumulator bet - but will Apple Blossom oblige? Malcolm Hebden stars as Ted. 
 
 
One Flat Summer and Sharing Fatman directed by David Hunter 
Apple Blossom Afternoon directed by Tony Cliff 
 
One Flat Summer 
Ken - Gerard McDermott 
Margaret - Gillian Bevan 
Curly - Anthony Ofoegbu 
Christine - Rachel Atkins 
Dad - Keith Marsh 
Janice - Andrea Pickering 
Tanker - Stephen Thorne 
Super Yankee - David Brooks 
Shop assistant - Tracy-Ann Oberman 
Bank manager- Hugh Dickson 
Rita - Janet Maw 
Donald - Ioan Meredith 
Julia - Carolyn Jones 
Tam - Tom Georgeson 
Nigel - Christopher Wright 
Tomlinson - John Rowe 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 August-25 September 1997 
 
Sharing Fatman 
Margaret - Gillian Bevan 
Ken - Gerard McDermott 
Eddie - Tony Rohr 
Karen - Tracy-Ann Oberman 
Christine - Rachel Atkins 
Edward - James Taylor 
Auctioneer /Gerald- Stephen Critchlow 
Dave - Harry Myers 
Madge - Angela Wynter 
Donald - Fine Time Fontayne 
Julia - Becky Hindley 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7 May-11 June 1999 
 
Apple Blossom Afternoon 
Ted - Malcolm Hebden 
Jane - Marlene Sidaway 
Dave - Ray Ashcroft 
Wesley - Louis Emerick 
Povey - Colin Meredith 
Billy - Philip Whitchurch 
Tannoy - Christine Cox 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 June 1989

A BBC trio of horse-racing dramas 
 
Scripted by Dave Sheasby (the co-writer of The Blackburn Files), these three cracking comedy dramas bring the world of horse-racing alive, from the agony and ecstasy of risking it all on a likely-looking thoroughbred to the thrill of having a share in a potential equine superstar... 
 
In One Flat Summer, newly redundant clothing salesman Ken Warburton finds himself adrift and lured by the temptations of serious gambling after an old acquaintance offers him a promising partnership. Betting on the horses has always been Ken's hobby, but now it's a full-time job. The stakes are raised by a big win at Newmarket - but can his success last? And what of the cost at home? Gerard McDermott stars as Ken, with Gillian Bevan, Anthony Ofoegbu and Janet Maw. 
 
Sequel Sharing Fatman sees Ken's wife Margaret taking the reins to find an absorbing new hobby that will steer Ken away from gambling and fill their retirement. Could owning a horse be the answer? Trainer Karen French warns them both about the downsides - but when they make a connection with Mr Fatman at the horse sales, the Warburtons throw caution to the wind... Starring Gerard McDermott as Ken and Gillian Bevan as Margaret, with Tony Rohr, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Rachel Atkins and Fine Time Fontayne. 
 
Also included is standalone play Apple Blossom Afternoon, which won a Giles Cooper Award. Ted's down at the betting shop, just like every Saturday. But this one's a bit special: it's his 55th birthday. This particular anniversary isn't like any of the others, so he indulges in a dream accumulator bet - but will Apple Blossom oblige? Malcolm Hebden stars as Ted. 
 
 
One Flat Summer and Sharing Fatman directed by David Hunter 
Apple Blossom Afternoon directed by Tony Cliff 
 
One Flat Summer 
Ken - Gerard McDermott 
Margaret - Gillian Bevan 
Curly - Anthony Ofoegbu 
Christine - Rachel Atkins 
Dad - Keith Marsh 
Janice - Andrea Pickering 
Tanker - Stephen Thorne 
Super Yankee - David Brooks 
Shop assistant - Tracy-Ann Oberman 
Bank manager- Hugh Dickson 
Rita - Janet Maw 
Donald - Ioan Meredith 
Julia - Carolyn Jones 
Tam - Tom Georgeson 
Nigel - Christopher Wright 
Tomlinson - John Rowe 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 21 August-25 September 1997 
 
Sharing Fatman 
Margaret - Gillian Bevan 
Ken - Gerard McDermott 
Eddie - Tony Rohr 
Karen - Tracy-Ann Oberman 
Christine - Rachel Atkins 
Edward - James Taylor 
Auctioneer /Gerald- Stephen Critchlow 
Dave - Harry Myers 
Madge - Angela Wynter 
Donald - Fine Time Fontayne 
Julia - Becky Hindley 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 7 May-11 June 1999 
 
Apple Blossom Afternoon 
Ted - Malcolm Hebden 
Jane - Marlene Sidaway 
Dave - Ray Ashcroft 
Wesley - Louis Emerick 
Povey - Colin Meredith 
Billy - Philip Whitchurch 
Tannoy - Christine Cox 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 14 June 1989

