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Drama on 4

Departure

Duration: 44 minutes

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

Colin Bytheway's drama about Life and Death. And choices. And the sock-to-trouser ratio of gay men.

Strangers Jan and Martin meet boarding a flight. A flight they know that they will not survive. But they board anyway, as this route offers - along with extra legroom- active euthanasia.

Exploiting a loophole in aviation law, flamboyant airline tycoon Hunter Mackenzie has pioneered these flights on his transatlantic routes. You board the plane, and then at a given time enter a specially designed compression chamber, receive a quick injection, and then you are dropped into the Atlantic ocean below - a burial at sea.

Jan and Martin, for different reasons, have chosen to die this way but will this encounter give them something to live for? Their story is played out against a televised interview with Hunter Mackenzie to mark the first anniversary of his flights which have been criticised by lawyers, doctors and religious leaders.

CAST:

Jan - Alison Steadman
Martin - Kevin Whately
Rose - Helen George
Hunter - Julian Rhind-Tutt
Tanya - Tracy-Ann Oberman
Len - Roy Hudd

Writer - Colin Bytheway
Producer - Alison Crawford
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