It's the 1990s and Brian Oldman is still in jail for a crime he didn't commit.

He found a man in jail able to prove his innocence - but that man was soon found dead in his cell. He suspects that Joseph Oldman, now Sir Joseph Olinska MP, organised the killing.

GF Newman's The Corrupted weaves fiction with real characters from history, following the fortunes of the Oldman/Olinska family - from small-time business and opportunistic petty crime, through gang rivalries, to their entanglement in the highest echelons of society. It's a tale revealing a nexus of crime, business and politics that’s woven through the fabric of 20th century greed, as even those with hitherto good intentions are sucked into a web of corruption.

Joey Oldman, an uneducated Jewish child immigrant from Russia, has a natural instinct for business and a love of money - coupled with a knack for acquiring it. His wife Cath is as ruthless in both the pursuit of money and the protection of her son, Brian. Joey built his empire with the help of a corrupt bank manager in the 1950s, starting with small greengrocer shops before moving into tertiary banking and property development, dealing with many corrupt policemen on the way - and befriending both Lord Goodman and Margaret Thatcher. Now ennobled and on the board of Lehman Brothers, Joseph intends to extend his business interests into Russia with the help of Boris Yeltsin and his cronies. John Major is now the Prime Minister and a young man from the left, Tony Blair, also seems keen on making Joseph’s acquaintance.

The characters are based on GF Newman's novels.

CAST
Joseph Olinska Toby Jones
Margaret Olinska Flora Montgomery
Brian Oldman Joe Armstrong
Nikolai Lebedev/Alexei Egorkin Kieron Jechinnis
Tony Wednesday/Malcolm Rifkin Alec Newman
Leah Cohen Jasmine Hyde
Boris Isarov Anatoly Popov
Eddie Richardson Charles Davies
Chuck Haley Matt Rippy
Pongo Damian Lynch
Rita Sarah Lambie
Lord Carson Jamie Newall
Catherine Isabella Urbanowicz
Jack Braden John Hollingworth
Warder Peters Paul Kemp
Nurse Moriarty Lucas Hare

Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4 Show less