Acting in Our Mutual Friend

I asked members of the Our Mutual Friend cast four questions: what appealed to them about their character, why Dickens is so enduringly popular, what they best remembered about the recording, and why they enjoyed radio acting (if they did). Here's a recording of Carl Prekopp and Daisy Haggard talking about the production, recorded especially for the blog:

Over the next few days we'll be publishing our cast members' responses to my questions. First, Carl Prekopp:

Often with Dickens the straight man in the middle is quite frustrating for an actor as he can see all the weird and wonderful characters having a ball around him. But in 'Our Mutual Friend' the mysterious nature of John Harmon and his circumstances gives the actor an appealing otherworldliness. Having in a sense confirmed his own 'death' he is looking in on the lives of people from behind a mask of deception throughout. He is quite an empowered central character. Almost like a private detective. And the wonderful thing is no matter how front footed he is, it is still a girl who is the source of so much of his frustration.

I loved having a face off with Jamie Foreman. It was also one of the few scenes where the darker side of my character had a chance to rear it's head.

Daisy was a wonderful leading lady. And from the readthrough it became quite obvious she was going to be fun in the studio so all scenes with her made for a good day at work.

Dickens pays unbelievable attention to detail, so much so that once you have finished one of his books, that story is a part of you as though it is a memory. You can see the people, the streets and the feeling that comes with each event as though you were actually there.

I enjoy doing radio because it is left to the power of the imagination. It's good old fashioned story telling giving everything over to the audience. We as actors can create the world in our own minds, forgetting we're in our normal clothes and holding scripts in a windowless studio and the more we use our imagination the more the audience will create their own images of the geography of the play and how the characters and their world may look. No two audience members will have the same image of any one play.

I also love radio because there are no physical restrictions on the parts we can play. And in this age of beauty before talent it is quite liberating. I have in my time played a endorphin-addicted body builder. People that know me will understand that this is a part I could never play in any other medium.

Jessica Dromgoole is a producer at BBC Radio Drama

• Radio 4's 20-part adaptation of Our Mutual Friend is on-air now.
• Radio 4's 20-part adaption of Our Mutual Friend is on-air now and because it's part of the 'series catch-up trial' you can listen online to all the programmes in the series until seven days after the last episode airs.
• Look out for further blog reports on the recording process, with contributions from composer Roger Goula, studio manager Colin Guthrie and other members of the cast.
• We'd love to hear your thoughts about Dickens dramatisations you have heard and enjoyed on the radio. And which of the novels do you think Radio 4 should tackle next?
• There are production photos of the whole cast, taken for Radio 4 by Phil Fisk, here.