In the UK, we are rightly proud of our performing arts. We celebrate our film industry. We cherish our television programmes. And, nowhere more so than in the pages of The Stage, we champion our extraordinary theatre sector. However, there is one medium in which we are a global leader, which has been consistently overlooked: audio drama.

Audio drama has been produced in the UK for over a hundred years, predominantly on BBC Radio. The infant corporation broadcast its first scene – an extract from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar – in February 1923, a few months after it was founded. In the century since, it has aired countless classic dramas, literary adaptations and new plays, from Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood in 1954, to Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 1978, to Lee Hall’s Spoonface Steinberg in 1997.

Not only does the medium reach millions of people every week, it also provides employment opportunities for thousands of playwrights, directors, technicians and performers

Over the past 15 years, technological innovation has allowed other players into the game, including audio giants Audible and Spotify and scores of smaller companies. During the pandemic, when in-person performance became impossible, it seemed as if every theatre in the country was suddenly making an audio drama of some sort. Audio drama is a vital cornerstone of our performing arts industry. Not only does the medium reach millions of people every week – many of whom are unable to see live performances – but it also provides employment and development opportunities for thousands of playwrights, directors, technicians and performers every year. Take a look on almost any actor’s résumé, and there will be a section entitled “audio”.

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