Radio

'star'

Sarah's new radio drama was broadcast on 3rd November 2024 on BBC Radio 3, and is now available on iPlayer here

1952. Judy Garland, let go by MGM for her erratic behaviour, is determined to make a comeback. She and soon-to-be husband Sid Luft start their own production company and get the rights to remake classic 30s film 'A Star Is Born' as a musical. This time, they will be in control.

But Judy's demons are never far away, and everyone has underestimated the power of the Hollywood machine...

Starring Lydia Wilson as Judy Garland and Nigel Lindsay as Harold Arlen.

Radio Pick of the week in the Radio Times, Daily Telegraph and The Observer

'Happy Birthday Mr President'

Sarah's new radio drama was broadcast on 14th February 2023 on BBC Radio 4, and is now available on iPlayer here.

The drama behind one of the most famous birthday parties in history. In 1962, the cream of American show business were asked to perform at JKF's birthday party at Madison Square Garden but there was one star who outshone them all.

Starring Lydia Wilson as Marilyn Monroe and Justin Salinger as Richard Adler

'working'

Sarah’s adaptation of Studs Terkel's 'Working' was broadcast on Sunday 6th November 2022

It was Radio Pick of the Week in The Guardian and The Sunday Times and Pick of the Day in the Radio Times.

Listen again on iPlayer here until 6th December.

'People Everywhere Will Sing'

Sarah’s latest play for Radio, ‘People Everywhere Will Sing’ staring Oliver Ford Davies and Fenella Woolgar will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday 16th October at 7.30pm.

It concludes Radio 3’s celebrations for Ralph Vaughan Williams' 150th anniversary.

It will be available on BBC Sounds after the broadcast here

‘Beautifully crafted’ Pick of The Day. Radio Times

BBC Radio 3 Autumn 2022 Highlights

Peking Noir

True crime docudrama presented by Paul French
Drama written by Sarah Wooley

Radio Pick of the Day in The Times, The Radio Times and The Daily Mail

BBC Sounds link here
Spotify link here
iTunes link here
Link to the script here

Creating the Docu-Drama Peking Noir - Writers Room Blog
by Paul French and Sarah Wooley

‘A superb evocation of the louche underworld of inter war China’ Radio Times

‘Riveting...perfect listening for a long winter’s night... 5 stars' Daily Mail

Whatever anyone declared categorically about Shura Giraldi, someone else insisted on the exact opposite. Shura was handsome and beautiful; Shura was kind and good, Shura was exploitative and evil. Shura was just another struggling White Russian refugee trying to get by in 1930s China.

Paul French is a historian and writer who focuses on China in the first half of the 20th century. He's been on Shura’s trail for 15 years, digging through the paper records and archives in half a dozen countries in an attempt to get to grips with the enigma that was Shura. This story, a product of that tireless research, is full of truths, but like an old jigsaw brought down from the attic after decades, there are many pieces missing.

So we're using drama, written by Sarah Wooley, to conjure and join the dots of Shura’s story, and go in search of a lost life and a forgotten world. The search will take us from a Russian far east in violent revolution, to the chaos of the mass emigration of the White Russians, to the crowded hutongs of Peking; from that city’s nightclubs and cabarets, to the casinos of Shanghai; from a China wracked by rampaging warlordism, invaded by Japan, and then fighting its own civil war that culminated in its own revolution. Shura saw it all; Shura lived through it all; Shura, in part, explains it all.

Rodgers and Hart and Hammerstein

As part of Radio 3’s Christmas programming, Sarah's brand new radio drama was broadcast on Sunday 27th December on BBC Radio 3.

Now available to listen on iplayer here.

Starring Jamie Parker and Paul Chahidi, who were nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting actor at the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2022.

BBC Radio 3 illuminates midwinter with Light in the Darkness for the seasonal period

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were one of the most famous musical partnerships of the 20th century - creators of The Sound Of Music and Oklahoma! But before Rodgers and Hammerstein, there was Rodgers and Hart.

