Drama (BBC Radio 4)

Drama (formerly Afternoon Theatre, Afternoon Drama, Afternoon Play)[1][2] is a BBC Radio 4 radio drama, broadcast every weekday at 2.15pm. Generally each play is 45 minutes in duration and approximately 190 new plays are broadcast each year. More or less three-quarters are self-contained dramas. The remainder are short series of 2 to 6 episodes. As well as original drama series, the Afternoon Play has included a number of adaptations of popular works such as The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency.[3]

For the similarly named BBC One series, see The Afternoon Play.

History

In one form or another, the Afternoon Play has been a feature of afternoons on Radio 4 since its launch in 1967, although the strict 45 minute format was not enforced until the reorganisation of Radio 4 by James Boyle in 1998, whereby the play directly follows the 2.00pm repeat of The Archers.[4]

Several Afternoon Plays were amongst programmes held in 20 underground radio stations of the BBC's Wartime Broadcasting Service, to provide public information and morale-boosting broadcasts for 100 days after a nuclear attack.[5]

The strand was retitled in February 2012, to bring it in line with BBC television's "Original British Drama" branding.[6]

Listening figures

In May 2009 it was announced that the listening figures for the Afternoon Play fluctuated between 800,000 and 1.1 million, making it one of the most popular outlets for new dramatic writing in the world. Monday's Afternoon Play is usually the most popular play of the week, and Thursday's is usually the least popular.[7]

References
  1. "A name change for dramas on Radio 4". BBC Radio 4 blog. 31 January 2012.
  2. "Lost radio plays". Radio Plays & Radio Drama. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
  3. Image Dissectors (2009). "The State of the Afternoon Play". ImageDissectors.com. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  4. Simon Elmes, And Now on Radio 4 (London: Arrow Books, 2008), 210
  5. Hellen, Nicholas (11 July 1999). "Julie Andrews to sing to Brits during nuclear attack". Sunday Times.
  6. Scott Matthewman "A play by any other name Archived 1 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine", The Stage, 13 February 2012
  7. Image Dissectors (2009). "A Brief Guide to Radio Drama". ImageDissectors.com. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
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