Samaritan Number One

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Drama on 4: Samaritan Number One

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For the 70th anniversary of the Samaritans, a drama about its visionary founder Chad Varah

For the 70th anniversary of the Samaritans, the world's first crisis hotline, a drama about its visionary founder Reverend Chad Varah, starring Reece Shearsmith. By Anna Linstrum.

To mark the 70th anniversary of the Samaritans, the world's first crisis hotline, a drama about its visionary founder Reverend Chad Varah, starring Reece Shearsmith, Kerry Gooderson and Rachel Harper. By Anna Linstrum.

Chad Varah found himself presiding at the funeral service of a fourteen year old girl who had taken her own life because she had misunderstood her menstruation to be a venereal disease. As a result, he became an advocate for sex education and, realising that there was little support for those in emotional crisis, ultimately founded the Samaritans in November 1953, in the crypt of his church, with the stated aim that it would be an organisation 'to befriend the suicidal and despairing.'

If you are suffering distress or despair, details of help and support are available at BBC Actionline https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline

Chad Varah.....Reece Shearsmith
Susan Varah.....Kerry Gooderson
Reenee.....Rachel Harper
Eve/Mavis.....Evie Killip
Jem/Undertaker.....David Moorst
Arthur.....Tyler Cameron
Bishop/Forshaw.....John Lightbody

Production co-ordinator Lindsay Rees
Sound design by Nigel Lewis
Directed by Emma Harding, BBC Audio Drama Wales

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