Podcast
Opening Lines
Hosted by BBC Radio 4 · EN
Producer and writer John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.
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Episodes
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Don Quixote - Episode Two
3w ago00:14:20Tap to summarizeJohn Yorke explores why Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes has had such a profound influence on storytelling in the 400 years since it was published in 1605.‘Like Shakespeare, Cervantes is inescapable for all writers who have come after him,’ according to literary critic Harold Bloom. He creates a blueprint for the modern novel by shifting from static, infallible archetypes to dynamic, evolving characters who are fundamentally changed by their relationship with each other. Cervantes’ work is full of innovative literary ideas that still inspire writers today, including the double-act (Quixote and his portly sidekick, Sancho Panza), a multi-voiced narrative structure and the first example of metafiction, in which the line between fiction and reality is blurred.The programme includes an interview with film director, cartoonist and Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, who spent nearly 30 years attempting to make a film about Don Quixote. He says, “You can never kill Quixote. There is no way. Quixote will be eternal. And I certainly hope that people will keep rediscovering him, because I think you can read it many times and discover new things every time. It's spectacular. I just want to get a fireplace and start reading it to my grandchildren of a cold evening. One chapter a night.”Also including contributions from Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen’s University, Belfast. Quotations from Penguin Classics 2003 edition, translation by John Rutherford.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain; from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters, now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for Radio 4.Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery Reader: Ewan Bailey Executive Producer: Sara Davies and Caroline Raphael Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams and Nina Semple Researcher: Henry Tydeman Sound: Iain HunterA Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Transcribe →Don Quixote - Episode One
May 300:14:42Tap to summarizeJohn Yorke explores why Don Quixote has had such a profound influence on storytelling in the four hundred years since it was published. The first European novel, it’s an epic work of comic - and tragic - genius. Quixote embodies an ideal of heroic resilience in the face of a broken reality. And it’s a novel that’s in our bones: familiar even if we haven’t read any of its nearly a thousand pages.The programme includes an interview with film director, cartoonist and Monty Python member Terry Gilliam, who spent nearly thirty years attempting to make a film about Don Quixote. He says:“What I love about Cervantes - he's been through it all. This is the guy who's really had rough and tumble life. And he's learned to laugh at it: because he'd been through so much. And he survived with a sense of humour and a brilliant pen. [Quixote] wouldn’t have been like that if Cervantes hadn't experienced this. It's about the falling, and the dignity with which he manages to pull himself up from the mess that he finds himself in. It's just wonderful.”Also including contributions from Isabel Torres, Professor of Spanish Golden Age Literature at Queen’s University, Belfast.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain; from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters, now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for Radio 4.Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery Reader: Ewan Bailey Executive Producer: Sara Davies and Caroline Raphael Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams and Nina Semple Researcher: Henry Tydeman Sound: Iain HunterA Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Transcribe →Transcription
Apr 1600:14:23Tap to summarizeJohn Yorke takes a look at Transcription by Kate Atkinson.First published in 2018, Transcription tells the story of three different time periods in the life of our protagonist, Juliet Armstrong. The interweaving timelines take us from 1940 to 1981, telling of her experiences working in wartime for MI5, working in peacetime for BBC Radio, up to the end of her life in the moments between life and death.Transcription is a spy novel but it’s the work’s thematic depth that raises it above standard fare. There is gripping action but it’s a trojan horse for wider, darker themes. Each chapter is an item on a ledger, leading to a final adding up of the full cost of guilt and betrayal.There’s one other element that adds to the book’s power - It’s based on a true story. So while the events in Transcription are very much rooted in real life, reality doesn’t lend itself to Atkinson’s thematic concerns. It's in the way that she takes the raw material and manipulates it that the real strength of the book lies.In the author’s notes at the end of the book, Atkinson says that she became ‘obsessed’ with the nature of historical fiction while researching the story in the National Archives. She says that “roughly speaking, for everything that could be considered an historical fact in this book, I made something up.” Transcription is a real moment from history, taken on an extraordinary flight of imagination.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4.Archive Kate Atkinson discusses Transcription on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on Monday 10th September 2018. Kate Atkinson discusses Transcription at a Politics and Prose event at St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Washington D.C. on Wednesday 26th September 2018.Written and presented by John Yorke Produced by Laura GrimshawExecutive Producer: Caroline Raphael Reader: Emily Pithon Sound: Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Programme Hub Co-ordinator: Dawn Williams A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Transcribe →Celebrating Stoppard