This is the tumultuous story of Rodgers before Hammerstein, starring Jamie Parker (Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, The History Boys).

With a string of hits to their name, Rodgers and Hart were the kings of Broadway. But by Christmas 1940, the strain was starting to show.

Award-winning writer Sarah Wooley (Victim, The National) tells the tumultuous story of the unravelling of one partnership and the birth of another.

Full details and iplayer link here

The National

Three-part play first broadcast on Tues 19th, Weds 20th and Thursday 21st of November 2019 at 2.15pm on BBC Radio 4.

Details and iPlayer link here

Politics and theatre do battle as the National's first Artistic Director, Sir Laurence Olivier, and his lieutenant Kenneth Tynan fight to establish a successful National Theatre.

With all the intensity of life back-stage, the theatre world itself can make for good drama, and writer Sarah Wooley has created one here, bringing to life the personalities and the power struggles that attended the opening of the National Theatre in 1963. No relationship was more key to the project’s success that that between founding artistic director Laurence Olivier (a suitably testy Robert Glenister) and his dramaturg Kenneth Tynan, (played by John Heffenan), and it’s captured in all its tension. Radio Times

Black Water: An American Story

Winner of BBC Audio Drama Awards 2020 'Best Adaptation

Sarah's adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' novel was broadcast on Saturday 20th July at 2:30pm on BBC Radio 4.

Details and iPlayer link here

A gripping drama with its origins in American political history adapted from the Pulitzer-nominated novel.

Young political writer, Kelly, is staying with friends on an island off the coast of Maine for a Fourth of July party. She is surprised and delighted when a famous US Senator arrives and, over the course of an afternoon of drinking, talking and tennis, she captivates him.

The two leave in the evening to catch the last ferry, to have dinner and spend the night together. But something goes terribly wrong.

Sarah Wooley's adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates's novella Black Water was a richly atmospheric throwback to an era when intelligent young women were expected to simper and pout in the presence of powerful men. Loosely based on the Chappaquiddick incident of 1969 - when a car driven by Edward Kennedy crashed into a lagoon in Massachusetts, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne - the drama slipped back and forth between scenes of a cocktail party seduction and the dying thoughts of the victim trapped underwater. A senseless tragedy dissected with icy restraint. Clive Davies - The Times.

Festival

'Festival' was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday 31st July at 2.15pm, and is now available on iplayer here

In 1962, novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard took on the job of running the Cheltenham Literary Festival. It was to be a baptism of fire.

Melody Grove, Tony Gardner, Will Howard and Jonathan Forbes star. Directed by Gaynor McFarlane.

Festival is pick of the day in The Times and The Daily Mail.

‘This dramatisation of the moment when Howard took over the running of the Cheltenham Literary Festival is excellent fun. Not only is it written by Sarah Wooley, but Howard offers splendid material.’ Catherine Nixey. The Times.

4/4

All four episodes of the new comedy drama written by Sarah Wooley and Robin Brooks are now available on iplayer here

'A new comedy drama series about the exploits - musical and otherwise - of a string quartet.'

The Robber Bride

As part of BBC Radio 4's Riot Girls series, Sarah's new two part adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Robber Bride began on Sunday 18th February and is now available on iPlayer here

In Margaret Atwood's brilliant and contemporary re-working of the Grimm's fairy story, three old university friends are about to be shockingly reminded of a dark secret from their pasts - which they had hoped was buried forever....

Pick of the week in the Radio Times and The Telegraph and pick of the day in The Times and The Independent.

"Smart and sharp" Gillian Reynolds in the Times. Click for full review

The Vital Spark: Intelligence

During the Second World War, the young Muriel Spark worked in the British 'Black Propaganda' Department of MI6. Her job was to produce what she called 'a tangled mixture of damaging lies, flattering and plausible truths'.

