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Front Row: Kay Mellor on The Syndicate; Compliance; new takes on Scandinavian drama

Kay Mellor on The Syndicate; Compliance; new takes on Scandinavian drama

19/03/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Kay Mellor on The Syndicate; Compliance; new takes on Scandinavian drama

Writer Kay Mellor on her TV drama The Syndicate, plus Hedda Gabler becomes Heather Gardner

Arts news, interviews and reviews with Mark Lawson. Writer Kay Mellor on her TV drama The Syndicate, plus Hedda Gabler becomes Heather Gardner.

With Mark Lawson

In the film Compliance, a police officer phones a fast food restaurant and tells the middle-aged manageress that a young employee is accused of stealing. He asks her to detain the girl until the police arrive. She complies. As the situation develops, in near real time, it becomes uncomfortable to remember that the film is based on real events. Jenny McCartney reviews.

Writer and producer Kay Mellor discusses the return of her TV drama The Syndicate, which stars Alison Steadman and Jimi Mistry. This time it's the turn of five low-paid workers at a Bradford hospital to win the Euro millions jackpot. Kay Mellor discusses writing about the experience of gaining sudden wealth against a backdrop of economic austerity.

A new version of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler tranports the play to Birmingham in the early 1960s, with the central character now called Heather Gardner. Similarly, Strindberg's Miss Julie has been reworked to become Mies Julie, set in the Karoo, South Africa. Writers Robin French and Yael Farber discuss their current productions, and Patrick Marber reflects on relocating Strindberg to Britain in 1945, in his play After Miss Julie.


Producer: Olivia Skinner.

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