To think the majority of radio 4 drama is awful?

[Mogginthemog]

Today’s offerings I’ve cringed through were something called, “Tom Wrigglesworth’s hang-ups’ and, “Introduction and Allegro”, about a string quartet. Both supposedly comedies and both pathetically unfunny and irritating. I’ve been at home far more than usual due to illness and bad weather and just about every drama that’s come on I’ve ended up turning off. I don’t understand why they can do factual programmes so well yet don’t seem to be able to find people to write decent drama.

I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable and am totally out of kilter with what decent drama involves or whether most of it is actually a pile of rubbish.

I loved the comedy drama which was set in WW11 about very stiff upper lip types in the Foreign Office/Intelligence Service. I can't remember the title at all. The rest of it gets an eye roll and sometimes gales of laughter. Why do inexperienced writers have to practise on R4 listeners?

A few weeks ago they had a man in a skirt on Woman's Hour, with his Mum I seem to remember, talking about his struggles as a woman and his little victories in making the various schools he had attended jump to meet his every demand. He and his mother seemed to be perversely proud at his attitude and at their little "victories" after the nasty free education system which has been provided to him.

I haven't switched on Woman's Hour since.

Stella Gonet was reading something the other day and she said Lenth. Every DID has Kirsty Young saying Sickth. They're Scottish.

But I love Tom Wrigglesworth. It's possible you have to be from that part of the country with parents still living there and you living elsewhere to properly enjoy it. I did wonder how many people would understand the importance of Henderson's Relish in the last series.

Brilliant stuff, though - Tom Wrigglesworth's Hang-ups and Henderson's Relish too.

Don't they speak English in Scotland?

Dire. It is always so right-on and multicultural. The Archers rock in comparison.

there was that completely off-the-scale weird one....'Pilgrim'

That was pretty good actually, and yes, very weird!

It is always so right-on and multicultural.

Which cultures do you object to being on R4?

TheTurnOfTheScrew - did you know that there is a 2nd series of tracks. Hopefully it's still on the website. I warn you though, it gets weirder...

Yes, I liked Pilgrim too.

RoseWhiteTips, well good if it's being multicultural. So it should be.

Which cultures do you object to being on R4?

Kefir?

Leave the kefir out of it. It's good for the gut.

MikeUniformMike And so they keep telling us!

It's the only culture in Ambridge.

Don't they speak English in Scotland? No

For the most part I agree. Some of the comedies are good. I downloaded Cabin Pressure on Audible on holiday. I was the sad lady on her own laughing by the pool...

I don't mind accents. I have one myself, but people on the radio are paid to speak so enunciation and pronunciation matters.

I like Clare in the Community and maybe handful of the plays that I've heard but it is otherwise pretty dire.
I only really like the comedy panel type shows. The Unbelievable Truth, Dilemma etc. They have me laughing out loud.

Weezol, don't know where you got the Russian bit from. Kafka was born in Prague and wrote in German (his family were probably Yiddish speakers and he would have known Czech as well). The country was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of WW1 when the Empire was dissolved and Czechoslovakia came into being as an independent country. Kafka died from TB in 1924 at the age of 40. I see from Wikipedia that all three of his sisters died in the Holocaust.

I've been listening to Radio 4 since childhood. It's always been a very mixed bag. Some of the comedy and drama is good. Currently, if it's written by John Finnemore, it's pretty much bound to be worth listening to, so Cabin Pressure (sadly not likely to be any more episodes, but the whole thing is downloadable from Audible), John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme and Double Acts are all VG.

I like Ed Reardon's Week but that has been going so long now it's getting a bit tired. I can take or leave Clare in the Community (also a long runner). I like Mark Steel's In Town and In and Out of the Kitchen (Miles Jupp) was very funny. I like the Now Show and the News Quiz, though I'm not keen on Jeremy Hardy. I'm very fond of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, which is doing well with Jack Dee as chairman. Also have a soft spot for Tom Wrigglesworth and John Shuttleworth (possibly because I'm a northerner).

As for the afternoon drama, well, it's always been dire and it's always featured abysmal attempts at non-RP accents. The odd one turns out to be good. Adaptations are often more successful than original drama. Decades ago the Radio 4 adaptation of Lord of the Rings was marvellous. I had my old cassette version till very recently. I liked Tracks but it was very odd. I've occasionally heard the long-running one about the London organised crime family with Toby Jones. That's quite good. Not keen on Home Front. Utterly addicted to The Archers, in spite of everything.

Worst of the lot, by a country mile, is Count Arthur Strong.

It always sounds like the sort of stuff my (v boring) dad would chose if he were left in charge....

the perceived demographic is probably the issue

accent are so hammy - im scottish and those accents are always over emphasized...northern irish accent means lots of pithy one liners...and dont get me started on the forrin ones

I agree with you on so much Gasp.

I love Count Arthur Strong, although I know that's a minority view Poor Count Arthur. Also adore John Shuttleworth and enjoy Tom Wrigglesworth. I'm from the sarf, not the norf. In and out for the kitchen was also lovely.

I know this is straying from drama but I really miss Steve Hewlett.

Can't stand Count Arthur Strong. Loved Cabin Fever. Cried when Humph died but it's still funny.
Talking of accents... "You'll have had your tea, Dougal" gets me every time.

I cried when Humph died too! He was marvellous. So was Willy Rushton. He one did The Laughing Policeman to the tune of As Time Goes By and it made me cry with laughter.