Sarah's latest play for Radio 4 was commissioned as part of a season to celebrate Muriel Spark's centenary. The Vital Spark; Intelligence is Radio Pick of the Week in the Daily Telegraph and Pick of the Day in the Times and Radio Times

More details here

'Writing a play about Spark is a bold task. It would have been so easy to get her so wrong...This brilliant play by Sarah Wooley feels utterly plausibly Sparkish' Catherine Nixey - Times.

'Sarah Wooley’s absorbing play is inspired by novelist Muriel Spark’s war work in the British “Black Propaganda” department of MI6. Just back from Africa following a divorce, Spark is hungry for experiences to use in her writing whether that means putting herself in danger during an air raid, socialising with German agents or seizing the chance to bamboozle the enemy by penning half-truths and lies to be broadcast on imitation German radio stations. Jessica Hardwick is excellent as the spirited author in a thought-provoking drama that uses conversations with her boss (Stuart McQuarrie) to explore the ethics of propaganda and by extension all fiction-writing.' Stephanie Billen The Observer The New Review 31 Dec 2017

'The fine young theatre actress Jessica Hardwick stars as the great Scottish novelist Muriel Spark in Drama: The Vital Spark: Intelligence (Friday, Radio 4, 2.15pm) by Sarah Wooley. It vividly portrays Spark's early career in the British Black Propaganda Department of MI6 during the Second World War. It was a job that involved what Spark called "a tangled mixture of damaging lies, flattering and plausible truths", and began her development into a writer. Stuart McQuarrie (Trainspotting; 28 Days Later) also stars as the propagandist Sefton Delmer'. Charlotte Runcie The Telegraph 30th December 2017

'In 1944 a young Muriel Spark moved to London with the intention of harvesting "experiences" to write about. The Vital Spark: Intelligence (Friday, Radio 4, 2.15pm) dramatises the result of this quest: Spark's work in wartime propaganda, writing scripts for a fake German radio station. "Whatever I do, I'll be prolific" she states. Well-written by Sarah Wooley, who presents Spark as ambitious but not self-satisfied. ✶✶✶✶✶' Financial Times 30th December 2017

Click here for more information on the centenary of the birth of Muriel Spark.

VICTIM

Sarah's latest play was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on Sunday July 9th as part of the BBC's Gay Britannia season and is now available to listen on iPlayer here.

Sarah's widely acclaimed Radio 3 drama, 'Victim' is now available on BBC Sounds
here

Victim was Radio Choice in the Times and

Pick of The Day in the Radio Times, Daily Mail and Sunday Times

A drama about the making of 'Victim', the first British film to seriously address homosexuality.

This programme is part of Gay Britannia, a season across the BBC marking the 50th anniversary of The Sexual Offences Act 1967.

The 1961 film, starring matinee idol Dirk Bogarde in the gamble of his career, is often credited with helping to change public attitudes to homosexuality. This fast-moving drama follows the extraordinary mixture of bravery and pragmatism involved in getting this groundbreaking enterprise off the ground, providing a fascinating glimpse of Britain at a tipping point of social change.

Starring Ed Stoppard as Dirk Bogarde, Jonathan Aris as Basil Dearden, Ben Miles as Michael Relph, Fenella Woolgar as Janet Green and Michael Maloney as the Censor. Directed by Abigail le Fleming.

'Exposure would have been disastrous' - Ed Stoppard on Dirk Bogarde's risk starring in seminal gay themed hit 'Victim'.

For more on Dirk Bogarde visit dirkbogarde.co.uk

EVERYBODY'S GOT CONDITIONS

Broadcast Monday 5th June 2017 at 2:15pm on BBC Radio 4

Tennessee Williams finds himself fighting for his reputation and his sanity when Bette Davis is cast in his play The Night of the Iguana. Justin Salinger and Amelia Bullmore star.

