BBC Radio dramatisations and readings of the great Welsh writer's works

A novelist, playwright, broadcaster and raconteur, Gwyn Thomas was celebrated as one of Wales’s finest writers in the English language. He wrote countless novels, short stories and plays for stage, radio, and television, and he frequently contributed to Punch magazine. This BBC collection features a selection of his finest works, showcasing his engaging storytelling, dark humour and ability to capture the essence of Welsh valley life and culture.

All Things Betray Thee, set in the fictional South Wales town of Moonlea in 1835, explores the personal and societal impacts of industrialization through the eyes of a travelling harpist. Adapted by Alan Plater, of ‘The Beiderbecke Trilogy’ fame, this stirring drama stars Ian Hughes and Patrick Brennan. The Alderman, starring Donald Houston and Mary Wimbush, centres on small-town politics, as an influential councillor dreams of becoming a Westminster MP. A frustrated polymath drives his friends mad with his constant showing off in He Knows, He Knows, starring Philip Madoc, and in Gazooka, Gwyn Thomas himself recalls the long, hot summer of the General Strike, and the marching jazz bands that erupted into the Rhondda. Dewi Williams stars as a headmaster whose luck is about to turn in The Entrance; while in The Giving Time, Ronnie Williams plays a would-be choirmaster in search of a miracle.

Also included are a quartet of stories about the eccentric characters in the little mining town of Meadow Prospect – ‘Scalping Party’, ‘They Came and They Took Him Away’, ‘Brotherly Love’ and ‘The Couch, My Friend, Is Cold’. Four more short tales round off the collection: ‘The Cavers’ (read by Ray Smith), ‘Arrayed Like One of These’ (read by Andy Rivers), ‘Hugo My Friend’ (read by Rhodri Hugh) and ‘Little Fury (read by Patrick Brennan).

Production credits
Written by Gwyn Thomas
All rights reserved

All Things Betray Thee

The Alderman

He Knows, He Knows

Gazooka

The Entrance

The Giving Time

Life in Meadow Prospect

The Cavers

Arrayed Like One of These

Hugo My Friend

Little Fury

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