Apr 400:14:37Tap to summarizeTom Stoppard was of course best known for his work writing for stage and screen - but the dramas he created for radio were also an extremely important part of his career and his development as a writer. Across five decades he continued to return to a medium that suited him so well; without the constraints of visuals, his deft structural turns, linguistic pyrotechnics and imaginative leaps could flourish. In this special episode of Opening Lines for Radio 4’s Celebrating Stoppard season, John Yorke examines how Stoppard benefitted from and contributed to a golden age in BBC Radio drama.The programme features extracts from ‘The Dissolution of Dominic Boot’, ‘Albert’s Bridge’ and ‘The Dog It Was That Died’, as well as contributions from Stoppard’s biographer Professor Hermione Lee and archive of Stoppard himself.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4.Producer: Geoff Bird Contributor: Professor Hermione Lee Sound: Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Reader: Daniel Weyman Executive Producer: Caroline RaphaelA Pier production for BBC Radio 4.
Transcribe →Flight - Episode Two
Apr 200:13:37Tap to summarizeFlight by Walter White, published in 1926, asks questions about race and identity when its central character chooses to ‘pass’ as a white woman. In this second episode about the book, John Yorke asks if this is why the book has largely been forgotten even though it was written by one of the most influential figures in 20th century America.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4.Written and presented by John Yorke.Contributors: Kenneth Janken, Professsor of African American history at the University of North Carolina and author of White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. Naacp. Gayle Wald, Professor of English and American studies at George Washington University and author of Crossing the Line; Racial Passing in TwentiethCentury U.S Literature and Culture. . Reading by Eric Stroud Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith Production Coordinator: Dawn Williams Researcher: Henry Tydeman Executive Producer: Caroline RaphaelA Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Transcribe →Flight - Episode One
Mar 2200:14:24Tap to summarizeFlight was the second novel by one of twentieth century’s America’s most influential figures, Walter White. Published in 1926, it asks questions about race and identity when its central character chooses to ‘pass’ as a white woman. A prime mover in the Harlem Renaissance, White was a celebrated writer and activist but his book has largely been forgotten. John Yorke looks at the man and his work.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters - now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for R4. Written and presented by John Yorke.Contributors: Kenneth Janken, Professsor of African American history at the University of North Carolina and author of White: The Biography of Walter White, Mr. Naacp. Gayle Wald, Professor of English and American studies at George Washington University and author of Crossing the Line; Racial Passing in TwentiethCentury U.S Literature and Culture. . Reading by Eric Stroud Producer: Alison Vernon-Smith Production Coordinator: Dawn Williams Researcher: Henry Tydeman Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael A Pier Production for BBC Radio 4
Transcribe →My Antonia
Mar 1500:14:14Tap to summarizeJohn Yorke explores themes of loss, longing and the founding of America, in Willa Cather’s innovative novel, My Ántonia. A milestone in American literature, the novel’s heroine is - unusually for the time - a Czech immigrant, Ántonia Shimerda, seen through the eyes of her childhood friend, lawyer Jim Burden. Ántonia survives poverty, tragedy and betrayal through her hard work, energy and optimism. The novel shows ‘the other side of the rug, the pattern that is not supposed to count in a story. There is no love affair, no courtship, no marriage, no broken heart, no struggle for success’. Deceptively easy to read, Cather communicates feeling in a strikingly modern, cinematic way, with a mastery of visual storytelling, using language to capture the soul of a nation.With contributions from Melissa Homestead, Professor of English and Director of the Cather Project at the University of Lincoln-Nebraska.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for over 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain, from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. He created the BBC Writers Academy and trained a generation of screenwriters, now with thousands of hours of television to their names. His acclaimed books Into the Woods and Trip to the Moon explore the structure and power of narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of storytelling, including many podcasts for Radio 4.Producer: Mary Ward-Lowery Reader: Riley Neldam Executive Producer: Sara Davies Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Sound: Iain Hunter A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Transcribe →The Virginian