Tennessee Williams: Justin Salinger
Bette Davis: Amelia Bullmore
Chuck Bowden: Simon Harrison
Paula Laurence: Teresa Gallagher
Frank Merlo/Stage manager: David Sturzaker

1977

Broadcast on Thursday 3rd December 2016 on BBC Radio 4. It was radio pick of the day in The Telegraph, The Express, The Independent and the Guardian. Click here to listen on iPlayer Radio

Click for Sarah's BBC Writers' Room blog about discovering the story of composer Angela Morley

1977: Story of transgender pioneer Angela Morley to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Independent on Sunday

David Hepworth on this week’s best radio
The Guardian

A celebration of a great composer of theme music
Louis Barfe - The Lady, 4th December 2015

In 1977 the bestselling children's novel Watership Down was made into an animated film. Malcolm Williamson, Master of the Queens music, had been hired as the film's composer. But all was not well. Williamson, a notoriously difficult and complicated man, was under extreme pressure; it was the Queens jubilee year and he was over commissioned.

When the film's conductor, Marcus Dods, arrived looking for the film's score he found to his horror that all that existed were two small sketches of music which amounted to no more than seven minutes of screen time. With an expensive orchestra and recording studio booked for the following week, the film's future looked to be in jeopardy.

In desperation he turned to the one person he knew could help; composer and arranger Angela Morley. But she, for her own reasons, was going to need some persuading.

Starring Rebecca Root as Angela Morley

FIFTEEN MINUTES

Broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 24th August 2015 and Monday 25th July 2017.

Now available to listen on iPlayer here

As part of the BBC's week-long celebration of Pop Art, Radio 4 will broadcast Fifteen Minutes, a play about the last days of Pop Art when Modern Art became commodified big business.

Set in New York in the heady days of Studio 54, in the late 1970s and early 80s, Fifteen Minutes looks at the later period in Andy Warhol’s life when Andy feared he was becoming forgotten, was clinging onto fame and earning money by hustling rich patrons for portrait commissions. The play explores Capote and Warhols’ relationship, Capote’s decline and Warhol’s resurgence.

Starring Tobias Menzies.

PLANNING PERMISSION

To be broadcast on Good Friday 25th May at 2.15pm on BBC Radio 4.

Full details here

A comedy about neighbours, architecture, tradition versus modernism - and James Bond.

In the 1930s the Brutalist architect Erno Goldfinger bought a row of Georgian terrace houses in Hampstead. His plan was to knock down the houses and build a modernist dream home for his family to live in.

The only problem was, the neighbours.

Directed by Gaynor Macfarlane.
First broadcast Thursday 13th November 2014, BBC Radio 4.

MOVING MUSIC
First Broadcast 8th November 2013, Radio 4 Afternoon Play
45 Minute Original drama.

Philip Glass and Steve Reich are best known as pioneers of minimalist music. What is less well-known is that they ran a removal firm together to make ends meet while they were making their way as young composers in the 1960s.

They created experimental music, delivered furniture all over Manhattan and then went their separate ways, but what really made them fall out? Was it artistic differences about music or the fact that they were the worst removal men in the history of New York City?

With Bryan Dick as Steve, Justin Salinger as Philip, Iain Batchelor as Art Murphy, David Seddon as Jon Gibson and Nancy Crane as Mrs Rosa. Producer Gaynor Macfarlane for the BBC.

"...an utterly beguiling play, fast-paced, allusive, atmospheric, conjuring the contrasting styles, the competing egos with such skill that the cadence of Wooley’s every line lit up the plot, enlarged the characters. Only on radio can two men moving a piano say so much. "
Gillian Reynolds - Daily Telegraph

Moving Music was Critics Choice in the Radio Times, Daily Telegraph, The Independent and The Daily Mail.
A full review from the Radio Times is available here

www.hackettillustration.com

COALITION

First Broadcast 2012. Radio 4 Afternoon Play
45 Minute Original drama.

A contemporary thriller set in the world of coalition politics.

Like most Liberal Democrats Iris never expected to have a Cabinet post and so she never worried about her past. But is it now coming back to haunt her.

With Maureen Beattie, Nick le Prevost, Melody Grove, Robin Laing, Monica Gibb, Simon Donaldson. Producer Gaynor MacFarlane.

