A BBC Radio full-cast caper

Big Broadcast

The fast-talking glamorous musical drama set in a 1930s Chicago radio studio 
 
A radio caper set in Hollywood's Golden Age, Big Broadcast sees radio station WKAZ's most successful programme, 'The Hour of Charm', face trouble from gangsters, sponsors, moral guardians and politics, not to mention Chicago's own winters. 
 
When an acrimonious songwriting couple are facing threats from notorious gangster Brannigan, will a song save the day? Sometimes the hour can seem long when you're radio staff - so what happens when Chicago snow traps you in the building completely? A new manager plans to change the whole format of the show, but a deep-voiced celebrity could use his charm to stop the manager in his tracks. And when the station is threatened with closure by the League of Decency, Katharine Hepburn herself comes to the rescue with her inimitable style. 
 
Starring Samantha Spiro (Sex Education, Game of Thrones), Josie Lawrence (Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Eastenders), and Susannah Fielding (This Time with Alan Partridge, Black Mirror), this joyful, nostalgic musical drama will transport you to a different time and place. 
 
 
Written by Neil Brand 
Music by Neil Brand 
Directed by David Hunter and Jessica Dromgoole 
 
Cast 
Samantha Spiro - Myrna (Series 2-3) 
Josie Lawrence - Jean Forsythe 
Nigel Harman - Grant Thornhill 
Sam Dale - Arthur Clarke (Series 1-2) 
Sean Baker - Brannigan 
Joanna Monro - Myrna (Series 1) 
Jane Whittenshaw - Sadie 
Stuart McLoughlin - Billy 
Jim Norton - Harry 
Paul Heath - Jamie 
Roslyn Hill - Georgia 
Bettrys Jones - Caitlin 
Ian Conningham - Doug/Jimmy Cagney/Cary Grant/Robert F. Winkler 
Chris Jarman - Paul Robeson 
Ryan Early - Arthur Clarke (Series 3) 
Ryan Whittle - Jerry 
Kerry Gooderson - Dixie 
Stephen Hogan - Princeton 
Emma Handy - Jess 
Elizabeth Counsell - Grace Stibbens 
John Lightbody - Stupendo 
Lauren Cornelius - Norma Chaffey 
Susannah Fielding - Katharine Hepburn 
Neil McCaul - Arthur Clarke (Series 4) 
Bettrys Jones - Barbara Meek 
Heather Craney - Ramona Fairfax 
Hasan Dixon - Jerry Soundguy 
Clive Hayward - Preston Lanister 
Franchi Webb - Danny Folly 
BBC Singers - Margaret Cameron, Charles Gibbs, Olivia Robinson, Stephen Jeffes, Helen Neeves, Katherine Nicholson, Chris Bowen, Jamie W Hall, Nancy Cole, Jimmy Holliday 
 
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates: 
1 June 2011 (Series 1) 
24 December - 25 December 2014 (Series 2) 
21 October - 28 October 2018 (Series 3) 
20 December - 27 December 2020 (Series 4) 
 
©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Tommies: The Complete BBC Radio Collection

A major BBC Radio 4 drama series following the lives of those on and behind the battlefront of World War I

Michael Chaplin (Author) 
 Nick Warburton (born 1947) was a primary school teacher for ten years before deciding to become a full-time writer. He writes plays for stage, television and radio and scripts for television series including Doctors, Holby City and EastEnders. He has been part of the regular writing team on Holby City since 2001. His radio plays, On Mardle Fen are one of the few recurring series on BBC Radio 4's Afternoon Play strand.

A major BBC Radio 4 drama series following the lives of those on and behind the battlefront of World War I 
 
Meticulously based on unit war diaries and eye-witness accounts, each of these 42 episodes of Tommies traces one real day at war, exactly 100 years ago. 
 
We follow the fortunes of Mickey Bliss and his fellow signallers from the Lahore Division of the British Indian Army, as they experience life – and death – on the front line. Meanwhile, Dr Celestine de Tullio battles to save soldiers suffering from gas gangrene and trench fever – and experiences the fighting firsthand when she enlists in the Serbian Army and commands a dangerous offensive. 
 
They are all cogs in an immense machine, one which connects situations across the whole theatre of the war, over four long years. Through their voices – and a host of others – we hear untold stories about the conflict in Gaza, Gallipoli, Salonika, Serbia, Mesopotamia, Russia, Macedonia, Italy, Turkmenistan and Tanzania, as well as on the Western Front. 
 
Lee Ross, Pippa Nixon and Indira Varma are among the extensive cast of this gripping series, created by Jonathan Ruffle, who produced the acclaimed real-time radio dramatisation of Len Deighton’s Bomber. Based on actual historical records, it paints a vivid portrait of daily life for soldiers and their families during 1914-1918, and sheds new light on the reality of the Great War.

Neil Brand

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