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The History Plays

The History Plays: Episode 2: Stonehouse in Alice

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Stonehouse in Alice

Episode 2

Episode 2: Stonehouse in Alice

BBC Radio 4 Extra - The History Plays, Stonehouse in AliceSearch BBC

Imagined confrontation between fugitive MP John Stonehouse and young journalist Ed.

An imagined confrontation between fugitive MP John Stonehouse and young journalist Ed in 1974. Stars Tim McInnerny. From February 2012.

Written and directed by Nigel Smith and starring Tim McInnerny as John Stonehouse and Daniel Rigby as Ed Jennings. Stonehouse in Alice is the second of The History Plays, imaginary conversations set against the backdrop of real events.

It's 1974 and Ed Jennings, a cub reporter from a local paper has stumbled upon the scoop of a lifetime while on holiday in Australia. Because Leonard has found missing maverick MP, John Stonehouse. 

Stonehouse recently faked his death to escape from a sea of debt, the fraud squad, his wife, and a series of misadventures back home in the UK. A charmer, a snob, an aesthete, a writer and a con man, the Walsall North MP, once one of the greatest loose cannons of his political generation, is now in hiding, shacked up with his mistress in one of the loneliest places on earth. What will be kept secret for decades, however, is that he's also a communist spy.

Ed is bright enough to know this story will make his name. It has all the ingredients; celebrity, notoriety, sex, politics and sleaze. But what it's fundamentally about is greed. And that is still seen as shocking in an MP. Chisholm knows no post-war English politician will have had such a fall from grace. Profumo only erred for lust. This is something new... and thrilling. And it turns out Stonehouse has an offer for the young reporter. One that will change both their lives.

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama

Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Series plays by Nigel Smith that imagine conversations at key moments in recent history

Series of two-hander plays by Nigel Smith that imagine conversations at key moments in recent history

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Episode 2: Stonehouse in Alice

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