Anyone who’s heard the story knows the name – Joseph. He’s there, somewhere, in every nativity play; pictures of him and his family drop daily through the letter box every December.

For many, Joseph is simply a character who lives in the margins of the Christmas story. But this re-telling is a bit different. Here Alex Jennings, in the character of a surprisingly witty and guileful angel Gabriel, tells the story from Joseph’s angle.

In this first episode, Nazareth carpenter Joseph, having had an initial ‘dreamlike’ encounter with Gabriel and received some astonishing instructions, has to put up with small town tittle-tattle when his fiancée Mary becomes pregnant. It can’t be so. They ignore the gossip and get married anyway. But Gabriel and co have further plans for them.

Written by Brian Sibley
Reader: Alex Jennings
Director: Martin Jarvis
A Jarvis & Ayres production for BBC Radio 4 Show less