The Corrupted

Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

GF Newman's The Corrupted

Drama

Drama: Crime

Drama plotting the fortunes of one family against the backdrop of a revolution in crime.

Crime drama chronicling the fortunes of one family against the backdrop of a revolution in crime.

BBC Radio 4 FM

GF Newman's The Corrupted: Series 6: Episode 4

Episode 4

Series 6

BBC Radio 4 - GF Newman's The Corrupted, Series 6, Episode 4

Toby Jones plays the corrupt politician and financier Joseph Oldman, now enobled.

Toby Jones plays the corrupt politician and financier Joseph Oldman, now enobled in GF Newman's series interweaving fact and fiction. Brian is waiting for his day in court.

It's now 2001 and Brian Oldman is still in jail for a crime he didn't commit. 

He found a man in jail able to prove his innocence - but that man was soon discovered dead in his cell. He suspects that Joseph Oldman, now Lord Olinska, organised the killing.

In this final series, taking us to 2008, Joseph Olinska gets ever more involved in New Labour, while Brian Oldman becomes a vegan and studies law in jail in a bid to win justice for himself. Tony Wednesday continues to work behind the scenes for Sir Joseph at the same time as moving ever further up the ranks of the police force.

GF Newman's The Corrupted weaves fiction with real characters from history, following the fortunes of the Oldman/Olinska family - from small-time business and opportunistic petty crime, through gang rivalries, to their entanglement in the highest echelons of society. It's the tale of a nexus of crime, business and politics that’s woven through the fabric of 20th and 21st century greed, as even those with hitherto good intentions are sucked into a web of corruption. 

Whose fortunes will prosper? Who will get their just deserts?

Joey Oldman, an uneducated Jewish child immigrant from Russia, has a natural instinct for business and a love of money - coupled with a knack for acquiring it. His first wife Cath is as ruthless in both the pursuit of money and the protection of her son, Brian. Joey built his empire with the help of a corrupt bank manager in the 1950s, starting with small greengrocer shops before moving into tertiary banking and property development, dealing with many corrupt policemen on the way - and befriending Lord Goodman, Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair. Joseph now helps New Labour with their finances, while continuing to invest heavily in Russia, the US and a pharmaceutical company specialising in cancer drugs.

The characters are based on GF Newman's novels.


Cast:
Sir Joseph - Toby Jones
Brian - Joe Armstrong
Tony Wednesday - Alec Newman
Sonia Hope / Emma - Sarah Lambie
Catherine - Isabella Urbanowicz
Anatoly Popov / Clive Bunter / Justice Deed - Matthew Marsh
Margaret - Flora Montgomery
PO Rogers - Paul Linthwaite/
David Blunkett - Paul Kemp
John Quayle - David Ajao
Jeremy Corbyn - Christopher Harper
Tony Blair - Nigel Cooke
EXO Avedlund - Nigel Pivaro
DCS Redvers - Arty Froushan
Mrs Jinks - Suzan Sylvester
Hamid Afzal - Akbar Kurtha
FBI Agent Pyke - Will Meredith
Dietrick Heller / Tim Listfield - Charles Davies

Produced and directed by Clive Brill
A Brill production for BBC Radio 4

GF Newman's The Corrupted: Series 6

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.

Toby Jones stars in the final series of GF Newman's family crime saga.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

GF Newman's The Corrupted

Series 6

Episode 4

Genres

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4