The Stage

Ian Hislop to star in Radio 4’s England, Their England

Published Wednesday 2 November 2011 at 10:58 by Matthew Hemley

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop is to star alongside Ioan Gruffudd and Rufus Sewell in a BBC Radio 4 adaptation of the novel England, Their England, which will be broadcast on Christmas day.

The one-off drama is being made by independent company Jarvis and Ayres Productions, with A G Macdonell’s book adapted for radio by Archie Scottney.

It focuses on a young Scottish man called Donald Cameron, played by Tony Curran, who is commissioned to write a book about the eccentricities of the English, including village cricket.

Hislop plays the editor of The London Weekly and captain of the drama’s cricket club, while Sewell plays a journalist and Gruffudd is the Welshman who commissions Donald’s book.

The cast also includes Alfred Molina and Michael York.

Martin Jarvis, who has directed the drama, said: “The novel seems amazingly up-to-date in its canny view of journalists, artists, poets, politicians, diplomats and of course the countryside. Viewed through the eyes of a young Scot, the absurdity and blessedness of England and the English remains reassuringly, preposterously recognisable.”

The drama will be broadcast on Christmas Day at 2pm, and repeated on December 31.