BBC RADIO DRAMA: ANY OTHER NAME by Ellen Dryden

Any Other Name by Ellen Dryden was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.
Story:
A woman teacher disappears. There is no reason for her to leave home, a long term partner, two children and a job she loves. Then her car is found, with her blood inside, and her partner is held by the police for questioning....

[@janeclarkson8471]

Listening to it again, I'll add the absent mother loved only herself! Much more than her children. Self-obsessed.

[@janebrown7231]

If you are coming fresh to this, DON’T read any of the comments. It seems about half the comments are spoilers with no alerts. 😠 😡

[@janeclarkson8471]

Selfish mother. I intensely dislike selfish parents who put themselves first! The child's welfare ALWAYS come first!

[@leanneclare3750]

I agree, all this tit for tat in relationships the children get forgotten.

[@TomTomicMic]

They are near adults than children!?!

[@active6302]

Excellent portrayal of a selfish, ego-centric woman whose family is now better off without her noxious influence.

[@alansawden7345]

Excellent, I like it when the Police turn up in these plays. Thank you.

[@kevphillips02]

The police will turn up on u soon

[@ayelenayelen2596]

excellent drama :-) thank you so much !!

[@chrisreynolds3351]

Good to hear a well written play that wasn't a formulaic as the run of the mill mystery of a 'missing' person.

[@dmisso42]

Really? Seems pretty formulaic to me. Except, perhaps, the "wife" wasn't physically dead.

[@margaretormerod6943]

Good story thankyou 👍

[@buenavista312]

Excellent…!!! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@jordsupp]

Hmmm ... Not sure what I thought about that, only in the sense that it wasnt what I thought it was going to be. Thanks for uploading.

[@user-zn7of3bd6o]

Thank you so much 😊

[@TheSuperHarrygeorge]

First rate upload. Clear an do ads. Brilliantly portrayed play. Thoroughly enjoyable.

[@fredmartin7842]

Many years ago in my hometown there was a case of a woman who walked out on her husband and children while they were up at the front of the local Catholic church taking holy communion. When they returned she was gone from the pew, never to be heard of again. I haven't thought of it in years, until now.

[@leemorris2924]

Where was this?

[@fredmartin7842]

@@leemorris2924 Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada

[@issacbentley7396]

a tip : you can watch movies on flixzone. Been using them for watching lots of of movies lately.

[@JoJo-mm8sn]

Was there domestic abuse?

[@alexanderson1193]

Good for her. Men do that all the time and no-one bats an eyelid

[@saraknight3605]

A very good play. Very well acted especially the boyfriend- conceited, arrogant and emotionally detached.

[@theDOHN]

Another belter Archie ty !!

[@Angela-cc1hd]

Good play and well acted, its actually a far worse thing to leave a family in this way than if something had happened to her!

[@bartram33]

I suspect a lot of us feel like her, but duty keeps us from running away.

[@doriellesoler7502]

And maybe ordinary human decency, like, for example, caring one job about your children.

[@imlistening1137]

I should hope not. It’s a coward’s life. If one is unhappy, then make changes and let the others free to find someone who truly cares.

[@betsya7054]

Shouldn't have read the comments before I attempted to listen😢

[@lyndaa7560]

Brilliant drama, Many thanks x

[@pragatibhushan8697]

Very cruel on children. Children are not projects that can be lleft in between

[@TomTomicMic]

Well actually they were near "adults" by then and they leave the nest and start their own families, the bloke on the other hand.....!?!

[@jackiewacky346]

Thankyou

[@terryleetv1]

So sad. As a mother I just don’t understand it. But thanks for uploads.

[@royhadley686]

Thank you

[@margaretormerod6943]

Good listen

[@user-rv4mt8yz9g]

To think I spent nearly an hour listening to this play, and it turned out it was just a selfish woman abandoning her children in the cruellest way, and deserting her partner with no explanation or thought for him. And at the end, I think the dramatist intended us to sympathise with her. My advice - don't waste your time on it. I'd love to hear something showing the true effect of this kind of selfishness . Just another woman moaning, as if life was dead easy for men. Which I'm sure it isn't. (I'm a woman BTW. I've never thought men have an easy time.)

[@kerryh3833]

men do have an easier time 😐 There's so many things they don't hey expected to do. they just have to smile at their kids and they are a good parent. And it's almost acceptable for a guy not to cook or clean in the home.

[@didds1000]

Not on our house. Not my parents house when I was growing up

[@Tinyflydeposit]

This made me so sad. I keep picturing her 6 months down the road, realising she's alone, no career, no love, just a lonely middle aged woman who abandoned and cruelly damaged her children.

[@bogdiworksV2]

Or maybe free and open to possibilities. Career and a family don't have to be the only options. Middle aged is not old, either. She could have 30 to 40 years ahead of her.

[@Tinyflydeposit]

@@bogdiworksV2 optimistic. But did you know, according to studies, optimists tend to be on the lower end of intellectual capacities?

[@mathonamoore123]

Hello, from Ireland. It is Wednesday, the 4th of October 2022. 🧡🇮🇪💚

[@jacquiadams863]

The father's behaviour is quite disturbing

[@countrybeach6966]

Nothing too dark so safe to listen to

[@mefor5199]

Very good production and acting Spoilers ::::: presume there are mothers like that but I won’t be one. I love my kids too much. If I see or eat something good I call them to share how I wish they been with me !!