Mar 100:14:31Tap to summarizeOwen Wister’s 1902 novel The Virginian did more than any other single piece of art in establishing the parameters of the Western as a genre. Telling the tale of a charismatic tight-lipped cowboy whose actions always speak louder than his words, it was wildly popular with readers and viewers of its many screen adaptations. The book is a celebration of rugged individualism and frontier spirit that spoke profoundly to its audience at the beginning of the twentieth-century - but does it offer any insights into the state of America today?The programme features James Annesley, Professor of American literature at Newcastle University. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative, including many podcasts for Radio 4. Contributors: James Annesley, Professor of American literature at Newcastle University. Sound: Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production Hub Coordinator: Dawn Williams Producer: Geoff Bird Reader: Eric Stroud Executive Producer: Sara Davies A Pier production for BBC Radio 4
Transcribe →Gone with the Wind - Episode 3
Feb 2500:14:23Tap to summarizeIn the series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work, John Yorke concludes his exploration of Margaret Mitchell’s epic Civil War romance, Gone with the Wind.In the 90 years since it was published it has sold more than 30 million copies – it was the bestselling American novel of the 20th century - but the book has become increasingly problematic for modern readers.In this third and final episode, John considers the themes of nostalgia and survival that made Gone with the Wind such a phenomenal hit when it was published at the height of the Great Depression in 1936. And he explores the complexity of the book’s legacy today. John is joined by Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London and the author of The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells; Dr Nicole King, Associate Professor of American Literature and Fellow of Exeter College Oxford; and Rachel Joyce, who has adapted Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4. Together they explore what the book offers readers today. Is it a classic of American fiction or an extremely uncomfortable, racist period piece? And they ask if we should even read it at all. John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for Radio 4. Contributors: Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London Rachel Joyce, adapter of Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4 Dr Nicole King, Associate Professor of American Literature and Fellow of Exeter College Oxford Reading by Samantha DakinCredits: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, published by Vintage BooksProduced by Jane Greenwood Executive Producer Sara Davies Sound by Sean Kerwin Researcher Henry Tydeman Production hub coordinator Dawn Williams A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
Transcribe →Gone with the Wind - Episode 2
Feb 1500:14:22Tap to summarizeIn the series that takes a look at books, plays and stories and how they work, John Yorke continues his exploration of Margaret Mitchell’s epic Civil War romance, Gone with the Wind.In the 90 years since it was published it has sold more than 30 million copies – it was the bestselling American novel of the 20th century - but the book has become increasingly problematic for modern readers.In this second episode, John considers how the history of the American Civil War and its aftermath inform the way the story is told. And he asks how we should address Margaret Mitchell’s shockingly complacent attitude to slaveholding and the racist language in the book.John is joined by Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London and the author of The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells; Dr Nicole King, Associate Professor of American Literature and Fellow of Exeter College Oxford; and Rachel Joyce, who has adapted Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4. Together they explore the racism that underlies the story and the difficulties of navigating Mitchell’s attitude to her black characters.John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years and shares his experience as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in BBC Radio 4’s Sunday Drama series. As former Head of Channel Four Drama and Controller of BBC Drama Production he has worked on some of the most popular shows in Britain - from EastEnders to The Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless. As creator of the BBC Writers Academy, he's trained a generation of screenwriters - now with over 70 green lights and thousands of hours of television to their names. He is the author of Into the Woods, the bestselling book on narrative, and he writes, teaches and consults on all forms of narrative - including many podcasts for Radio 4. Contributors: Sarah Churchwell, Professor of American Literature at the University of London Rachel Joyce, adapter of Gone with the Wind for BBC Radio 4 Dr Nicole King, Associate Professor of American Literature and Fellow of Exeter College Oxford Reading by Samantha DakinCredits: Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, published by Vintage BooksProduced by Jane Greenwood Executive Producer: Sara Davies Sound by Sean Kerwin Researcher: Henry Tydeman Production hub coordinator: Dawn Williams A Pier production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds
Transcribe →