C4 plans annual hunt for radio dramatists

Published Tuesday 24 April 2007 at 15:35 by Matthew Hemley

Channel 4 is planning to hold an annual search for new radio dramatists after receiving 500 submissions for its playwriting competition, The Radio Play’s the Thing.

The news comes as the broadcaster announced it has shortlisted eight writers, of which four will be selected to have their scripts produced on Channel 4’s online radio output and on digital station Oneword.

The broadcaster’s director of radio Nathalie Schwarz said the number of submissions was a fantastic result for a first-time event and added: “The Radio Play’s the Thing has been a huge success, and so we are thinking about making it annual.

“This is our first year, but once it has finished we will review it and possibly look to bring it back.”

Channel 4 is currently bidding for a new licence which would allow it to launch several new digital stations nationally.

Schwarz said one of Channel 4’s aims was to increase the amount of radio drama available outside of the BBC, adding the broadcaster hoped to launch a rival to long-running BBC Radio 4 series The Archers.

She said: “We want to bring radio drama to a more contemporary market. We think there is huge scope for radio drama and an opportunity to make a great soap or drama series, because at the moment there is nothing outside of The Archers.”

The eight finalists in the writing competition attended a workshop at Channel 4 last week, where established writers and radio producers were on hand to help them develop their writing techniques and improve their scripts.

Plays that made the final included I’m Posh Me!, about a woman who thinks she is Victoria Beckham, and To the Broad Shore, about a British couple who go to Switzerland to take advantage of Swiss law, which allows assisted suicide.

A panel of judges will now whittle the eight down, with the winners expected to be announced in May.