Programme Index

Discover 11,128,835 listings and 279,694 playable programmes from the BBC

Drama on 4

North of Riga

Duration: 45 minutes

First broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 FMLatest broadcast: on BBC Radio 4 LW

A man's strength is in his hair. A woman's dreams are in hers...

When a mysterious woman arrives in a small Northern Irish fishing port and opens a hairdressing salon, the locals discover she has a curious effect on their lives as she plies her trade. The Latvian girls working in the fish factory say she is a witch, but no one really knows who she is or where she came from. Or why. When thirteen year old Lorna meets and befriends the mysterious hairdresser, Sarah, the fate of the two soon become entangled.

Lorna, a solitary child remarkable for her long tangled fair hair, is a concern of the welfare services; she is rarely at school, apparently running wild and is more often than not to be found at the harbour with local homeless couple Mervyn and Sandra. Like Sarah, Lorna has a secret she doesn't want anyone to discover. But when another mysterious stranger arrives in town, Sarah's past finally catches up with her, and Lorna makes the one sacrifice she can to save Sarah's future - and her own.

A contemporary fable of magic and murder from award-winning writer Eoin McNamee, starring Amybeth McNulty as Lorna and Branka Katic as Sarah.

Other parts were played Barra Best, Bronagh Taylor and members of the cast. Show less

About this data

This data is drawn from the data stream that informs BBC's iPlayer and Sounds. The information shows what was scheduled to be broadcast, meaning it was/is subject to change and may not be accurate. More