Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Book at Bedtime

Audiobooks

Podcasts

Drama

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and world literature

Readings from modern classics, new works by leading writers and literature from around the world

BBC Radio 4 Extra

BBC Radio 4 FM

Book at Bedtime: Sebastian Barry - The Temporary Gentleman

Ciaran Hinds

Gemma McMullan

Neville Teller

Sebastian Barry

Book at Bedtime: Sebastian Barry - The Temporary Gentleman: Episode 1

The Temporary Gentleman

Episode 1

Sebastian Barry - The Temporary Gentleman

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime, Sebastian Barry - The Temporary Gentleman, Episode 1

Jack McNulty recounts his past hoping he can at last find the freedom he desperately seeks

4 Extra Debut. In Accra, Jack McNulty looks back over his life in the hope that he can find the freedom he desperately seeks. Read by Ciaran Hinds.

Jack McNulty is a 'temporary gentleman', an Irishman whose commission in the British army in the Second World War was never permanent. In 1957, sitting in his lodgings in Accra, he urgently sets out to write his story recounting his strange and tumultuous marriage to the elusive great beauty of Sligo, Mai Kirwan, and the inevitable fate that he now feels compelled to reconcile himself with. He feels he cannot take one step further, or even hardly a breath, without looking back at all that has befallen him. He is an ordinary man, both petty and heroic, but he has seen extraordinary things.

The Temporary Gentleman is, ultimately, a story about a man's last bid for freedom, from the savage realities of the past and from himself.

Ciarán Hinds is one of Ireland's most prolific and esteemed actors. His many television and film credits include: Game of Thrones, Munich, The Sea, Road to Perdition, There Will Be Blood, Frozen, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Woman in Black and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The Temporary Gentleman by Sebastian Barry
Read by Ciarán Hinds
Abridged by Neville Teller
Producer Gemma McMullan.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

By Sebastian Barry. Irishman Jack McNulty recounts his strange and tumultuous past

By Sebastian Barry. Irishman Jack McNulty, a commissioned officer in the British Army in the Second World War, recounts his strange and tumultuous past. Read by Ciaran Hinds

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Book at Bedtime

Sebastian Barry - The Temporary Gentleman

Episode 1

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4