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A psychiatrist wakes a child from a coma by describing chocolate pudding. Award-winning Julia Blackburn reads her own story.

The first of two stories about relationships between adults and children, drawn from real-life.

1. Chocolate Pudding

A psychiatrist is perplexed by several cases of coma in a young child. With patience and bowls of chocolate pudding he manages to wake the child, by describing how delicious the pudding is and putting it under the child's nose. The story is inspired by conversations with the psychiatrist and his descriptions of 'Sleeping Beauty Syndrome'.

Written and read by the Costa-shortlisted writer Julia Blackburn. The stories are written with the same mesmerising delicacy of touch that Julia brought to her Penn-Ackerley prize-winning memoir 'The Three of Us', demonstrating her extraordinary capacity to find the best in people while encompassing their frailty.

Producer...Mary Ward-Lowery

Music: Trois Morceaux en Forme de Poire by Eric Satie.

15 minutes

Last on

Mon 30 Nov 201521:00
BBC Radio 4 Extra

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Call Me and I'll Come to YouJulia Blackburn - For the Love of a Child

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Broadcasts

  • Tue 14 Dec 201015:30
    BBC Radio 4
  • Christmas Eve 201122:45
    BBC Radio 4
  • Mon 9 Sep 201311:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 9 Sep 201321:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Tue 10 Sep 201304:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 30 Nov 201511:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra
  • Mon 30 Nov 201521:00
    BBC Radio 4 Extra