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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

Between the Ears

Documentaries

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Innovative and thought-provoking features on a wide variety of subjects

Innovative and thought-provoking features that make adventurous use of sound and explore a wide variety of subjects. Made by leading radio producers.

Peter Blegvad

Harriet Walter

Andy Partridge

David Thomas

John Guerrasio

Aldo Waterfield

Sophie Duval

Between the Ears: The Impossible Book

11/06/2016

The Impossible Book

BBC Radio 3 - Between the Ears, The Impossible Book

Drama about a writer suffering hallucinations on a train travelling through time and space

Peter Blegvad's drama about a writer beset by hallucinations on a train travelling through time as well as space, and between parallel realities.

Peter Blegvad's radiophonic drama concerns a writer beset by hallucinations on a train travelling through time as well as space, and between parallel realities.

The piece engages with the question 'who has the right to write?', and how might that right be earned? In totalitarian regimes writers are denied freedom of expression, but individually writers often inhibit or censor themselves, feeling that their words lack value or authority. 

As William Burroughs put it: "You pay or you get nothing. You can't dodge the Muse's check. The Muse don't like welshers. A writer becomes a writer by PAYING..." But Blegvad's writer seems to be writing/riding for free, gratis. He's hiding on the train without a ticket. The penalty he risks if caught is "rendition to another zone/where due process is unknown" - a terrifying prospect. 

He's on the run from the authorities - the Conductor played by Andy Partridge of XTC and the Sheriff played by David Thomas of Père Ubu. The two legendary musicians contribute memorable comic cameos. The piece ends when Blegvad's 'free writer' is awarded a dubious accolade by Agatha Christie, played by Harriet Walter.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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