[@doneldamacdonnell8602]

Recently in the UK, three women went missing and were found dead in the water. Mysterious cases. Popular opinion is that they were depressed and had committed suicide.

[@suchetadutta1570]

Very haunting.... Heard it a few times before.. Very haunting....

[@NoosaHeads]

A rather unsatisfactory end.

[@elizabethroberts8829]

Not a bad listen 👂😀👏🏼👏🏼

[@janisg7409]

THANKS Angela, now I know it has A AWFUL ENDING, BLABBER MOUTH.

[@mikamee5459]

Hmm not sure if I'm too intrigued by this story. Maybe at the time it was written it was groundbreaking.

[@rosemarykennedy5430]

Very well put! I’ll use “not overly intrigued “ ❤

[@doneldamacdonnell8602]

It’s impossible for such a creative person to live with such a self centred narcissist.

[@elizabethbard5135]

What an utterly self centered dramatic person. There are ways of getting help with why she feels like that, there are ways of having at least some of the kind of life you need. The children will find it hard to love her, they will never understand why she did what she did. Would you?

[@liscatcat8756]

youve told half the story ,,, cheers

[@warplanner8852]

@@liscatcat8756 and helped a lot of people from wasting their time with this rancid piece of trash play! To bad I didn't read the comments!

[@mrk7397]

@@warplanner8852 I enjoyed it. And have listened to it more than once.

[@sylviaroberts8103]

@@warplanner8852 Agree with you. It’s a turgid little tale, best left alone.

[@JoJo-mm8sn]

@@liscatcat8756 Dont check comments b4 listening

[@annchristine47]

The woman is mentally ill.The tragedy is the children.Unfortunately,things like this happens everyday.

[@angelaavery4264]

Shouldn't have read the comments, it ruined it for me

[@lauralaladarling3775]

I loathed the story of this play. The only characters with any compassion or concern about their missing mother were the poor children. The father was viscious, indifferent, sarcastic, aggressive and impatient with his children. He went on an insane rant of what he imagined the police thought of him regarding his partner's dissappearance, yelling at Susie macabre death scenarios of his murdering her mother and cutting her up! All this self-pitying explosion focused on himself and not on comforting his children. It was ridiculous he hadnt even been asked to atrend the police station let alone been hounded by the press as a suspect. Then the mother, totally indifferent to her children being scared to death as to if she was dead or alive, bangs on, in about 4 tapes, about how she feels with appalling self-centered insensitivity, and then, to capt it all, says she did love them but no longer part of their lives. Or similar. Ghastly. Xx

[@johnsharples143]

I enjoyed it until she started whining away on that cassette at the end.

[@angelajones6719]

?????????

[@leciabella9461]

Well not everyone is willing to give up one’s life for family…. Seems selfish but it’s brave at the same time 🤷‍♀️

[@janeclarkson8471]

It's NEVER brave!

[@MoodusOperandi]

Nah, it's textbook cowardice.

[@doriellesoler7502]

Brave is the very last thing you could call it, actually.

[@trishtraynor]

I agree. She drew a line under a situation that was toxic for her and therefore bad for everyone around her. Her children are almost grown, the only baby is her partner. However, I think she's done it before and was given the Laura identity by the judicial system. I loved this play !

[@lindam9018]

It's one thing to leave your partner, it's inexcusable to leave your kids like that. Nothing "brave" about it.

[@tp9876]

😂

[@judymoraign7078]

What a bunch of nonsense She had no reason to leave her family. Actions of a bratty teenager!!

[@nigeloakes1948]

The guy was horrible too !

[@Beaulocks_]

Ahh, well, i guess that makes it ok then........

[@user-rv4mt8yz9g]

He didn't walk out on his children or partner with no explanation or warning, leaving them to the cruellest fear and worry about her. She was vile. He wasn't. (I'm a woman. I don't see why we're supposed to sympathise with her, as suggested at the end of the play).

[@francesca4982]

A very nasty play about a deeply selfish woman, who didn't care about destroying her children, or her partner. And I think the writer expected us to sympathise or admire her. The deepest irony was when she said to her family: "I will always love you". She loved no-one but herself. But she did love herself very much. As a said, a very nasty little tale. Wish I hadn't wasted an hour listening to it.

[@liscatcat8756]

Because of your SPOILER I obviously don't need to listen cos you've told the whole bloody story ... how selfish are you ????

[@user-rv4mt8yz9g]

I've saved you from wasting an hour of your life.

[@adamarlem9863]

Rather crappy.

[@Beaulocks_]

Ahh, "poster child" for a modern woman.

[@user-rv4mt8yz9g]

I agree. This play is an example of the way women are now encouraged to be deeply selfish, as if no-one else in their lives has feelings or needs.

[@stevie-ray2020]

Can you blame her when he's so emotionally cold?

[@JoJo-mm8sn]

She wasn't married to him

[@susanhawkins5914]

@@JoJo-mm8sn so??? They obviously had experienced a long term commitment, co-habituated and 2 children. Should they have separated (as in marital divorce) , both the partner’s no-fault rights & obligations would still be the same … at least in Australia 🇦🇺 😉

[@janeclarkson8471]

What about her children? She loved herself much more than them! A vile piece of work and a coward!

[@user-rv4mt8yz9g]

She was a nasty selfish piece of work. Her partner was well rid of her. And she wasn't worried about the effect on her children. Always love them? Always love herself, I think.

[@Mounhas]

Great play, dreadful woman.