7226/19746
I left the producer to edit all the episodes of Relativity, so I haven’t heard them before and we recorded them nearly a year ago, so I have quite a hazy memory of them. Which makes them lots of fun to listen to. I thought episode 2 might be a bit weaker than usual, as I remembered it being a tough write and it’s also an ep where things we’re moving towards drama rather than experiencing it. Or so I thought. Listening today it made me laugh a lot and the writing was tight (maybe with the help of some editing) and the performances were great. It might be the best episode yet.
Listen here Obviously there’s a bit of autobiography in this, with Ian going on a similar journey to my own (though his relationship with his wife is different and I am not married to an actor who is going to be beheaded in a blockbuster starring Chris Evans - not that one, but that one) and I have incorporated a few family stories (my parents did chance across Naked Attraction and my mum - and dad- used to play Winky!). But plenty of stuff is imagined too.
I was able to write this series during the months that it documents and thus it’s a fairly accurate story of that time when we were edging out of lockdown and people were allowed in pubs, but older people were much more cautious about meeting up. I had hoped that it would come out much more quickly than it did and was a little disappointed that it wasn’t slated to go out til the Spring. And then a bit more disappointed that it hasn’t gone out until now. And then slightly disappointed that the death of the Queen has delayed things by a further week. I am though surprised that there haven’t been way more comedies and dramas about Covid (though again, it’s slightly annoying that one of the ones that did make it to TV - Pandemonium [which then became Here We Go] also starred Alison Steadman).
Anyway, I am fortunate not only to have this incredible cast (and crew) but to have my scripts produced - even if many more of my scripts have not been so lucky. It’s been a bit overlooked so far, and it’s easy on a casual listen to not spot what makes it a bit more subversive and surprising. It’s certainly a whole lot of work to create a relatively (get it) small amount of material. But I think it’s enough that it exists. I enjoyed listening to it today anyway. It made me laugh and it brought tears to my eyes and we haven’t even really got to the meat of the series yet. At least, I don’t think so. Apart from testicular cancer I can’t actually remember what happens in the next four episodes!
And just because I don’t like to make it physically possible to listen to all my content, I also did a stone clear this morning.
Here it is. Much less work than Relativity! No wonder there's 126 episodes of it.
