Growing up in the shadow of violence and alcohol abuse can leave you with questions. So, what happens when a child becomes an adult and tries to answer them?

Weaving through displaced memories, this documentary explores the experiences of four siblings with one distinct focus - their father. When time and context shifts, what remains is shame, uncertainty, and the inexorable search for clarity. An upended audio mystery, this piece follows the life of an abusive man from the perspectives of four of his children. The narrator, switching between the roles of daughter and journalist, takes a gruelling journey into the past, re-discovering what she thought she knew about the person she once loved most.

"This is a story. Well, it did really happen. But this is the kind of story that you wish didn’t. This is the story of our dad."

New Storytellers presents the work of new radio and audio producers, and Thea Rickard's feature won the Gold Award of the Charles Parker Prize for the Best Student Radio Feature in 2023. The award is presented every year in memory of the pioneering radio producer Charles Parker who produced the ground-breaking Radio Ballads featuring voices of communities unheard at the time, with musical narratives by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger.

The judges of the prize, made up of producers, critics and commissioners, praised Thea's top prize winning work as “captivating and horrifying”, “well-written and considered,” “a properly structured and layered piece.”

Producer: Thea Rickard
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