Recorded after his death, this last play in the short season celebrating the work of Peter Tinniswood introduces the audience to Raymond Lancaster - another of the author's wonderfully eccentric comic creations. Raymond's pedestrian existence is salvaged by his rich fantasy life, in which football predominates. But where does fantasy stop and reality begin?
Original music by Nina Perry Director Gordon House

In the beautiful game. if the goalkeeper is playing on the field of dreams, the odd mistake is almost inevitable
The Goalkeeper's Boo-Boo
9.00pm R4 Peter Tinniswood wrote this play in the shadow of his subsequent death and the comic elements (of which there are many) are, not surprisingly, pretty dark. The central character, Raymond Lancaster, is described as a small man, surveying "the kingdom of his dreams" - football stadium. He spends his time listening to voices in his head, pondering the fate of two giraffes on board a Spanish ship or the likelihood of sleeping with the erotic Miss Chilton in his office. But Ray Lancaster is also a goalkeeper who's been dropping footballs at the most inopportune moments. The commentary on the matches by real-life BBC commentator Alan Green and a character called Craig (who compares the action to literary classics) is hilarious - in contrast to the brooding, Dylan Thomas-like timbre of Tinniswood's poetic script. He paints a sorry portrait of a man whose dream is over, only to find that "he's still here" in the "long, endless nothingness" while those two giraffes have escaped - albeit through death.