Editor's Note: You can listen to Feedback online or download it here
Olivia Colman
We don’t often discuss radio programmes which have received universal praise. After all what is there to say other than to congratulate those involved?
It is much more interesting to debate something which is controversial or which has come in for severe criticism. So we usually run a few appreciative comments and move on.
Not this week.
The Saturday Drama Goodbye received glowing tributes from our listeners, many of whom were in tears at the end of the drama. Some had to stop whatever they were doing until it was over. The words ‘brilliant’, ‘deeply moving’, ‘heart breaking' and ‘brave’ were used again and again in the correspondence we received. Mind you, the cast of Goodbye was pretty special: Olivia Colman, Natascha McElhone, Alison Steadman and John Simm among others.
Olga Danes-Volkov emailed to say, “It was the most realistic and moving depiction of the situation I have ever heard”. That situation was breast cancer, and there was no optimistic outcome though there was some hope at the end.
The temptation for the writer and producer is to be overly optimistic, and there must be a real concern about cancer sufferers listening at home, perhaps alone.
I remember when I was a programme editor decades ago and breast cancer outcomes were much worse than today. My programme went out late in the evening. Should I send cancer sufferers to bed with even more pessimistic statistics about their likely future? In the end I did not pull the item but I did tone it down. I am still not sure if I was right to do so. On the other hand, giving false hope can be cruel.
As the writer of Goodbye, Morwenna Banks had to bear all these things in mind. She had first-hand experience to draw on, since some of her friends have had breast cancer, and one of them, who collaborated with Morwenna on an early draft, has since died.
This is our Feedback feature on Goodbye:
Drama about two best friends dealing with breast cancer. Stars Olivia Coleman and Natascha McElhone.
If you would like to listen to Goodbye, it is available for download here until the 1st of November. Be prepared for a very emotional listen.
Listen to this week's Feedback
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