By Shelagh Stephenson

When Maddie Cook is violently raped by someone she thought was friend, she is urged by the Police to prosecute her attacker, with decidedly mixed results

Madeleine Cook is 24 and, for the last nine months, she's been living back home with her parents whilst she temps and tries to pay off her student loan. Her boyfriend Nick is still living in London, and they see each other whenever they can.

Madeleine still has old friends from school days and a clutch of new ones. They meet up in local pubs most weekends. Like everywhere now the bars are open late, the drinks are cheap and usually most of them get anything between tipsy and very drunk. The sort of normal weekend behaviour you find in every town and city, but it being a small, relatively middle class place, it's less violent and not particularly aggressive.

One Friday night Madeleine leaves the pub and walks home along the seafront in the company of Danny, a boy of her own age, whom she's known for few months, through other friends. On the way and seemingly out of the blue, he jumps on her. At first she thinks it's a bad joke, but in fact he rapes her. We know it happens, because we're with her at the time.

Stunned, shocked, she calls her friend Louise, and together they go to a rape crisis centre. The next day, Louise persuades her to go to the police.

It sets in motion a whole chain of events which question our attitudes towards rape, sexuality and sexual assault.

Cast:
Maddie Cook ..... Jasmine Hyde
Danny King ..... Mark Quartley
Meg Harper .....Haydn Gwynne
Nick ..... Leon Ockenden
Janet ..... Jeany Spark
Louise ..... Michele Tate
Paula ..... Margot Leicester
Mike ..... Michael Elwyn
Barry ..... Jonathan Tafler
Ned ..... Jonathan Sayer

Director: Eoin O'Callaghan
A Big Fish Production for BBC Radio 4. Show less