what the critics said

'Pick of the Year.'

RADIO 4

The cast is great and the piece is directed with humanity and humour.'
Radio Choice,

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

'A superlative cast...There's a dark humour at work...One of the most moving things I've heard on radio.'
RADIO TIMES

'[a] superb play by Ted Whitehead, vividly drawn from his own experience of life... '[Tony is] played with rare precision and power by Jonathan Pryce...It really is a remarkable piece, pure radio, seething with life, fire and surprise.'
Gillian Reynolds,

DAILY TELEGRAPH

'[Tony's parents are] superbly played by Sue Johnston and Tom Bell.'
Stephanie Billen,

OBSERVER MAGAZINE

'powerful semi-autobiographical drama.'

DAILY MAIL

‘[a] magnificent play...Specially written for Radio Three, This was an event...I doubt whether there will be a finer new play on radio this year.’
Moira Petty,

THE STAGE

'Beautifully written and brilliantly interpreted. Ted Whitehead, the author, nipped semi-autobiographically between past and present, childhood and maturity, old Liverpool and new...Bruce Hyman directed it so well you could feel yourself going back, into houses with gas light and bugs dropping from the ceiling while you were asleep, when oranges past their best were sold as "fades" and men chopped pipe tobacco from a big black block. It was true in the way only art can be.'
Gillian Reynolds,

THE TELEGRAPH