The BBC Radio 4 Crime Drama

The Blackburn Files: The Complete Series 1-3

Fine Time Fontayne stars as pitman-turned-private eye Stephen J Blackburn in this whimsical detective series

Ian McMillan (Author) 
 Ian McMillan was born in 1956 in Darfield, a village near Barnsley, where he still lives. He always wanted to be a writer but all the books he got out of the library were written by people who lived in Surrey, not the Yorkshire Coalfield. He attended North Staffordshire Polytechnic, was a drummer in Barnsley’s first folk-rock band and worked in a tennis ball factory before finally becoming a writer. He’s been poet in residence at Barnsley Football Club, Northern Spirit Trains and Humberside Police. He’s written comedy for radio and plays for the stage. He currently presents The Verb, Radio 3’s Cabaret of The Word, and has also worked extensively for Radios 1,2,4 and Five Live as well as for Yorkshire Television and BBC2’s Newsnight Review. He’s worked in schools, theatres, arts centres, fields and front rooms.

Fine Time Fontayne stars as pitman-turned-private eye Stephen J Blackburn in this whimsical detective series 
 
When he’s made redundant from his job at a South Yorkshire pit, Stephen J Blackburn sets out to forge a new career as a private investigator. With his trainee assistant Tracey, he looks into a series of complicated cases ranging from plagiarism to missing persons. 
 
In Series 1, the duo are confronted with Hungarian exiles, a philandering husband, a long-lost brother, a purloined TV script and a time-share cash con. Series 2 finds them faced with seven stolen sculptures, a ransomed Filofax, a husband who reappears after 30 years, and a routine marital case that starts to look like their final investigation. And in Series 3, Steven and Tracey get digging in the murky world of flowers, crack a pub quiz fraud scam, look into the theft of a ventriloquist’s dummy and track down an Irish labourer– a case which turns out to be far more complex than expected... 
 
Starring Fine Time Fontayne (Coronation Street) as Stephen J Blackburn and Judy Flynn (The Brittas Empire) as Tracey Duggan. 
 
Written by Ian McMillan, Martyn Wiley and Dave Sheasby 
Directed by Dave Sheasby 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 18 July-15 August 1989 (Series 1), 20 June-11 July 1991 (Series 2), 18 March-8 April 1993 (Series 3) 
 
Cast 
 
Stephen J Blackburn……………………Fine Time Fontayne 
Tracey Duggan……………………Judy Flynn 
Mam……………………Rita May 
Dad……………………John Branwell

Ian McMillan

Dave Sheasby

Shaun Dooley

Fine Time Fontayne

Becky Hindley

Richard Katz

Gerard McDermott

Kenny Blyth

Muzz Khan

Full cast

A BBC Radio 4 comedy

Series 1 and 2 of the comedy about a pair of mismatched Yorkshire builders battling to save their business. 
 
University dropout and would-be novelist Johnny Street and his worker-of-the-world mate Arthur Lane are the odd-couple partners in a one-horse, two-man family building firm (slogan: 'Up Your Street, Down Your Lane'). Together, they travel the Yorkshire suburbs in their white van, tackling tricky household repairs with their unique combination of art and craft. 
 
No job is too small for the intrepid duo: although some are a little unusual, like the perilously perched piano on a music teacher's stairs, the mystery whiff in an infants' school and the faulty tenor bell in a church belfry. But armed with their trusty ladders and a bucketful of banter, they manage to deal with whatever problems come their way - until a break-in makes Johnny start thinking about the road less travelled... 
 
Scripted by Ian McMillan and Dave Sheasby (The Blackburn Files), and suffused with their characteristic laconic humour, this wry, whimsical comedy stars Nick Lane and Shaun Dooley as Johnny Street and Fine Time Fontayne as Arthur Lane, with guest appearances from Geoffrey Whitehead, Stephen Hogan, Sandra Dickinson and Muzz Khan. 
 
Production credits 
Written by Ian McMillan and Dave Sheasby 
Produced and directed by David Hunter 
 
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 19 August-9 September 2005 (Series 1), 3-24 January 2007 (Series 2) 
 
Cast 
Johnny Street - Nick Lane/Shaun Dooley 
Arthur Lane - Fine Time Fontayne 
Christine - Becky Hindley 
Tom - Richard Katz 
Great Northern Man - Gerard McDermott 
Mrs Priam-Rhodes - Margaret Robertson 
Ben Nevis - Kenny Blyth 
Tina - Hannah Storey 
Sidney Sanderson - Geoffrey Whitehead 
Alison - Bronwyn Lim 
Shafto - John Banks 
Stanley French - Stephen Hogan 
The Rev. Susan - Claire Rushbrook 
Madeleine - Sandra Dickinson 
Charles - John Carlisle 
Janet - Christine Kavanagh 
John - Mark Straker 
Franklin - Sam Dale 
Julia - Rachel Atkins 
Pete - Muzz Khan 
Lucy - Bethan Walker 
 
 
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