Far Side of the Moore 

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Felicity Duncan

Patricia Hodge

Tom Hollander

Anton Lesser

Charlotte Ritchie

David Shaw-Parker

Simon Treves

Daniel Weyman

Sean Grundy

Dirk Maggs

David Morley

Drama on 4: Sean Grundy - Far Side of the Moore

Far Side of the Moore

Sean Grundy - Far Side of the Moore

BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Sean Grundy - Far Side of the Moore

Tom Hollander as eccentric amateur Patrick Moore, battling to be the BBC's astronomer.

4 Extra Debut. Tom Hollander stars as Patrick Moore. It’s 1957: a lack of astronomy qualifications may kill off his TV career before it begins.

Tom Hollander (Rev, Pirates of The Caribbean) stars as Patrick Moore, with Patricia Hodge as his mother Gertrude.

It's 1957 and the little known Patrick Moore is living with his mother in East Grinstead, from where he studies the heavens and writes popular factual works on astronomy, as well as science fiction under a pseudonym.

When Moore's latest book 'Suns, Myths and Men' gets a terrible review from the stuffy academic Dr Henry King, Patrick is in despair and, when the phone rings, he braces himself for more bad news.

Sean Grundy's drama is both a moving and at times laugh out loud funny telling of a key moment in the life of Patrick Moore.

This is the story of how the self taught astronomer, whose Moon maps were later used by the Apollo missions, became the presenter of The Sky At Night. But it's also the story of a mysterious love affair, and a window into the mind of one of the nation's favourite broadcasters.

Lorna    ......    Felicity Duncan
Gertrude Moore    ......    Patricia Hodge
Patrick Moore    ......    Tom Hollander
Dr Henry King    ......    Anton Lesser
Eileen Wilkins    ......    Charlotte Ritchie
Leonard Miall    ......    David Shaw-Parker
Arthur C Clarke    ......    Simon Treves
Paul Johnstone    ......    Daniel Weyman

Director: Dirk Maggs

Producer: David Morley

A Perfectly Normal production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in March 2015

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