The Stage

Sound and fury over BBC axing of Friday Play

Published Monday 15 March 2010 at 18:15 by Matthew Hemley

Independent drama producers and Equity have criticised BBC Radio 4 over its plans to axe the long-running Friday Play, claiming the move is “another blow to actors” and will mean less challenging drama is broadcast.

As revealed by The Stage online last week, BBC Radio 4 is planning to drop the Friday Play slot - which has been running since 1998 - from next year.

The broadcaster said it is pulling the feature to “ensure it obtains the best possible value from its budget” and added that the Friday Play has the smallest audience of any drama slot on the station.

Radio 4 added that “losing a single strand was preferable to risking the quality of drama output across the schedule”.

However, producers have hit out at the move, labelling it “cultural vandalism”.

They argue it shows a failure on the BBC’s part to provide opportunities for writers, producers and actors.

One, who did not wish to be named, said: “The demise of the Friday Play is a big loss to listeners and producers alike. It offered a distinct and unique opportunity to address important issues in the news and social agenda. The Friday Play was Radio 4’s Royal Court. It’s difficult to see where new, edgy drama will now have an outlet.”

He added that tribute should be paid to BBC creative director of new writing, Kate Rowland, who he said had “encouraged much original and important work” for the Friday Play strand.

Mike Hally, chair of trade body the Radio Independents Group, said the Friday Play strand had been “a catalyst for some excellent work” and a home to “challenging new writing”.

“This is just one consequence of continued budget cuts which appear to have been forced on BBC Radio, cuts which are now directly affecting the output,” he said.

The Friday Play was first introduced in 1998, with 32 original productions originally broadcast annually in the slot, before this number was reduced to 20.

This year, Radio 4 said there would be only 12 original plays in the strand, before it is removed altogether from 2011.

The slot currently airs at 9pm on a Friday and has previously tackled issues such as the deaths at the Deepcut army barracks

Equity has criticised the move, claiming there has already been a “steady erosion of drama” on BBC Radio, most recently with Asian soap Silver Street being dropped.

A spokesman for the union said the move “is yet another blow for actors” and added: “Radio drama is already pared to the bone and this further cut is extremely disappointing.”

Meanwhile, Ashley Byrne, creative director of independent production company Made in Manchester, which has recently been pioneering online radio drama in response to reduced slots on BBC Radio, said he hoped Radio 4 would “find other areas to commission ground-breaking drama”