BBC RADIO DRAMA: WHO SHOT ADA TANSEY by Peter Whalley

WHO SHOT ADA TANSEY? by Peter Whalley was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 23 October 1982.
[Music removed for copyright]
Story:
We are behind the scenes of a long-running, much-loved Northern soap opera. The leading lady is suddenly and dramatically murdered. Who shot Ada Tansey ? And why?
Cast:
David: Derek Smith
Frank: John Branwell
Mike: David Fleesiiman
Arnold: Robert Keegan
Bernard: Keith Clifford
Larry: Bernard Latham
Ruth/Edith: Ann Rye
Mel/Denlse: Sue Jenkins
Sylvia/Jean: Rosalie Williams
Ethel/Barbara: Kate Lee
Sam/Lulgl: Russell Dixon
Dennis: Roger Phillips
Directed By: Caroline Smith BBC Manchester

[@arrienl6372]

listening to these is like stepping into another world every time and forgetting where you are for a moment. Thanks. And I like it that you give a storyline and cast. That's really good and helpful.

[@johnevans6399]

Can't listen to this type of radio drama, without thinking of the Tony Hancock skit of the archers. Thanks to my dad for Tony and thanks to you for continuing to put on these radio plays.🛌🦇

[@stephenandrews8419]

john evans. Yes John it's the 'Bowmans', one of my favourite ever Hancock episodes 😀😀😀

[@patriciallamas2050]

Cheers for the upload, Arch! 🤗🌷 Have a splendid week!

[@christrinder1255]

Great satirical/crime story look at Coronation Street (still going) well acted. Some of the characters that were in the soap in that era are absolutely recognisable! Thanks for posting Arch 👏👏👏👏👏👍😊

[@janebrown7231]

This is written by 'the other Peter Whalley', that is, the Peter Whalley who wrote many admired Coronation Street episodes for ITV. If, like me, you love the Peter Whalley who writes brilliantly plotted murder mysteries - manage your expectations! - because this 'other' writing style of his is completely different, light-hearted and chatty, soap-opera dialogue-driven rather than plot-driven. It has a large cast of larger-than-life characters who talk rapidly, sometimes over each other, the direct opposite of his intense small-cast murder dramas, in which each character is given space to develop. This is basically a skit on Coronation Street. I'm not a soap-opera fan and know little about Corrie, but I assume from his description that Ada Tansey is the similarly sounding Elsie Tanner, played in real life by foundational Corrie star Pat Phoenix. Peter Whalley was a very clever, multi-layered writer, and this skit also consists of a skit on the writing style he was obliged to adopt for Corrie - he is making a satire of the rambling, dialogue-heavy content of a popular soap. There are probably all sorts of individual character portraits, making fun of the regular Corrie actors, which I wouldn't pick up because I'm not familiar with them. I did notice that the 'secret daughter' plot line might be a reference to early Corrie actor Anthony Booth, who (with multiple women) had several daughters outside marriage, including a secret one. Tony Booth was living with Pat Phoenix at the time this play was written (she died four years later). So... Coronation Street writer writes Coronation Street skit in Coronation Street style about Coronation Street characters trying to develop a Coronation Street storyline. The soap actors realise they need something dramatic to enliven the plot, but the dramatic moment happens in real life, in life-imitates-art tradition... and it raises the ratings and saves the show. As the pace speeds up towards the end, he also launches satirical jabs at children's television, Fanny Cradock's cookery, and sports reporting. The recording quality would have been good at the time, 1982, but many taped recordings have subsequently degraded. This one carries a certain amount of noise, but it's not bad compared with many other archive recordings. Some of the recordings from that era had to be reconstructed after the originals were lost.

[@jopatrick7335]

As always such a joy in lockdown - many many thanks for posting. Am thinking of switching off the TV permanently 😉

[@hermajesty52]

I got hooked on Coronation Street in the early 80's when a Canadian station ran all of them from the beginning. They were great the first few years. This take off was a hoot!!! Especially the scene where they were broadcasting the shooting live :-)

[@simonmcgrath4112]

As always with Peter Whalley brilliant story and I think this is a take on Coronation Street for which Peter wrote over 600 episodes incl famous Hilda Ogden scenes!!

