The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner

Robert Rigby’s dramatisation of Alan Sillitoe’s landmark short story set in the late 1950s.

Borstal boy Smith remembers his crimes and plots his future as he runs whilst training for a national cross-country event. The governor is desperate for the kudos of victory, telling Smith that hard work and athletic success will turn him into an honest man.

At just 17-years-old, Smith is a genuinely angry young man. His life is already a battle between them and us. There are the “In-laws”, as he terms the law-abiding, property-owning majority, and the “Out-laws”, the substantial minority who have no stake in the system.

First published in 1959, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner is uncompromisingly tough, at times bleakly comic, and always unsentimental.

Cast:
Smith….Lee Rufford
Governor….Karl Johnson
Roach….Tom Turner
Mrs Smith….Natalie Grady
Mike/Water Boy….Noah Burdett
Bishop….Tom Vanson
Detective Sergeant….Graeme Hawley
Lionel….David Hounslow
Mr Lennox/Warden….Michael Thomas
Mrs Lennox….Barbara Kirby
Magistrate/Taxi Driver….David Timson
Smith Child….Millie Binks
Smith Child….Eve Manning

Director/Carl Prekopp, Producer/Lucinda Mason Brown for Goldhawk Essential

Publicity contact: BBC Radio 4 Publicity