The Last of England by Neil McKay

A darkly comic drama with three 60-something friends on an overnight ferry to Santander. They argue passionately over the course of the ferry journey returning to their expat life in Spain after attending the UK funeral of their friend Ken, who went home for a visit and would never come back.

Hywel, a loquacious Welshman, Irishman Jim from Lurgan and pugnacious ex-MP Malcolm from Glasgow are unlikely allies (and enforced drinking pals) in the small Spanish town they now call home. Fuelled by some indifferent Rioja and cheap Spanish brandy, through the course of a night they try - and fail - to come to terms with life, death, truth and Brexit.

Also on the ferry are Ken’s daughter Gemma and her partner Rashid, carrying the ashes of Ken, to scatter beneath an almond tree in his favourite spot near the village.

But Gemma is furious with her father for abandoning his English family and falling for a bartender more than half his age. She’s furious with her father’s so-called friends for encouraging him. And she’s quite cross with Rashid.

As the ferry heads for Spain and the sea gets rougher, secrets and motivations are revealed, showing nothing is quite as anyone believed and nobody is quite what they seem. Is home where you live, or where your heart is?

Neil McKay is a BAFTA award-winning dramatist.

Cast
Hywel – Anthony O’Donnell
Malcolm – Gary Lewis
Jim – Dan Gordon
Rashid – George Bukhari
Gemma – Faye McKeever

Writer – Neil McKay

Director – Melanie Harris

A Sparklab production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in 2021.