Among a new range of audio dramas for BBC Radio 4, is Central Intelligence, a commission as part of the station’s Limelight podcast feed.
Produced by Goldhawk Productions, Thoroughbred Studios and Rainfall Creations, it tells the true insider story of the CIA from the perspective of Eloise Page, who joined on the agency’s first day in 1947 and became one of its most powerful women.
The 10-part series, which stars Kim Cattrall, Ed Harris and Johnny Flynn, begins on Radio 4 and BBC Sounds from 13 September. It offers listeners a chance to be a fly-on-the-wall to the heated debates and decisions that shaped world history and continue to have ramifications in the present day.
Kim Cattrall says: “I was pleased to be asked to join BBC Radio 4’s Central Intelligence. A very well-written, factual and entertaining history of the Central Intelligence Agency from its uncertain inception.
“A human story full of false starts, gaffs, blunders, and thankfully triumphs on the world stage. A thrilling story of Russian Roulette. I was engrossed learning the true story of how this vital agency grew and prospered before and during the Cold War.”
Director, John Scott Dryden adds: “Goldhawk has built a reputation for dramas based on real-life, world-changing events such as the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank, the Greek Debt Crisis. This is bigger. The story of the CIA told from insiders’ accounts and declassified documents, feels huge and important and casts a light on the world we live in today.”
Other new commissions include King Lear, starring Richard Wilson and produced by Brill Productions, with more Shakespeare commissions to follow. New original dramas on Radio 4 include Breaking the Rules season, a series of one-off dramas exploring the theme of rule-breaking.
This autumn will see new adaptations of Charles Dickens’ Hard Times, Little Dorrit, and Our Mutual Friend.
Alison Hindell, Radio 4’s Commissioning Editor for Drama and Fiction says: “Radio 4’s commitment to audio drama is unrivalled, with more than 250 hours of world class productions brought to audiences each year, broadcast daily on Radio 4, reaching nearly five million listeners every week and even more on BBC Sounds.
“With Central Intelligence, Radio 4 and Limelight listeners are in for a treat: it’s so exciting to have world-class casting of this calibre to complement the bold ambition of this powerful drama serial.
“Audio drama is unique in the way it transports us to different places and times, and this ambitious series will give an intimate insider’s view of some of the most remarkable events of the last century.”
