Rex Obano
City College
BBC RADIO 3
PICK OF THE DAY The Sunday Times, The Observer
A university professor on the verge of retirement makes a bold statement about black history to test the limits of free speech. During the inevitable maelstrom he comes face to face with his own personal demons.
Cast: Cyril I. Nri, Pippa Nixon, Heather Craney, Jay Simpson, Kenneth Omole, Dotun Adebayo, Justice Ritchie, Joseph Ayre, Grace Cooper Milton.
Director: Femi Elufowuju Jnr
Producer: Toby Swift
An African In Greenland
BBC RADIO 4
PICK OF THE DAY The Radio Times, The Sunday Times, The Observer
A university professor on the verge of retirement makes a bold statement about black history to test the limits of free speech. During the inevitable maelstrom he comes face to face with his own personal demons.
Cast: Danny Sapani, Tunji Kasim, Richard Pepple, Ewan Bailey, Salik Lennert, Dina Fisker Sandgreen, Kuluk Helms, Angunnguaq Larsen,Miki Petrussen, Klaus Geisler
Producer: Anne Isger
Faith, Hope and Glory
BBC RADIO 4 - SERIES
Series 1 - 5
From 1948 - 1983
This century spanning story focusses on the De Soto family - Clement, Gloria and Joy.
Cast: Pippa Bennett Warner, Claire Perkins, Stefan Adegbola, Chris Jack, Daniella Vitalis, Hasan Dixon, Emma Handy, Ian Dunnettt Jnr, Jane Whittenshaw, Roger Ringrose, Dorothea Myer-Bennet, Joseph Ayre, Roger Ringrose, Martins Imhangbe, Michael Begley, Jasmine Hyde, Solomon Israel, Olantra Worrell, Don Gilet, Chris Jack, Tayla Kovacevic-Ebong, Neil McCaul, Sapphire Joy, Joel MacCormack, Ruth Everett, Roger Ringrose, David Hounslow, Cherelle Skeet, Jaye Griffiths and Rex Obano
Directors: Jessica Dromgoole, Patricia Cumper, Anastasia Osei-Kuffour, Don Gilet
Producers: Mary Peate, Sally Avens, Patricia Cumper
Oil On Water
PICK OF THE DAY The Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, i Weekend, Daily Express, Mail On Sunday
BBC RADIO 4
SHORTLISTED FOR BEST ADAPTATION FOR BBC AUDIO AWARDS
A contemporary thriller about neocolonial corruption, ecological devastation and journalistic ethics in the badlands of the oil rich Niger Delta. Two reporters risk everything in search of the perfect story after the British wife of an oil company executive is kidnapped. Port Harcourt, Nigeria - Rufus is yet to make his mark as a journalist. When he accepts an assignment to interview the hostage held by militants, he finds himself shoulder to shoulder with Zaq, a one-time legendary reporter now in painful alcoholic decline. Together, they form an unlikely bond as they set out up river in search of the kidnapped women. But they have forgotten that there’s no such thing as the perfect story in a region where exposing the truth can get you killed. Set in a filmic world of mangrove swamps, floating villages, and jungle shrines, this taut and suspenseful thriller has echoes of Graham Greene or Joseph Conrad.
Cast includes - Idris Debrand, Cyril I. Nri, Danny Sapani, Seun Shote, Uche Gabriel Akujobi, Jordan Nash, Peter Bakole, Matthew Gravelle, Claire Price, Tamara Lawrence
Producer: Nicolas Jackson for Afonica
The Moors of England
BBC RADIO 3 - DRAMA ON 3
PICK OF THE DAY Radio Times, i Weekend, The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph
England is divided as never before. The country has turned its back on Europe. Not Britain today but the 16th Century. The story of Sir Robert Cecil and his black Muslim servant Fortunatus.
Cast: Ray Fearon, John Heffernan, Sope Disiru, Tristian Sturrock, Youseff Kerkour, Elizabeth Counsell, Philip Bretherton, Sean Murray, Lucy Doyle, Ella Glendinning, Emma Handy, Cameron Percival.
Producer: David Hunter.
Black Tudors: "It filled all the gaps in history"
BBC SOUNDS
Rex Obano and Dr Miranda Kaufmann discuss the lives of black migrants in Elizabethan England
As Innocent As You Can Get
BBC RADIO 3 - DRAMA ON 3
PICK OF THE DAY Radio Times, The Independent
DRAMA OF THE WEEK BBC Radio
A play about the prison system in iambic pentameter rhyming couplets. The story of two men Nathaniel (Freddie Fox) and Tunde (Paapa Essiedu) who depend on each other - one is guilty outside prison and the other innocent within. One a prison psychologist, the other a prisoner convicted under "joint enterprise".
Cast includes: Freddie Fox, Paapa Essiedu, Katie Redford, Rikki Lawton, Tobi Bakare, Anneika Rose, Gerrard McDermott, Caolan McCarthy, Rebecca Hamilton, Richard Pepple
Producer: David Hunter
Lover's Rock
BBC RADIO 3 - DRAMA ON 3
PICK OF THE DAY Radio Times, The Independent, The Guardian.
It is Brixton 1981 and the British brand of reggae, "Lover's Rock" reverberates from Blues parties. The legacy of the New Cross Fire, in which 13 young people died, spurs young black pacifist Ben into activism. He must grapple with both his politics and his sexuality to come to terms with his own identity. Both he and Monroe, aspiring producer of Lover's Rock, find themselves at the sharp end of the Riots.
Cast: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Tobi Bakare, Ben Howard, Eleanor Crooks, Patrick Brennan, Gerard McDermott, Lizzy Watts, Stephanie Racine, Paul Stonehouse.
Producer: David Hunter
The Price of Oil: Someone's Making A Killing In Nigeria
BBC RADIO 4- AFTERNOON DRAMA
Set in Rivers State, Nigeria, in 1994. The Ogoni people's campaign against the environmental degradation of their land by the oil industry has crystallised into a mass movement. Under General Abacha's military regime, the dispute between the people led by Ken Saro-Wiwa on the one hand, and big oil on the other, is reaching its height - when one local businesswoman finds herself caught up in its notoriously violent consequences.
Cast: Nadine Marshall, Jude Akuwudike, Obi Abilli, Zackary Momoh, David Ajala, Landry Adelard, Jessica Turner, Rhiannon Needs, Michael Ogunseye, James Okulaja.
Devised by: Nicholas Kent with Jack Bradley and Jonathan Myerson. Produced and Directed by: Jonquil Panting
Burned to Nothing
BBC RADIO 4- AFTERNOON PLAY
Matthew returns to Nigeria, the land of his birth. He has come to secure the release of his son who has become caught up in the politics of a land in turmoil; a land he has fallen in love with.
Cast: Lucian Msamati, David Ajala, Lorraine Burroughs, Jude Akuwudike, Obi Abilli, Gbemisola Ikumelo.
Producer: Toby Swift. Director: Femi Elufowoju Jnr.