Telling Tales

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Telling Tales: Katherine Jakeways

Katherine Jakeways

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Telling Tales, Katherine Jakeways

Capturing Middle England in a sitcom and a romantic drama that begins on a train.

The actor, comedian and writer talks about capturing Middle England in a sitcom and a drama that begins on a train. From 2019.

Katherine Jakeways is an actor and writer, whose brilliant character comedy in North By Northamptonshire led to a Radio Times declaration that she was “the new Victoria Wood.”

Her popular Radio 4 series, which began life as an Edinburgh show with Katherine playing all the parts, was first heard in 2010. The all-star cast includes Penelope Wilton, Felicity Montagu, Mackenzie Crook, Kevin Eldon and Sheila Hancock as the narrator. 

It is a masterclass in how to mine the rich comic scene of middle England, set in the fictional town of Waddenbrooke, where everybody knows each other’s business and the supermarket manager uses the public address system to overshare.

Katherine’s radio plays include a slow-burn romantic drama, which began with 2016’s Where This Service Will Terminate and reached a fourth chapter in 2019, with Where This Service Will Separate.

This episode of Telling Tales features the first instalment and the couple’s “meet-cute” is a disagreement over a train seat reservation, as Suzie and David get to know each other, on the journey from London to Penzance. The drama stars Justin Edwards and Rosie Cavaliero, with a cameo from Katherine Jakeways herself, and was produced by James Robinson.

Produced by Ali Gardiner for BBC Radio 4 Extra.

First broadcast in 2019.

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