This week on the Very British Futures podcast, we’re turning back the clock to the shadow of the Cold War, as we examine the fourth Play for Tomorrow –The Nuclear Family – a blackly comic TV play that aired in 1982. A blend of domestic drama and speculation about the future of work in a seemingly post-industrial Scotland, it imagines a society not just living with the threat of nuclear war, but adjusting to life without manual labour and all the community which goes with it.
You can listen to the episode here or on your favourite podcast platform. For this installment I was lucky enough to be joined by Mark Donaldson, writer and podcaster, including Doctor Who podcast On the Timelash.
The Brown Family consists of Joe (father), Agnes (mother) and two teenage children, Gary and Ann. Joe was made redundant in the mid-80s, like so many other men, and in 1999 – the year in which the play is set – it is the children who are the breadwinners, working in the spare room on their computers. Joe decides that the family needs a break, the first since Gary was a baby so makes plans to visit ‘Sea Bed 6’ military base to spend two weeks on a working holiday. However, the Browns discover a lot more than just honest labour.
It’s an engaging play with a welcome sense of humour and two excellent turns from Jimmy Hanley as Joe Brown and Russell Hunter as Sgt Smellie (pronounced Smiley).
Also out this week is the latest episode of the Doctor Who – Too Hot for TV podcast. This time Dylan Rees and guest Paul Griggs are taking a look at two Sontaran stories, including my own audio adventure Conduct Unbecoming. You can find out what they thought of it by listening on your podcast app or following this link.
The Phantom Frame 