Single Spies: An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution

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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Alan Bennett - Single Spies: An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution

Drama

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Alan Bennett - Single Spies: An Englishman Abroad and A Question of Attribution

Guy Burgess meets Coral Browne in Moscow. Anthony Blunt talks art with the Queen.

4 Extra Debut. Alan Bennett introduces his drama-double choice as BBC Radio 4 Extra celebrates his 90th birthday. Simon Callow as Guy Burgess. Edward Petheridge as Anthony Blunt.

To celebrate his 90th birthday (9 May 2024) and recorded especially for BBC Radio 4 Extra – the award-winning playwright and actor, Alan Bennett introduces his choice from the BBC Radio archive. 

Two classic Alan Bennett spy dramas performed together.    

AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD 

1958. A squalid flat in Moscow. 

Over a paltry lunch, exiled spy Guy Burgess interrogates actress Coral Browne about English society gossip and then asks her to get him some new clothes from London.

Guy Burgess .... Simon Callow
Coral .... Brigit Forsyth
Tailor .... Robert Pickavance
Tolya/Shop assistant .... Peter Swander

Pianola and Balalaika played by Matthew Compton and David Carol.

A QUESTION OF ATTRIBUTION 

Set in the 1960s, before Professor Anthony Blunt, the director of the Courtauld Institute, was exposed and disgraced as a spy. 

Blunt is replacing a Titian at Buckingham Palace when Her Majesty the Queen comes in. 

The painting is a fake.

Anthony Blunt .... Edward Petherbridge
Chubb .... Nicky Henson
The Queen .... Prunella Scales
Colin .... Harry Myers
Restorer .... Robert Pickavance
Philips .... Dan Stevens

Producer Susan Roberts

First broadcast on Radio 4 in September 2006.

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