[@ThomasHyland-eb4ol]

I really enjoyed the radio play. I thought of Coronation Street. Thank you for uploading. ❤ from Timor-Leste.

[@karenturner7184]

Absolutely brilliant. Thank you

[@davidhaney1394]

Thanks for the upload ! .... Love these .

[@NoosaHeads]

I normally love Peter Whalley radio plays. This one, unfortunately, was confused and messy. Not the finely crafted excellence that I'm used to from Whalley. This Coronation Steet whodunit fails on multiple levels and is the first time I've ever said that about Peter Whalley. It was an early play (1982). Some of his other radio plays such as The Test, The Longest Journey, The Missing Wife are brilliant and extremely engrossing. I'd have turned off Who Shot Ada Tansey after 5 minutes, but I listened to it to the end because it was Peter Whalley. Regretfully, it didn't get any better. Even Shakespeare turned out some disappointing plays, so one turkey is no big deal. Whally wrote many Coronation Street plays, so I assume he tried a surrogate under the name of Alexander Road and probably modelled Ada Tansey as similar characters to Ena Sharples or (more likely) Elsie Tanner. Anyhow, it didn't work. Peter Whalley's good stuff is crystal clear, 100% intelligible dialogue between two people. I guess the director is to blame for letting everyone speak at once and making false economies on the recording equipment. (The sound quality was really anateurish). This play could be done again, with a rewrite, a decent director, actors who put a little more effort into it, and cutting the time to about 45 minutes. - 1 hour and 12 minutes was far too long. Final rating? Only 4/10. Most of the time, Peter Whalley is a 9/10.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

With hindsight his era was the Golden Age of Corrie . Compared to the current witless travesty .!

[@Angela-cc1hd]

Confusing and not up to Peter Whalleys usual excellent plays😮

[@jeremypearson6852]

Having grown up in the UK, I’m very familiar with soaps from the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. We didn’t get into Crossroads or Coronation St, but I did get into Emmerdale Farm for a while. Since I moved to the US in 1983, everything (including Eastenders) after that is foreign to me. We did get Eastenders on PBS, but I never watched it. An expat listening in S Florida.

[@petermainwaringsx]

I stopped watching soaps many years ago. I used to like Corrie and Emmerdale, but the plots got very dark, in a race to the bottom with Eastenders. Whenever I do catch a glimpse of of either of them being watched by my daughter or my ex wife, the characters always seem to be angry and shouting at each other. Nice characters get killed off while the nasty ones get away with crimes from petty to murder. I have been watching some older episodes of Corrie which show up how far the quality has fallen. From what I see of Emmerdale, it looks like it's the most ethnically diverse village in the UK. Although I don't know if there are any Welsh or Irish families in the village. As far as sexual orientation goes, in an episode about ten years ago about sixty percent of the actors were playing gay parts. Live and let live by all means, but let's reflect the orientation of a normal village in Yorkshire. Otherwise, I'd like to thank ITV for giving me five hours a week to spend on more rewarding pursuits, like cutting my toenails ETC. As a Brit, I must be pretty unique, as I visited FLA, not for the theme parks but to visit a pal in Titusville. Although it would have been rude not to visit the parks, and especially Cape Canaveral.

[@Pommy1957]

If you left the UK as long ago as 1983 you're an immigrant, not an expat.

[@liznorth4028]

Thank you ☺

[@suebrotherton1583]

Thank you

[@stephenandrews8419]

Interesting but totally preposterous !!! By the end I didn't really care who did it, or why. I just wanted it to end. & no wonder they were taking this awful sounding show off the air

[@tottiemae2258]

If you can't stand soap operas, you'll love this. Hilarious!

[@deegeraghty3421]

Gave up after 10 minutes. Boring dialogue, crashing background noise, everyone speaking at 'full volume'. Noisy ... no plot.

[@waynemoore1708]

CRAP! 👎 Thanks anyway

[@Loobylooto2]

Thank you