Coalition was pick of the week in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail and Radio Times

A link to the BBC website for information on the original cast and repeats is available here.

A NICE LITTLE HOLIDAY

First Broadcast 2010. Radio 4 Afternoon Play
45 minute original biographical period drama

In August of 1961 the original angry young man John Osborne went on holiday to Valbonne in the South of France. He shared a farmhouse in the olive groves with his mistress Jocelyn Rickards and the film director Tony Richardson.

Osborne, flush from his success with Luther, was escaping life in London, as a scandal was about to break. His then wife actress Mary Ure was about to give birth to a child that wasn’t his. Tony Richardson meanwhile, when he wasn’t escaping in the evening for mysterious assignations on the beach at Cannes, was badgering Osborne to write the screenplay for Tom Jones, the Oscar winning film they would eventually go on to make together.

Osborne, not content with two women in his life also had a third; The Observer critic Penelope Gilliatt. She wrote him love letters everyday and they arrived at the farmhouse into the hands of a furious Jocelyn. It was against this backdrop that Osborne penned his infamous ‘Damn you, England’ letter to the Tribune which caused such a furore back home. They found themselves under siege and their nice little holiday turned into a disaster, with Osborne only just escaping alive.

Cast: Tracey Wiles, Robin Laing, Tobias Menzies, Matthew Zajac, Richard Greenwood, James A Pearson. Producer Gaynor MacFarlane.

A Nice Little Holiday was pick of the day in the Daily Telegraph

A link to the BBC website for information on the original cast and repeats is available here

THEY HAVE OAK TREES IN NORTH CAROLINA

First Broadcast 2010. Radio 4 Friday Play
60 minute adaptation of stage play.

Friday Play. Ray and Eileen’s five year old son vanishes. Twenty two years later a good looking American arrives in their small English Village claiming to be their boy. Can this man really be their missing child or is he an imposter? And what long buried secrets will have to be revealed in order to prove his true identity?

Cast: Ellie Haddington, Alexander Morton and Simon Harrison; producer Gaynor Mac Farlane.

A link to the BBC website for information on the original cast and repeats is available here

LIFE SAVINGS

First Broadcast 2008. Radio 4 Afternoon Play.
45 minute original drama

A rapid response comedy drama.

Commissioned, written and recorded in 6 weeks. Lifesavings is a contemporary black comedy about the pressures of middle age, the credit crunch and Christmas. Starring Stuart McQuarrie as the Glasgow shampoo king, Des Monroe. Producer Gaynor McFarlane.

LET THEM CALL IT JAZZ

First Broadcast 2007. Radio 4 Women's Hour
15 minute adaption of the Jean Rhys short story

It tells the story of Selina, a black woman newly arrived in a slum in Notting Hill in the late 50’s, who finds herself caught up in a seedy world that she doesn't quite understand.

It starred Adjoa Andoh and was part of a week of adaptations called 'Guiding Lights' on Radio Four where short stories by leading women writers are adapted into 15-minute plays by contemporary dramatists.

Cast: Adjoa Andoh, James Bryce, Carol Ann Crawford, Mark McDonnell, Lucy Paterson, Nick Underwood.

FOLIE A TROIS

First Broadcast 2005. Radio 4 Friday Play.
60 minute original drama.

A bleak but humorous tale of mental illness.

Friday Play. The play is named after a psychiatric condition shared by two or more people who are mutually dependent. This drama is inspired by the real case of three sisters and their elderly aunt who locked themselves in their home and deliberately starved themselves to death. Here, events are relocated to a Scottish suburb where Minnie, a woman in her thirties, lives with her mother and aunt. The two older women are agoraphobic, while Minnie believes that the television sends her messages and that the Apocalypse is approaching.

Cast: Molly Innes, Eileen McCallum, Colette O’Neil

Folie a Trois was nominated for The Imison Award which is awarded by the Society of Authors and encourages new talent by rewarding the best original radio drama script by a writer new to radio.